Friends University Women's Volleyball

Ayin has achieved his initial goal of getting the program to qualify for the national tournament, he has new goals, and new expectations. He wants his program to learn how to build on the tradition of success they started in also during his time here and to strive to be a championship team every single year, one in which "Tradition Never Graduates." The Falcons have had four seasons with 25 plus wins and a season with 30 plus wins along with a 18-0 Conference record in the last six years. Friends taken a stand at home, and have won 83% of their matches inside the Garvey P.E. Center, going 86-18 since 2008. Prior to accepting this position at Friends University, Coach Ayin spent two seasons as an assistant men's volleyball coach at Newman University where he also worked as the recruiting coordinator. In his last year as an assistant at Newman, he helped lead them to the NAIA national title game in which they hosted and finished as national runner up. Before pursuing his coaching career, he was a defensive specialist at Marycrest International University in Davenport, Iowa for his first three years of school. He helped the team qualify for nationals each year, culminating in a national runner up finish in 2001. For his senior year, Ayin transferred to Newman University for his Biology degree and he was the starting libero for their volleyball team. Ayin led both teams in defense and placed in many defensive statistical categories at the national level. Before his college coaching career, Ayin coached the junior varsity volleyball team at Rose Hill High School in 2003 to a record of 19-5 and he helped the varsity team to a runner-up finish at the sub state finals. In addition to Coach Ayin's coaching at Friends University, he has become a well-known club coach in the Wichita area as he started the Redline Volleyball Club in 2005. The mission of the club is to give area volleyball players at the middle school and high school level an opportunity to play and get better and get exposure for the next level. Ayin believes in giving these young people a chance to play games like any other club but he also believes in the individual coaching of each member so they are getting prepared properly to play. The Redline Volleyball Club has become a formidable club in the Heart of America region. 90 percent of his club members have gone on to play in college, over 30 have been a Falcon here at Friends. In February of 2013 Coach Ayin was inducted into the Newman University Athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the coaching staff on the 2004 mens volleyball team that finished runner up in the 2004 NAIA-Tachikara Mens National Championship. Ayin brings more than a decade of combined experience as a player and coach to the program. Coach Ayins life time record at Friends University is 233-181  (.563), KCAC record of 145-73 (.665), KCAC playoff Record of 10-8, two KCAC Tournament Championships, one KCAC Regular Season Championship, and two NAIA National Tournament berths. Over the last eight seasons, Ayin has amassed a 199-94 record overall (.683) with a 120-26 mark in conference play (.822). Ayin resides in Wichita with his wife Anna and their sons Alex and Jack.   Coaching History 2004: KCAC Record 1-17, Overall 3-31 2005: KCAC Record 9-9, Overall 10-21, qualified for KCAC tournament 2006: KCAC Record 7-11, Overall 10-21, qualified for KCAC tournament 2007: KCAC Record 8-10, Overall 12-19, qualified for KCAC tournament 2008: KCAC Record 15-3, Overall 22-10, placed 2nd in KCAC 2009: KCAC Record 15-3, Overall 28-11, 2nd in KCAC, KCAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPS* 2010: KCAC Record 18-0, Overall 32-9, KCAC REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS, KCAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPS* 2011: KCAC Record 13-5, Overall 26-11, placed 3rd in KCAC, Eliminated in Semi Final of KCAC Tournament 2012: KCAC Record 14-4, Overall 21-15, placed 2nd in the KCAC, Eliminated in Semi Final of KCAC Tournament 2013: KCAC Record 14-4, Overall 26-13, tied for 3rd in KCAC, Eliminated in Semi Final of KCAC Tournament 2014: KCAC Record 16-2, Overall 26-15, placed 2nd in KCAC, Eliminated in Semi Final of KCAC Tournament 2015: KCAC Record 15-5, Overall 18-10, placed 3rd in KCAC, Eliminated in Semi Final of KCAC Tournament *QUALIFIED FOR NATIONALS Zac Rambo enters his second season as an assistant coach for the Falcon Volleyball program in 2016. Rambo comes to Friends after coaching at the Chaos volleyball club the last three years where he was the U18 head coach. Rambo joined the Air Force in 2010, currently ranking as a Senior Airman (E-4) on active duty. He coached with the All-Military team in 2013 at the Al Udeid Air Forcce Base, Qatar, while deployed there. Rambo attended Lake Superior State University where he majored in Sociology before entering the Air Force. Crystal (Taporco) Vrbas returns to the Falcons as an assistant coach in her first year in 2016. Vrbas finished her Falcon career as one of the best in program history, accumulating 928 kills and 485 blocks (79 solo), with almost all of the stats coming in the last three years of playing time. She had career-highs of 26 kills and 17 blocks, both Friends records during the 25-Point Rally era (the blocks came in a four-set match). Vrbas hit 0.327 (2122 attacks, 233 errors) in her career. Vrbas holds 11 of the Falcon top-10 single-season records during the current scoring era, and is #2 in career blocks and hitting percentage and #3 in kills. The Falcons went 78-39 overall and 46-13 in the KCAC when she was on the floor from 2010-2013. Vrbas earned First Team All-KCAC honors as well as being an NAIA Scholar-Athlete following her junior and senior seasons (2012 & 2013), and was an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American in 2013. Vrbas is currently studying Physical Therapy at Wichita State University. She and her husband, Caleb, live in Derby.