Lorelle Hoyer begins her third season at the helm of the IUP women's volleyball program in 2024 following a successful debut campaign.
Hoyer was officially announced as the program's ninth head coach on March 29, 2022, going 20-9 and leading IUP to its first PSAC and NCAA Tournament appearances since 2017.
Hoyer finished her three-year tenure at IUP with a 67-29 overall record, three trips to the PSAC Tournament, one PSAC Championship title, and three appearances in the NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament.
IUP won the 2024 PSAC Championship in a four-set thriller on November 23, 2024 against Gannon. This marked the programs second PSAC title for the first time since 2002.
IUP had a pair of All-PSAC honorees, Lauren Valentic (First Team) and Jessica Neiman (Second Team) who was also awarded PSAC West Freshman of the Year. Neiman was awarded AVCA Freshman of the Year, Lauren Valentic tabbed All-Region First Team, and coach Lorelle Hoyer was named the AVCA Coach of the Year.
The Crimson Hawks had a trio of All-PSAC honorees in Lauren Valentic, Nicole Peterson and Caroline Walsh, while Valentic received AVCA All-Region honors in 2022. Pushing the program to new heights across the board, Hoyer helped spearhead several game promotions during the home, including the first-ever Diversity & Inclusion match on October 14, 2022. Additionally, Hoyer works in conjunction with the sports information office and on her own with marketing and graphic design for the team's social media channels.
Hoyer joins the Crimson Hawks with seven years of Division I coaching experience, spending the 2021 season at the University of Idaho, where she served as an assistant coach and the Vandals' recruiting coordinator. In addition to managing all aspects of recruiting, she also served as a lead scout on the coaching staff, and was responsible for server training as the Vandals increased their team service aces by 34 percent.
Prior to Idaho, 'Lo' spent three seasons as an assistant coach, recruiting coordinator, and learning specialist at Southern Utah University. She assisted in all facets of the Thunderbirds program, including scheduling, travel logistics and budgeting. As the recruiting coordinator, Hoyer also worked to improve regional and national scouting. Her efforts as a learning specialist led to a major jump in team grade point average, increasing from 3.23 to 3.62.
At Southern Utah, Hoyer recruited the first Big Sky Newcomer of the Year (Shannon Webb) and first back-to-back All-Big Sky member in program history (Stacey Hone). She also helped the Thunderbirds achieve the best regular season Big Sky finish in program history, the most conference wins in a single season, and a +.329 increase in win percentage from season one to season three.
Prior to SUU, Hoyer was the director of volleyball operations at the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) for the 2017 season. While in Texas she also served as an assistant program coordinator for the Alamo Volleyball Association. Hoyer spent two years as the Assistant Director for Triangle Volleyball Club in Raleigh, N.C. (2015-17), where she handled large scale travel, marketing, social media and supported on court training at multiple age and skill levels as both head coach and assistant. She also served two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at North Carolina Central prior to joining Triangle.
Lo is a 2009 graduate of the University of Connecticut, where she was multi-year letter winner before injury sidelined her for her final two seasons. A native of Minnesota, she has a background in non-profit education where she flourished in fundraising, volunteer management, creative education planning and organizational development before re-joining the volleyball community. She earned her master's degree in physical education from North Carolina Central in 2020.
Updated - 6/27/23
