Kaleo Baxter, a former Irvine Valley men's volleyball standout, is in his first year with the Laser women's program.

Coach Tom Pestolesi is excited to have the young, enthusiastic coach as part of his coaching staff.

Baxter joins the IVC staff after spending the last three seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Hawaii.

While with Hawaii, Baxter helped create practice plans and put together scouting reports of opposing teams among his other coaching and training duties. He was also a coach at the University of Hawaii Volleyball Camp.

Baxter, originally from Kapaa, Kauai, lettered four seasons as a libero at Kauai High where he helped the Raiders to the 2004 league title. He was a two-time KIF first-team selection and earned second-team all-state honors in 2004.

He also played for the ASICS Rainbows volleyball club team for four years. Baxter played in the Junior Olympics as a member of the U-17 team and was selected to the all-tournament team as an outside hitter.

In addition, Baxter lettered in soccer at Kauai where he was a two-time all-league defender. He helped guide his team to a 2003 league title.

He played collegiately at Irvine Valley and then at Cal State Northridge.

At Irvine Valley, Baxter was part of two of the best men's volleyball teams in program history.

He helped the Lasers to Pacific Coast Athletic Conference titles and the CCCAA State Championships in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, the libero was selected first-team all-conference and named to the state all-tournament team.

He averaged 2.77 digs per set and set a school record with 27 digs against LA Pierce College.

Baxter played libero, defensive specialist and was used as a serving specialist at Cal State Northridge from 2009-11. He used a red-shirt year in 2010.

Baxter received his degree in sociology from Cal State Northridge in 2011.