(Story courtesy of the University of Dallas)
IRVING, Texas - The University of Dallas is pleased to announce Amy Byfield as the fourteenth volleyball head coach in program history.
Byfield spent the previous two seasons as a graduate assistant for the Ottawa University (Kan.) volleyball team.
The Lady Braves amassed a 30-6 record in 2012, including an 18-0 mark in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) to be crowned conference champions.
With a 3-0 victory (25-22, 25-16, 25-19) over Kansas Wesleyan University in the KCAC championship game, Ottawa secured its first-ever appearance into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national tournament.
The squad, however, proceeded to fall in four sets (17-25, 25-22, 18-25, 15-25) to No. 23 Bellevue University (Neb.).
In Byfield's tenure with Ottawa, the volleyball team went 45-22. Under her guidance as setters coach, student-athletes received such accolades as 2012 KCAC Setter-of-the-Year, First Team All-Region Setter and NAIA All-American status.
Her primary responbilities for Ottawa included evaluating and recruiting elite athletes, carrying out a volleyball-specific weights and conditioning program, editing film for scouting reports and taking inventory. She also assisted with budget and schedule matters.
Byfield graduated in Dec. 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and a minor in Coaching from Emporia State Univesity (ESU). She was a four-year letterwinner for the NCAA Divsion II institution.
Spending time at libero and setter, she was a three-time All-Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) honoree for a Hornets squad that claimed the 2008 MIAA Championship and was named South Central Regional runners-up.
Byfield owns the ESU school record for career digs (2,022), career double-figure dig matches (111), single-season digs-per-game (5.15) and double-figure dig matches (34). During her junior campaign, she tallied 680 digs, which rank second all-time at ESU. She is currently fourth in career digs per game (4.10).
A native of Shawnee Mission, Kan., Byfield attended Bishop Miege High School. She was selected First Team All-Johnson County and Honorable Mention All-Eastern Kansas League. The Stags won the 2004 Kansas 5A State Championship.
Byfield is expected to graduate with a Master of Arts in Education from Ottawa in May 2013.
