2-time national champion Albrecht joins Griz volleyball coaching staff

Montana head coach Allison Lawrence has announced Annika Albrecht as an assistant volleyball coach. During a storied playing career at Nebraska, Albrecht (pronounced ON-ick-uh all-bright) was an All-America outside hitter, guiding the Huskers to a pair of national titles.

Albrecht, a former outside hitter and defensive specialist, will hold a variety of roles on staff, primarily working with the Grizzlies' pin hitters, first contact and serve-receive.

"We feel incredibly lucky to have Anni join our staff, and our players are lucky to have her here working with them," Lawrence said. "During our initial conversations, we talked about some of the underlying values of our experiences with volleyball, and they really aligned in ways that felt like she was someone I could see myself working with and someone who could help continue to build our program."

The allure to the Red and White was obvious. After all, Nebraska volleyball is known across the country as the pinnacle of women's volleyball programs. The Huskers have played in every NCAA tournament since 1982, with five national championship trophies on display. They regularly lead the NCAA in attendance, having sold out every home match since 2001. They have been ranked No. 1 in the nation more weeks than any other program, and have been nationally ranked in every top-25 poll since the poll was created in 1982.

Nebraska is the pantheon of women's volleyball, and for four years, Albrecht was front and center of the program.

Albrecht was drawn to Nebraska's on-court success, of course, but as a native of North Aurora, Illinois, Nebraska was relatively close by, as well. In fact, she was born into a family of Huskers, with both of her parents, Jim and Lynne, meeting on a volleyball court in Lincoln while attending the University of Nebraska.

Longtime Nebraska and AVCA Hall of Fame coach John Cook first saw Albrecht play when the outside hitter was just a freshman, playing for Sports Performance Elite. It wasn't Albrecht he had his eyes on, but an older teammate who committed to the Huskers before Albrecht did.

Nebraska had long been Albrecht's dream school, however, so she reached out to Cook.

The truth was, Albrecht was a very good player. She was the nation's 65^th-best recruit by PrepVolleyball.com, while being a three-time MVP for an Illinois Crusaders team that won three consecutive home school national titles, going 92-4 during that span. But she was also undersized, and Nebraska was a school that could pluck just about any talented pin hitter it wanted and get them to suit up for the Huskers.

What set Albrecht apart was her ball control, something the Huskers had struggled with the few seasons before she arrived in Lincoln.

So during Albecht's senior season of high school, about two years after she first reached out, Cook offered Albrecht a walk-on opportunity as a defensive specialist. Albrecht accepted the offer immediately, thrilled for the opportunity to represent her dream school.

"I grew up watching Nebraska volleyball and football on TV," she recalled. "We're a family who loves the Huskers."

Despite being a walk-on, Albrecht played in all 33 matches in 2014, setting a Nebraska school record for sets played by a true freshman. As advertised, she was among the team leaders with a .971 serve-receive percentage and ranked third on the team for digs. She also led the Huskers and ranked fourth in the Big Ten for service aces, as Nebraska advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

Annika Albrecht_Nebraska

Cook was so impressed that he offered Albrecht a full scholarship that spring.

By the time Albrecht was a sophomore, she was fully established, again playing in every set while leading the Big Ten with 41 aces. Nebraska went 32-4 en route to a national title run that saw the Huskers drop just three sets in six NCAA tournament matches. A year later, the Huskers earned another trip to the Final Four, in large part due to Albrecht.

Perhaps her favorite memory came that year in an Elite Eight match against rival Penn State. Playing at home but down 0-2 and 21-24 in the third set, Albrecht subbed in to serve.

"It was everything I wanted but also so terrifying," she recalled. "Our season was on the brink, but we ended up winning that set, 26-24, and the match, 3-2. I don't think I'll ever forget how loud it was in that gym that night."

That set her up for her senior season, in which she finally got her opportunity to not only serve and play defense, but be a true, six-rotation player.

She thrived, as did Nebraska.

As a senior captain, she averaged 3.02 kills and 2.74 digs per set while serving 34 aces. In September 2017, after recording 19 kills on .400 hitting in a win over No. 1 Penn State, Albrecht was named the national player of the week. By the end of the year, she had tallied 18 double-doubles, not to mention a bevy of individual accolades: AVCA second-team All-American, All-Big Ten selection, AAU Sullivan Award finalist, given to the nation's most outstanding amateur athlete in any sport.

The list of accolades goes on, as she became the third Husker since 2000 to play in every set (489) of her four-year career.

Nebraska went 17-0 at home, 19-1 in conference and 32-4 overall in 2017, beating Stony Brook, Washington State, Colorado, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 1 Penn State and No. 3 Florida to claim its second national title in three seasons. Albrecht, was named to the NCAA tournament all-region team before recording a double-double in the Huskers' semifinal win over the top-ranked Nittany Lions. The title match against Florida – her final as a Husker – gave her a school-record 21 NCAA tournament matches played.

"It was such a fun experience," Albrecht said of her time at Nebraska. "The whole environment is exciting and you're playing against really good teams every night, which makes it even more thrilling. Every day was a challenge, but made it so rewarding."

Following graduation, Albrecht played one season of professional volleyball in Nantes, France, where her team finished second in its league and the Coupe de France.

Albrecht's résumé is impressive, no doubt.

But even more than what she has accomplished, it's how she has accomplished things that make Albrecht excited to become a coach.

"I'm really excited to work with all different types of athletes," she said. "I had teammates who were highly recruited and came in knowing they were going to play right away, and then I had teammates who had to really work to earn a spot, and then there were those who were supposed to thrive and didn't," she said. "I always enjoyed talking to my teammates about that and trying to encourage them through their situations.

"I'm excited, as a coach, to try and infuse confidence into players because I had a coach (Tyler Hildebrand) who did that going into my senior year, and it's incredible how much positive comments and good affirmations can go in terms of infusing confidence in a player."

Lawrence sees even more potential in Albrecht's path, specifically because of how she carries herself.

"She has national championships, she went to multiple Final Fours, she is clearly a decorated athlete who is kind of a celebrity in our world," Lawrence said. "But you wouldn't know that when you talk to her about the sport or ask her about her experiences.

"Underneath all of that achievement, she really understands the 'why' to what she does and the 'why' behind what makes this experience meaningful. Her accomplishments are the smallest part to her because the bigger part is who she became, who she got to be for her teammates and the way she was able to grow through her experiences, which is what we want for our student-athletes."

Following her season abroad in France, Albrecht then returned stateside to begin a career in ministry, working for FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) for a year in southern California before being transferred to Helena, Montana, to work on the campus of Carroll College.

As a native of Illinois who also had also lived in Ohio, Kentucky, Nebraska, France and California, moving was not foreign to Albrecht. Montana, however, was.

Montana? she remembers thinking.

"I didn't know a single person who lived in Montana or a single thing about it."

What she found is what almost everyone who gives the Treasure State a chance does. She loved it.

"It's so beautiful and the people here are so nice," she said. "I really fit my personality compared to some other places I've been."

In addition to her time working with FOCUS, she spent the past two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at Carroll College. She enjoyed getting to see the coaching side to a sport she grew up around, but the more involved she got, the harder it became to balance it with a full-time job.

"I realized there was this pull where I wanted to do more with them (Carroll College volleyball), but I just couldn't with the time constraints of ministry," she said. "I would be really tired one day, and then I'd go to practice and feel so alive being in the gym and with the team."

That made her realize that perhaps she was ready to take the next step with volleyball and look into coaching full-time.

A former graduate assistant coach of Albrecht's at Nebraska told her about an opening at Montana and passed Albrecht's number on to Lawrence.

"I had no intentions of staying in Montana because I had no idea that would even be an option," she said. "But the first call with Allison, I noticed her energy and excitement for the game. It was unlike most coaches who are at that point of their careers, and it didn't seem fake."

As Lawrence noticed the ways that Albrecht might fit in with her staff, Albrecht was struck by the way Lawrence would lead Albrecht and give her independence.

"She talked about the staff and the freedom that she was willing to give me as a coach, but also, as a new coach, she was willing to train me," Albrecht said. "Then, coming to campus, I was struck by how well the coaches knew the girls and the girls knew their coaches.

"It all just felt right."

Albrecht will likely work with Montana's pin hitters and floor defense, but that role could shift throughout fall camp as the coaches works together for the first time. That's what happens when you have a formidable trio of coaches who each had impressive college careers that would rival any staff in the Big Sky Conference, if not the northwest region.

Lawrence was a four-year starter at Oregon State, finishing her career ranked in the top 10 in OSU history for kills, digs and service aces. She was a two-time All-Pac-10 selection, advancing to the NCAA tournament in 2001.

Associate head coach Dana Hallisey – formerly Dana Cranston – was the 2012 Mountain West Player of the Year while leading Colorado State to four conference championships and four NCAA tournament berths during a career that saw her earn AVCA All-America and CoSIDA Academic All-America status. She then spent five seasons with the Canadian national team, in addition to playing professionally in France and Germany.

Albrecht was also an AVCA All-American, not to mention an All-Big Ten selection and AAU Sullivan Award finalist. She ranks sixth in Nebraska history for service aces, helping guide the Huskers to three Final Four appearances and two national titles. She then played professionally in France.

"We went into this search looking for someone to work with our serve-receive and first contact, but Anni is really capable of coaching and being in charge of any part of our game," Lawrence said. "I think the fact that we have this group of dynamic coaches who can take on a variety of roles makes this really exciting and opens up a lot of possibilities. It will be a fun fall camp to see how we'll settle into all of those roles."

Montana opens its preseason training on Monday, Aug. 8, with its first match taking place on Friday, Aug. 26, part of the Farmers State Bank Invitational in Missoula.

University of Montana Athletics

2-time national champion Albrecht joins Griz volleyball coaching staff

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