Samantha Fish - Head Coach

Samantha Fish was named the new Head Coach of the Hill College Lady Rebel Volleyball Program in March 2013. Fish boasts a rich volleyball background and hails from Ohio where she has spent the past six years competing at the NCAA Division I level for Bowling Green State University and assistant coach for NCAA Division II University of Findlay.

"I am extremely excited and want to thank Athletic Director Paul Brown and everyone at Hill College for giving me this opportunity. With the family atmosphere and support for athletics I felt on my visit, I know it is going to be a wonderful place to work. I look forward to building on the success the volleyball program has already achieved and leading the team to even more."

Serving as an assistant coach for the University of Findlay Oilers from 2011-13, Fish assisted with the overall coaching, supervision, recruiting and organization of the rebuilding Oiler team that competes in one of the toughest Division II leagues in the nation, the GLIAC. She had the responsibility of training the programs' setters, and during her two years with the program mentored an All-GLIAC setter and oversaw the transition of a freshman setter onto the court. The setters made great strides under Fish's training and made gains in every statistical category from 2012 to 2013. During her second year at Findlay, Fish helped the program secure its first post-season conference tournament berth in five years. She is currently in the process of receiving her MBA from the University.

Prior to her time at Findlay, Fish spent the summer of 2011 living and working in Huntington Beach, Calif. for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Volleyball Division. Alongside playing beach doubles, she served as a first-assistant to the President and Director of FCA Volleyball, Daniel Rich. Her work included the planning and execution of the organizations first cross-national camp at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. She also worked with different groups within the Southern California volleyball community including members of the men's and women's USA National team, local collegiate players, and local high school and youth players spreading the FCA mission. Fish is still a strong supporter of FCA and regularly speaks on their behalf at events; most notably the AVCA convention.

Before her work with FCA Volleyball, Fish spent four years setting for NCAA Division I Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Bowling Green competes in the Mid-American Conference and Fish was groomed by the conference's all-time winningest coach, Denise Van De Walle. Fish saw the floor right away as a freshman and earned a spot on the MAC all-freshman team in 2007. She left her mark on the programs record books finishing her career second all-time in single-season assists, fifth all-time in career assists, and top 10 all-time in career aces. Following her senior year, she was one of six young coaches to receive the AVCA Coaches 4 Coaches Scholarship. She graduated from BGSU with a bachelor's degree in business administration and marketing.

Alongside her collegiate playing and coaching, Fish has coached many different age levels of juniors club volleyball from 13-18 year olds for different clubs in Michigan and Ohio including: Michigan Elite VBC, Toledo VBC, Latitude 41 VBC and most recently, Oiler Attack VBC.

Volleyball runs in her family as her father, Jim Fish, is a very successful high school coach at North Branch High School in Michigan. The school has had 5 final-four appearances in the past 7 years including 2 runner-up finishes and one State Championship. Fish was a Michigan Miss Volleyball Finalist for the school her senior year and led the Broncos to their first ever state championship match. Her older sister was an All-American setter for Rochester College in Michigan and her other two sisters currently play for Virginia Tech and Central Connecticut.

Fish is engaged to be married to James Erger of McKinney, Tex. this June. The two met at BGSU where Erger was also an athlete with men's basketball program. They are both involved in FCA and have traveled to Guatemala twice on mission's trips with the organization Champions in Action.

Contact:
Office: (254) 659-7964
Cell: (810) 358-9691
Email: sfish@hillcollege.edu

TBA - Assistant Coach