UAlbany Names MJ Engstrom Interim Head Women's Volleyball Coach

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Albany, N.Y. – University at Albany Vice President and Director of Athletics Lee McElroy announced today that MJ Engstrom has been appointed interim head women’s volleyball coach. Engstrom, who has previously been a head coach at the collegiate level, was elevated from her role as a UAlbany assistant. Kelly Sheffield, a two-time America East Conference Coach of the Year, left the position to become the head coach at the University of Dayton.

“We are very appreciative of Kelly Sheffield’s contributions in building the UAlbany volleyball program to a championship level,” McElroy said. “His team performed at a high level on the court, in the classroom, and as members of the community. MJ Engstrom will do an excellent job as interim coach. She understands our program and has the support of the student-athletes and administration.”

Engstrom completed her third season as the top assistant last fall. She helped guide UAlbany to its third conference championship in the last four seasons and produced the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory. UAlbany finished 24-10 overall and reached the NCAA’s second round for the first time in team history. Engstrom, who has served as recruiting coordinator for the last three seasons, has been instrumental in the Great Danes’ success by bringing in one of the top classes one year ago.

Freshman Amanda Cowdrey was named the 2007 America East rookie of the year and earned all-conference second-team accolades. She was also joined on the all-rookie squad by classmates Brooke Stanley and Tawny Dahmes, who hails from Engstrom’s home state of Minnesota.

Engstrom came to UAlbany after five seasons as the head coach of Nicholls State University in Louisiana. She led the Colonials to the 2003 Southland Conference Tournament championship and the first NCAA Tournament berth in program history. Engstrom also spent two years at the helm of the Villanova volleyball program, guiding the Wildcats to their first NCAA appearance in 1997. The tournament berth was the first at-large bid for a Big East Conference program.

Along with her head coaching experience, Engstrom served as an assistant coach at the University of Washington from 1998-99 and the University of North Dakota from 1990-93. She has also worked with the USA Men’s and Women’s National Volleyball teams and has run her own volleyball camp in conjunction with Coastal Virginia’s volleyball club since 1997.

Engstrom, a native of St. Paul, Minn., is on the editorial board for the International Journal for Volleyball Research and is a member of the USA Volleyball Sports Medicine and Performance Commission. She was a student-athlete at the University of Minnesota and graduated with an undergraduate degree in psychology.