Loyola University Chicago Men's Volleyball

In his first season back at the helm of the program, Shane Davis led Loyola Chicago's men's volleyball team to its fourth MIVA Tournament Championship, winning nine straight sets to do so, which resulted in the squad's first NCAA Tournament berth since 2015. Under Davis' leadership, the Ramblers finished with their best conference record (13-3) in 10 years and marked the first 20-win regular season since 2023, culminating in Loyola's eighth overall regular season championship title.  The Maroon and Gold posted a 17-1 record inside Gentile Arena and went 8-2 on the road, the program's best away mark in over a decade. Against AVCA Top 20 opponents, Loyola had an 8-3 ledger, including four ranked victories over nonconference teams (Penn State, Pepperdine, UC San Diego and CSUN). Davis remains the winningest coach in program history with a 289-92 career record and a .759 winning percentage.  Davis coached four AVCA All-Americans in his first year back at the bench – First Teamer Parker Van Buren, Second Team selections Nicodemus Meyer and Daniel Fabikovic, and Honroable Mention Ryan McElligott. The same four Ramblers were also named to the All-MIVA First Team, which is a program-best since 2018. Van Buren was the 2025 MIVA Player of the Year and the MIVA Tournament MVP while McElligott finished as the NCAA and MIVA assist leader.  In November 2024, Davis returned to Rogers Park for his 21st all-time season as a head coach and his 13th at Loyola. The four-time MIVA Coach of the Year and 2014 AVCA Coach of the Year piloted the Ramblers to three straight NCAA Final Four appearances between 2013 and 2015, clinching two consecutive national championships in '14 and '15.   During his previous tenure at Loyola from 2003 to 2015, Davis produced 43 All-MIVA picks, four of whom were MIVA Players of the Year, and 12 All-Americans, including two Olympic bronze medalists. Thomas Jaeschke ('15) and Jeff Jendryk ('18) earned bronze in the 2024 Paris Olympics; Jaeschke previously won bronze at the 2016 Olympics. In 2015, Jaeschke was named the AVCA National Player of the Year and Jendryk was the AVCA Newcomer of the Year. Hailing from Denver, Iowa, Davis was an exceptional member of Loyola's men's volleyball team from 2000 to 2003, during which he set a school record for career assists (5,337), and reached second place in program history in career digs (723). Davis was named Loyola's 2003 Male Athlete of the Year.  As a freshman, he recorded 1,528 assists in a single season, good for third all-time, and was named MIVA Freshman of the Year in addition to grabbing All-MIVA Third Team honors. He received All-MIVA First Team honors in each of the next three seasons and was also an AVCA Second Team All-American selection in 2003.   Davis led Loyola to 78 wins in his collegiate career, highlighted by a 24-6 season in 2002 when the Ramblers reached the MIVA Tournament championship match for just the third time in school history.  He was the first men's volleyball student-athlete or coach to be inducted into the Loyola Athletics Hall of Fame (2018).   After 12 seasons at Loyola, Davis left for Northwestern where he spent eight seasons as the head women's volleyball coach. Davis' first two Wildcat recruiting classes ranked 22nd and 18th, respectively, with the 2017 season squad posting the best hitting percentage in program history.   His 2022 recruiting class ranked seventh in the country, marking the highest ranked recruiting class in Northwestern women's volleyball history. In every season since he took over in 2016, the Wildcats had an outside hitter rank top five in the Big Ten in kills per set.   Davis and his wife, Andrea, are the proud parents of daughters Sydney, Jordyn and Riley.  

In his first season as Loyola Chicago’s men’s volleyball associate head coach, Kyle Exline helped guide the team to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015, fourth MIVA Tournament Championship and eighth regular season title.   Alongside head coach Shane Davis and assistant coach Dalton Solbrig, Exline coached the Ramblers to their best MIVA record (13-3) in a decade and the first 20-win regular season since 2023. Loyola posted a 17-1 ledger at home and went 8-2 on the road – its best away mark in over 10 years. The team was 8-3 against AVCA Top 20 opponents, including four ranked wins over nonconference foes. Exline assisted the Ramblers to becoming the nation’s No. 1 kills per set leader (13.35) and in having the second-best hitting clip in the country (.368).   Under this coaching staff, Loyola collected 28 total postseason awards in 2025: 10 Academic All-MIVA picks, four All-MIVA First Teamers, four AVCA All-Americans (one first team, two second team and one honorable mention), three All-MIVA Tournament selections – and the tournament MVP – three College Sports Communicators Academic All-District members, one CSC Academic All-American At-Large First Teamer, one MIVA Player of the Year, and the AVCA Team Academic Award.   As the domestic recruiting coordinator, Exline helped sign three stateside commitments to the 2026 men’s volleyball roster.   Exline returned to Loyola, where he was a four-year letterwinner and three-year captain from 2008-11, as the men's volleyball associate head coach in December 2024. He rejoined his alma mater following a highly decorated tenure as the head coach of North Central College's men's volleyball program. With the Cardinals, Exline led the men's team from its inception in 2016, amassing a 139-74 record over nine seasons.   He guided the program to its first-ever CCIW regular season and tournament titles in 2023, culminating in a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Division III Championship and earning Exline the CCIW and AVCA Region Coach of the Year awards. Exline was also the head coach of North Central's women's volleyball program from 2017 to 2022. Prior to his time in Naperville, Exline served as a graduate assistant at Carthage College where he helped coach the men's volleyball team to the 2012 NCAA DIII Championship match and the women's team to an NCAA semifinal appearance. His coaching accolades extend to the USA Volleyball circuit where Exline has held various roles with national development teams for over a decade. Exline earned a master of education with an emphasis in leadership teaching from Carthage in 2014 and his bachelor's degree in natural psychology from Loyola in 2011.  

In his debut season as the assistant coach of Loyola Chicago’s men’s volleyball team, Dalton Solbrig helped coach the Ramblers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015, fourth MIVA Tournament Championship and eighth regular season title.    With head coach Shane Davis and associate head coach Kyle Exline back in the Maroon and Gold, Solbrig and staff guided Loyola to its best MIVA record (13-3) since 2015 and the first 20-win regular season in two years. The Ramblers posted a 17-1 ledger inside Gentile Arena and had their best record on the road in over a decade, going 8-2. Loyola went 8-3 versus AVCA Top 20 opponents, including four ranked wins over nonconference foes.   The Ramblers’ defense finished first in the MIVA and third in the country in blocks per set (2.56), with middle blocker Nicodemus Meyer leading the charge and capping his collegiate career as the No. 2 blocker in the NCAA DI-II.   Under this coaching staff, Loyola collected 28 total postseason awards in 2025: 10 Academic All-MIVA picks, four All-MIVA First Teamers, four AVCA All-Americans (one first team, two second team and one honorable mention), three All-MIVA Tournament selections – and the tournament MVP – three College Sports Communicators Academic All-District members, one CSC Academic All-American At-Large First Teamer, one MIVA Player of the Year, and the AVCA Team Academic Award.  As Loyola's international recruiting coordinator, Solbrig helped sign two global commits to the 2026 men’s volleyball roster.   Before joining the Ramblers in December 2024, Solbrig served as an assistant coach at Dominican University where he helped lead the team to a NACC regular season and tournament championship, as well as an NCAA Round of 16 appearance in 2024. His mentorship with the team's middles earned two players NACC Second Team All-Conference honors and Solbrig was recognized as part of the NACC Coaching Staff of the Year.   Solbrig gained his first coaching experience at Adversity Volleyball Club in Vernon Hills, Ill. where he coached the boys' and girls' youth teams for the last two years. Preceding his coaching career, Solbrig played professional volleyball for two different teams in Europe.   As a professional volleyball player, Solbrig was a middle blocker and competed with OK Mladost Ribola Kaštela in Croatia, where he won the Croatian League title and was named the best blocker/attacker in 2019-20. Solbrig later played for SVG Lüneburg in Germany, achieving the league's highest hitting percentage for the 2021-22 season.  In his collegiate playing years at University of Hawaii, Solbrig was a standout middle blocker who set the highest hitting percentage in program history and helped his team to a runner-up finish in the 2019 NCAA DI National Championship. He earned a bachelor of science degree in marine biology from Hawaii.