Eastern University Women's Volleyball

In June of 2022, Harry Bitzberger became the second head coach in Eastern Men's Volleyball program history. As he has served on the  Eastern Women's Volleyball staff since 2019, Bitzberger is familiar with the University and the department.  He brings a vast array of coaching and leadership experiences to the program. Bitzberger graduated from the  the Virginia Military Institute and began his coaching career while serving. as an officer in the military. After four years of service, he moved into the corporate world in the healthcare industry. He transitioned into small business ownership and  returned to coaching when his children started showing interest in athletics. He coached a wide variety of sports. He found success in volleyball where he became a West Division Director at East Coast Power and helped develop the girls program at West Chester's Rustin High School.  He has coached at every age in the club. He is a believer in lifelong learning and has continued his education through USA Volleyball and Gold Medal Squared. He has a Master's Degree from the University of Arkansas.  Bitzberger is committed to using athletics to develop young people and to building Eastern Men's Volleyball into a premier program.

Head Coach Mark Birtwistle has been at the helm of Eastern University Volleyball since 1990. In the 2023 MAC Commonwealth Championship match, Birtwistle earned his 800th career win. Now, with nearly 850 career wins, Birtwistle ranks second on the All-Time Career Wins list for active NCAA DIII volleyball coaches. He is one of only eight coaches in Division III history to reach 800 wins. He has been named the conference Coach of the Year 10 times and earned AVCA Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year six times in 2002, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2016. Eastern Volleyball enjoyed a run of 10 consecutive seasons being ranked in the AVCA top 25, and remains the only program at Eastern to advance to the NCAA Final Four. In addition, Eastern Women's Volleyball has made three trips to the NCAA Elite Eight.   Eastern has won 24 conference championships and competed in the NCAA Tournament 22 times. The program reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen 10 times and set a program record,15 consecutive first-round victories in the NCAA Tournament. Birtwistle and his coaching staff have trained and mentored over 100 All-Conference players, 50 All-Region selections and 40 All-Americans.  Eastern Volleyball is proud to be the only program, at any division, to have two classmates be 4-time All-Americans and is also one of only three programs in the history of NCAA DIII volleyball to have 3 players be 4-time All-Americans. Birtwistle’s players have also been successful in the classroom earning a team GPA over 3.0 for more than a decade and earned the AVCA’s Team Academic Honor Roll Award indicating Eastern’s team GPA is in the top 20% of all schools in the nation. Eastern volleyball players have been named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, Conference Senior Scholar-Athletes and more than 100 individuals have been named to the MAC Academic Honor Roll since 2008. In 2014 and 2015, two different individuals were named the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Academic All-Area Performer of the Year. That award is given to only one athlete for all the area colleges and universities in each of the three levels of NCAA competition. Coach Birtwistle is a 2021 Eastern University Hall of Honor inductee. He is the only active head coach with the honor.  A year later he was also inducted into the Hall with his 2011 Women’s Volleyball team who finished with the year with a 36-3 record and advanced to the NCAA Division III Final Four. Birtwistle and his wife Heidi, Eastern’s Senior Associate Athletic Director, reside in Downingtown.  They have a daughter, Ali, who is a teacher in Denver, Colo. and a son, Jackson, who played 3 seasons of lacrosse at Syracuse University and is playing his last season for the Ohio State University. Head Coach Mark Birtwistle- Year-by-Year results Contact Coach Birtwistle: 610-341-1784 (O), 610-247-0626 (C) [email protected] 8.12.25

Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, Krista Rodgers played volleyball at the University of Mary Washington where she earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-America, All-Region, All-State and All-Conference honors her senior season.  Krista was also selected as the Coast-to-Coast Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the Coast-to-Coast Senior Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2022-2023.  Krista, a middle hitter for the UMW Eagles, led her team in hitting percentage and blocks and guided her team to their first ever C2C Conference Championship and NCAA Tournament Regional Final appearance.  Rodgers finished her career with 684 kills and 284 blocks. She hit a career-best .375 in her senior season and ended her career with a .345 average.  She became UMW's fifth volleyball All-American since 2016.   Rodgers also served as the Co-President for the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and earned a variety of Academic Honors including Dean's List, Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society and Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honors Society.   Coach Krista has taught and mentored athletes for multiple club teams including 540 VBC in Fredericksburg, VA, as well as East Coast Power and Synergy VBC. Krista also spends significant time over the summers working various college volleyball camps.  Krista serves an important role in all facets of our program including our recruiting process, contacting and communicating with future Eagles. Krista also works directly with the Eastern front line, focused on the team's blocking and offensive systems.   8.12.25

Jonathan Pang enters his tenth season as an assistant coach with Eastern Volleyball. He is an adjunct professor in Eastern's Kinesiology Department and will use his expertise in Exercise Science to help train our student-athletes.  While earning his undergraduate at Eastern in 2017, Jonathan interned for Villanova University as a strength & conditioning coach with the football, baseball, golf, and volleyball teams. He currently works as a Personal Trainer. He has NSCA certification as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Jonathan is from Staten Island, NY where he played high school volleyball. He played at the University of Miami for one year before making the move to Australia, and eventually back to Pennsylvania. He continues to play in various leagues and tournaments in the area. 9/16/25