Colorado Mesa University Women's Volleyball

Your browser does not support the audio element. Austin Albers is in his first year as Colorado Mesa University's Head Volleyball Coach after being hired for the position on Feb. 14, 2025. "I am honored to be the next head coach of Colorado Mesa Volleyball. This program has a rich tradition of success, and I am excited to build upon that legacy." Albers said. "My family and I are thrilled to join the Grand Junction community, and I look forward to working with our student-athletes to continue the tradition of excellence both on and off the court. I want to thank the hiring committee, Director of Athletics Joan McDermott, and President Marshall for their trust in me to lead this program." Albers becomes just the fifth coach in the program's history and the third coach for the program in the past 42 years. He inherits a program that has made four straight NCAA Tournament appearances and that has won 90 matches during that time span.  "After a lengthy and competitive search process, Austin rose to the top and we are excited to have him become a Maverick," McDermott said. "Austin is one of the young and up and coming coaches in collegiate volleyball and his track record shows he is a winner and strives for excellence." Albers comes to Colorado Mesa after spending the past six seasons at Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe CSU Pueblo. He had a 93-61 (.604) overall record with the Pack and his team made the NCAA National Tournament in 2021 and 2022. He inherited a team that won five matches in 2018 and took them to a nine-win improvement (14-14) and a trip to the RMAC Tournament in his first season. All six of his CSU Pueblo teams qualified for the RMAC Tournament. His teams also found success in the classroom as his program was awarded with the RMAC Brechler Award in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. The Brechler Award is given to the program with the highest team GPA in the conference.  Prior to his time with CSU Pueblo, he was the head coach of Laramie County Community College where he had a 145-57 career record and left as the program's all-time win percentage leader (.718). He received the AVCA 30 under 30 award along with NJCAA Region IX Coach of the Year and NJCAA DI District C Coach of the Year honors. Albers is no stranger to collegiate athletics as his father, Jhett, is a former Director of Athletics at Black Hills State and was the head volleyball coach at BHSU for 11 seasons. He graduated with honors from Black Hills State University in May of 2012 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science management and a minor in athletic coaching. He played collegiate soccer for Western Nebraska Community College before transferring to BHSU.  Austin is married to his wife Maggie and has two children, Emmitt and Ellison.

Your browser does not support the audio element. David Skaff is in his 16th year as a member of the Colorado Mesa University Maverick volleyball coaching staff and in his eighth as the only head coach in the history of the Mavs’ beach volleyball program, which begin in 2016. Starting as an undergraduate coach at Colorado Mesa University in 2007, he was elevated to a full-time assistant for the indoor program in 2011.  In 2022, Skaff led the Maverick beach program to the AVCA Small College Beach Championship Division II level, the capstone to the Mavs' best ever season, which featured 16 wins, including four wins over NCAA Division I institutions such as the Pac 12's Oregon and Utah. During his time on the indoor coaching staff, he has helped guide the Mavericks’ indoor team to six NCAA Tournament appearances, two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament titles, two RMAC Regular Season crowns and two RMAC West Division titles. In 2016, Skaff was one of just three NCAA Division II Coaches to receive the American Volleyball Coaches Association Thirty Under 30 Award, which honors up-and-coming coaching talent at all levels of the sport.  "Coach Skaff has been instrumental to the growth and success of our program," said head coach Dave Fleming. "He is a great teacher in the gym, is super competitive, and works hard at his craft. He is also a student of the game and is always looking for better way to teach, coach and find the right way to make our student-athletes successful." Skaff interned with the USA Women's National Team under the Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon and Assistant Coaches Karch Kiraly and Jaime Morrison during the summers of 2008-2012.  Coach Skaff has lived in Grand Junction for 20 plus years and enjoys hiking, indoor, beach volleyball, basketball and spelunking. He and his wife Michelle were married in July, 2020.

Your browser does not support the audio element. The 2025 season will be Bri Strong's sixth season as an assistant coach for the Maverick indoor squad and her third as the program's top assistant, now focusing her efforts entirely on the indoor squad after assisting both the CMU indoor and beach volleyball teams for the first three years since officially joining the Maverick athletic staff in March, 2020. In her first year, she helped the Maverick indoor team to win a RMAC Regular Season Championship and helped the Maverick beach team claim their first-ever wins over a Pac-12 opponent (Utah). Her tutelage helped continue the success in 2021-22 as the Maverick beach squad won the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) Small College Division II national title while winning a program-record 16 duals, including four over Division I opponents.  That came on the heels of another strong indoor season as the Mavericks qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament after winning 21 matches throughout the fall. In 2022-23, Strong again helped the Maverick indoor team reach the semifinals of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional during the indoor season before the beach squad won a program-record 19 duals while finishing as the runners-up at the AVCA Small College Championships. The Maverick squad then posted one of their best seasons in the fall of 2023, going 24-5 while again qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. Strong then helped guide the Mavs to another 23-6 season while reaching the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year in 2024. She named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) initial's class of Thirty Under 30 Beach Award Winners in the spring of 2021. Strong came to the Mavericks after serving as an assistant coach at Cornell College in her hometown of Mount Vernon, Iowa for the previous five indoor seasons (2015-19). In her time with the Rams, Strong helped the program to Midwest Conference regular season championships in every year with the program. They also won four Midwest Conference Tournament titles and made NCAA Division III appearances each season from 2015-18.   At Cornell, Strong was the Rams’ defensive coordinator and directly coached the middle blockers.  In 2019, the Rams had five all-conference selections, including both starting middles and AVCA All-American libero Sydney Meeker.   In 2018, Strong also worked with All-American middle Nicole Ciari and setter Jillian Schulte, a NCAA Woman of the Year Top 30 award finalist.   No stranger to Colorado, Strong was a standout player at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, where she played from 2010-14, including her redshirt season.  In her time with the Bears, Strong helped the team win three Big Sky Conference Championships and make three NCAA Division I Tournament appearances (2011, 12, 14.  She earned all-conference honors in both 2013 and 2014 and still holds the Bears’ career record for attack percentage (.330) while ranking amongst the top 10 in career kills (877), solo blocks (51), block assists (302), total blocks (353) and total points (1073). In 2012, she also led the BSC in overall hitting percentage at .370 and hit .403 in conference matches, which was a conference record at the time.   A December 2014 graduate of UNC with a bachelor’s degree in social sciences.   While in high school, Strong helped lead the Mount Vernon Mustangs to state titles in both basketball and volleyball as a senior in 2019-10, and was a 3-year all-state volleyball selection.    Her parents, Ken & Deb, still reside in Mount Vernon.  Her sister, Shawna Mahoney, lives in Springville, Iowa.   When not coaching, she enjoys hiking, camping, backpacking and fishing.

Your browser does not support the audio element. Annemarie Chin is in her first year as an assistant volleyball coach at Colorado Mesa University.   Chin joins the CMU staff after working with new CMU Head Coach Austin Albers and the ThunderWolf program at CSU Pueblo, during the 2024 campaign.  She was then named as the Pack’s interim head coach after CMU hired Albers in February, 2025.   “We’re excited to add Annemarie to our staff. Being able to add another full time assistant shows the commitment of our athletic department and University to the continued success of Maverick Volleyball,” Albers said.   “Coach AC will bring another fresh perspective into the gym and be a great teacher and resource for our students. We’re glad she found a home at Colorado Mesa,” he continued.   Prior to CSU Pueblo, Chin had spent five seasons as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.  She also was the Earlham Athletic department’s chief branding officer, creating and directing the department’s marketing efforts and managing their brand identity.   In her five seasons at Earlham, Chin helped lead the Quakers to a 75-55 overall record with a 30-15 record in Heartland Conference play. She helped lead the program to a regular season Heartland Conference championship in 2021.   CSU Pueblo then posted winning 16-11 overall and 9-5 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference marks last year.   Chin started her coaching career at the high school level, serving as an assistant coach for three years (2016-18) at Leon High School in Tallahassee, Florida.  She helped the Lions reach the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class 6A Final Four in 2016 and 2018 and finishing as the State Runner-up in 2017. Chin also played for the Lions, leading them to their first state title when they won the Class 6A Championship in 2011. As a collegiate player, Chin was a four-year starter as a libero at NCAA Division I High Point University. In her time as a player, she earned multiple All-Big South Conference honors and earned her way into the HPU record book, amassing 1,907 career digs, third most in High Point history.   She earned Second-Team All-Big South and Big South All-Freshman Team honors in 2012 after recording 438 digs and averaging 3.68 digs per set to finish seventh among Big South leaders. She then tallied 628 digs as a sophomore in 2013, averaging 5.41 digs per set, which was fourth among Big South dig leaders. Chin capped her collegiate career with a Big South Conference-leading 662 digs (5.61 digs per set) as a senior in 2015 while picking up First Team All-Big South honors. Her dig total was the third-highest single season digs tally in High Point's Division I era and was the ninth highest total in NCAA Division I that season.   She graduated from High Point in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in graphic design and digital imaging.  

Your browser does not support the audio element. After an award-winning 5-year career as a student-athlete in both indoor and beach volleyball, Ara Norwood is in her first season as an assistant coach for the Mavericks. She is also the executive assistant to the CMU’s Vice President of Communications David Ludlam. Norwood, affectionately known as “Bob”, completed her master’s degree in sports administration in 2022 after using the NCAA’s blanket COVID waiver for a fifth year of eligibility. Norwood finished her career as the winningest CMU beach volleyball player in program history with 36 wins and went 14-9 as a fifth-year senior as the Mavs claimed the AVCA Small College Division II Beach Championship national title in 2022. In the indoor game, Norwood recorded 1,636 assists and 619 digs in 106 career matches from 2017-21 as a setter and defensive specialist earning a pair of Honorable Mention All-RMAC honors (2018-19).  She was also named to the RMAC All-Tournament team in 2018 after helping lead the Mavs to the RMAC Tournament title and to the first of her two (2021) NCAA Tournament appearances.  Norwood also helped run the Maverick attack during the 2021 spring season that saw the Mavericks go 15-1 and a perfect 11-0 in RMAC play to win the conference title. A native of Ridgway, Colorado, Norwood was also a 4-time RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll recipient and was a leading member of the CMU SAAC (Student Athlete Advisory Committee).