Emporia State University Women's Volleyball

Ken Murczek, a coach with a record of turning programs around at all levels, is the eighth head volleyball coach in Emporia State history and completed his second season at Emporia State in 2024. In year two, Emporia State again improved overall and MIAA win totals, posting a 17-10 record with a 9-7 record in the association. The Hornets' 17 wins were the most since the 2013 season. In 2024, Emporia State had four players earn All-MIAA recognition, with Weronika Wrzesinska earning First Team honors and Rayishon Jackman being named the Freshman of the Year, while Brailee Bogle and Camilla Ossola earned Honorable Mention.  Wrzesinska was also named Second Team All-Central Region by the D2CCA, marking the second straight season for a Hornet to earn All-Region honors. Similarly to year one under Murczek, the Hornets also found success off the court with six earning nods on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll while Camilla Ossola was named an MIAA Scholar-Athlete. As a team, the Hornets posted a 3.81 GPA in the fall, followed by a 3.87 in the spring semester. In his first season with the Hornets in 2023, Murczek went 13-16 overall and 7-13 in the MIAA, improving the overall record from 4-25 and the MIAA record from 1-19 in the previous season. In addition to the increased win total, the Hornets made their first MIAA Tournament appearance since the 2018 season. In 2023, two players received All-MIAA recognition with Sandora Sasaki being unanimously named First Team All-MIAA at outside hitter, while Brailee Bogle earned Honorable Mention honors at setter.  Sandora Sasaki was also named First Team All-Central Region by the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA) and Third Team D2CCA All-American. Sasaki ranked third nationally in both kills and attacks per set, tenth in total kills and had the first and second highest total kills in a four-set match during the 2023 season. Emporia State also saw success off the court in Murczek's first season as seven Hornets were named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll. Prior to arriving at Emporia State, Murczek completed his third season at Oregon Tech where he went 51-27 with a trip to the NAIA National Tournament in 2021.  He took Oregon Tech to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time in school history in 2021.  Along the way the Owls defeated Westmont (Calif.) in front of a home crowd of 1,151 fans on Danny Miles Court. The year ended with a school record for single season wins on the way to a #21 final ranking in the 2021 NAIA Coaches Poll. The Owls received two All-American and seven All-Cascade Conference honors in his three years.  Prior to Oregon Tech he spent three seasons as the assistant coach at his alma mater San Diego State University. He was the head men’s coach at the University of Charleston and tripled their win total from the previous season. Murczek served as the head women’s coach at Wake Forest from 2013-15 and in his first season saw a five win increase from the year before.  Wake Forest was 29-9 outside the ACC during his three seasons. He made the jump to the Power 5 after three seasons at North Texas. In his first stint as a NCAA Division I head coach, the Mean Green won a pair of Sun Belt West Division titles, including a school record-tying 26 wins including a trip to the Sun Belt Tournament finals in 2012. Murczek was 63-42 (.600) at North Texas for the best winning percentage in school history. No stranger to the Sunflower State Murczek was an assistant at Kansas from 2008-09. The Jayhawks improved their NCAA RPI ranking from 112th to 53rd in his two seasons. Nine of KU’s 20 Big 12 matches in 2009 were against Top 25 teams including a 3-1 win over then #21 Baylor. In addition to his time in Lawrence, Murczek spent time as an assistant at the University of Virginia, Western Michigan and Purdue. While at Purdue in 2004 the Boilermakers advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 14 years and upset then #9 Colorado State in the first round. Murczek spent two seasons as the head coach at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind. from 2002-03. In his first season doubled their conference win total and advanced to the GLVC Tournament for the first time in three years. He began his collegiate coaching career at Cuyamaca College in San Diego, Calif. where he led the team to their first conference tournament bid in school history. In addition to his coaching resume, Murczek has enjoyed success as a player at all levels. He was an All-State selection at Marist HS in Chicago in 1993.  He began his collegiate volleyball career at Lewis University before transferring to Division I San Diego State, where his team received top 15 votes during his senior season. Murczek finished ranked fifth in the country in digs per game. He then went on to the University of Arizona where his club volleyball team won back-to-back national championships. After college, Murczek played four seasons of professional six person indoor volleyball in Switzerland, Germany, France, and Indonesia. He has also competed in several beach volleyball tournaments during the summer months throughout the United States. The Chicago, Ill. native earned his B.S. in kinesiology from San Diego State University in 1998 before going on to earn a master's in teaching and teacher education from the University of Arizona in 2000. Murczek also holds a masters in sport management from Western Michigan in 2007. He earned his Ed.D. in kinesiology from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2019. Murczek and his wife, Jennifer, married in August 2007.   Year Overall MIAA Postseason 2024 17-10 9-7 (6th) MIAA Tournament Appearance 2023 13-16 7-13 (8th) MIAA Tournament Appearance Total 30-26 16-20 2x MIAA Tournament Appearances

Coaching Career Azusa Pacific, assistant women's coach & head men's club (1989-91) Weber State, assistant coach (1992) Wyoming, assistant coach (1993-96) K-State, assistant coach (1997-99) K-State, assistant/associate head coach (2002-2022.) A coaching veteran with 30 years of collegiate coaching experience, 27 of them at the DI level, Jeff Grove has joined the Emporia State volleyball program as an Associate Head Coach. Grove will serve as the defensive coordinator coaching the Hornet defense and liberos while coordinating the defensive game plans and scouting reports and assisting with other positions. Grove was the Associate Head Coach at K-State from 2002-2022. He also assisted with the Wildcats from 1997-2000. From helping orchestrate the rise of the program in the late `90s to maintaining its success with Head Coach Suzie Fritz for 20 years, Grove has played a big role in K-State being one of the nation’s top programs. In his 23 years as an assistant, a stretch that includes 15 winning seasons, Grove has helped lead K-State to 390 wins, 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, and a Big 12 Conference title in 2003. As the defensive coordinator for the Wildcats, he has also coached a number of great defensive players, including two-time Big 12 Liberos of the Year Laura Downey-Wallace and Angie Lastra, First Team All-Big 12 and AVCA All-American Lauren Goehring, and Volleyball Magazine All-American and three-time First Team All-Big 12 Kaitlynn Pelger. In 2017, Grove made the switch to the offensive side of the ball serving as the Wildcats offensive coordinator which included a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 and a top 3 finish in the Big 12 in 2020. In addition to the role as the defensive coach, the California native is the team’s associate head coach, helping in the development of all phases of the program, coordinating and evaluating all statistical and video applications, creating opponent scouting reports and game plans. Grove has coached many outstanding defensive players in K-State history, including Lastra, the most prolific libero for the Wildcats. Lastra finished her career atop the career digs list with 2,032 - a record that still stands. She holds multiple school records, including digs by a freshman and senior as well as digs by any Wildcat in a season. Lastra was also the first libero to be named Big 12 Player of the Week before the conference created an award for both offense and defense. Grove also helped develop libero Lauren Mathewson, who recorded three of the top-six performances in terms of digs in a single season in program history. Matthewson, a three-time Academic All-Big 12 selection, is second in school history in career digs. That trend of great liberos has continued with recent graduate Kersten Kober, who finished her career with three consecutive 400-dig seasons – including 2015 when she had 500, the seventh-most by a Wildcat in program history. Kober, the 2015 Big 12 Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, amassed 1,554 career digs to place her fourth all-time in the K-State record books. During Grove’s first tour in Manhattan, he was one of the original members of Jim McLaughlin’s staff at K-State and a significant component in building the successful Wildcat program of today. He helped guide the team to a 60-34 overall record from 1997-99 and three consecutive bids to the NCAA Tournament. He was responsible for coaching the outside hitters, including K-State’s first All-American Dawn Cady and former Team USA alternate Kim Zschau. He also assisted with team travel and recruiting. Before joining McLaughlin’s staff, Grove spent four seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming from 1993-96. During his tenure on the Cowgirl staff, the program posted a 54-64 (.458) overall record and a 25-33 mark in conference (WAC) play. In 1994, the Cowgirls posted a 17-13 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. He began coaching at Wyoming in 1993 after a one-year stint as the lone assistant coach at Weber State in Ogden, Utah. Grove began his coaching career at his alma mater Azusa Pacific while still an undergraduate. He served as the lone assistant coach for the women’s team to help build the program into one of the top NAIA teams. He was also a player/coach for the men’s club team. He also has experience at the Olympic level serving an internship with the U.S. National Volleyball Teams. Grove has assisted with USA Volleyball over the years, including serving as an assistant coach for the Junior National A2 Team in July of 2008, working with some of the top young talent in the nation. For 20 years, he was a floor coach/talent evaluator at the U.S. Collegiate National Team tryouts in Colorado Springs. A native of Goleta, California, Grove earned his bachelor’s degree in communication with a minor in business administration from Azusa Pacific in 1991. He is married to the former Julie Abbott and the couple has two children, Kaitlyn and Jonathan.