Posted: Jul 02, 2023
Westcliff Athletics named a new women's beach head coach and Irvine Valley added an indoor assistant coach with lots of accomplishments at the same time.
Former IVC star indoor and beach player Hannah Matt has been named the new head coach of the Westcliff women's beach program.
She will also be a top assistant for the Laser women's indoor volleyball team this fall with Eric Olson and Kris Johnson under new women's head coach Anna Unke.
Matt heads to a Westcliff beach program, which was crowned the 2023 NAIA West Region National Qualifier champion.
"While at IVC, we had an undefeated season my freshman year and won state in both indoor and beach," Matt said on the Westcliff website. "I was surrounded by incredible coaches such as Tom Pestolesi and Butch May and ended up getting recruited by Long Beach State."
The program at Long Beach State was consistently a nationally top-ranked school and made it to the NCAA tournament her first year.
After two successful seasons at Long Beach State, Matt ended up back at IVC, but this time in a coaching role.
Matt coached at IVC, Concordia, and local high schools all while balancing going back to school to get her masters in clinical mental health counseling.
"I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the psychology behind athletics, so I've been working as a therapist, coaching, and providing mental skills coaching for athletes for the past several years," Matt added on the Westcliff site.
"I became a coach because of my love for beach volleyball and it's been a constant source of joy and learning for me and I hope to teach others how incredible this sport and its community of people can be."
Matt will take the leadership role of women's volleyball coach at Westcliff University which has been one of the most successful programs in the whole athletic department.
At IVC, Matt was a part of state championship teams in both indoor and beach play during the 2014-15 school year.
The 2016 IVC beach volleyball team also finished as runner-up in the state with Matt as key player on the team.
She helped Irvine Valley's indoor team to consecutive Orange Empire Conference titles in 2014 and 2015.
During the 2014 season, in which Irvine Valley finished with a perfect record of 27-0, Matt, who played middle blocker, averaged 1.63 kills and 0.70 blocks per set.
She had at least six kills in 14 matches.
In 2015, Matt, who played outside hitter, averaged 2.74 kills, 1.18 digs and 0.48 blocks per set. She was named first team all-Orange Empire Conference for her efforts.
Matt was named first team all-conference in 2016 on the beach squad.
