Missouri Western State University Women's Volleyball

Jessica Fey (pronounced 'Fie') is in her fourth season as head coach for Missouri Western Volleyball. She enters 2025 with a record of 55-36 with the Griffons and an 80-89 career record overall. 2024 SEASON Missouri Western continued its steady improvement under Coach Fey's leadership in 2024, as the Griffons went 23-8 and made it back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017. The Griffons raced out to an 11-2 start in 2024 - the best start in the NCAA Division II era and the best overall since 1987. Missouri Western notched three wins over ranked teams, including a 3-1 victory over No. 11 Central Oklahoma.  Seven players on the team earned all-MIAA recognition, while two more, Nessa Johnson and Taylor Russell, were both named all-region and all-American. Lily Kurz was named as the MIAA's Co-Defensive Player of the Year and was a first team all-region pick by the D2CCA. 2023 SEASON Missouri Western recorded 21 wins - their most since 2017. The Griffons earned the No. 5 seed in the MIAA tournament and fell to Central Missouri in the semifinals. The Griffons posted wins over No. 25 Harding, No. 15 Washburn and then No. 25 Washburn. Five Griffons earned all-MIAA honors that season, including Anna Weberg and Holly Heldt, who garnered first-team all-conference honors. Heldt was also named MIAA Freshman of the Year. 2022 SEASON Fey led the Griffons to an 11-18 overall record and 8-12 mark in the MIAA during her debut season as head coach. Their performance earned them the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament at the Civic Arena in St. Joseph. Griffon Volleyball secured a remarkable 3-1 victory against No. 17, Washburn, during Senior Day 2022 at MWSU Fieldhouse. This win marked a significant milestone for the Griffons as it is the first time they defeated a ranked team since October 13, 2017, when they beat No. 7 Central Oklahoma. Under Fey's leadership, Danielle Moje was named to the 2022 All-MIAA First Team for the first time in her career.  BEFORE MWSU Fey took over a Western Colorado program in 2018 that won just two matches the previous season and has just six winning seasons in its 41-year history. The decade of the 2010s saw the Mountaineers post a 1-26 season in 2013, a 2-20 season in 2014, and a 2-25 record in 2017. Fey helped bring the program back to respectability, increasing the team's winning percentage in each of her four years at the helm. In 2021, she led the Mountaineers to a 13-14 record, the program's third-highest single-season wins total in nearly two decades. WCU is also coming off back-to-back RMAC tournament appearances after a previous five-year absence. The Crete, Nebraska, native graduated from Washburn in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology while playing for the Ichabods from 2009 to 2012. She was a Daktronics First Team All-American in 2012 while earning All-American Honorable Mention recognition from the AVCA in 2011 and 2012. She was a three-time AVCA All-Region First Team selection and was the MIAA and Daktronics Central Region Player of the Year in 2012. As a player, Fey posted a career .322 attack percentage in four years at Washburn - fourth highest in school history, and is one of 10 Ichabods to record over 1,000 kills and 300 blocks in a career.  She became the 16th member of Washburn's 1,000-kill club on Oct. 16, 2012, and closed her career with 1,211 kills and 342 blocks. Part of two MIAA championship teams, Fey and the Ichabods earned an NCAA Tournament appearance every season while being ranked in the top 10 of the AVCA poll in all but one week during her four-year career. As an assistant at Washburn from 2014-17, Fey primarily worked with hitters and assisted in recruiting. The Ichabods posted a 98-33 overall record during her four-year stint on the sidelines. Fey was inducted into the Washburn Hall of Fame in their 2023 class for her contributions to her sport. 

Emily Jensen will join the Griffons ahead of the 2025-26 academic year, and will lead the combined collaborative effort of the MWSU cheer and dance teams.   Jensen joins the Griffons as a first-time head coach after spending five years as an assistant at Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas. A native of Dallas, she began her college spirit career at Texas Woman's as part of the program's inaugural dance team in 2017. She also served as a team captain, while earning NDA All-America honors. Jensen was named TWU's graduate assistant coach in 2020 and was elevated to assistant coach in 2023.   During her five years on the coaching staff at TWU, Jensen played a key part in the team's program-record finishes at NDA Nationals and the USA Collegiate Championships, including their first National Championship in 2025.   Emily owns a BA in Dance Education and a Master's Degree in Dance from TWU. She also served as an adjunct professor of Dance at the University of North Texas for the past two years and was a graduate teaching assistant at TWU. Jensen's 20-plus years in movement training spans several genres, including pom, jazz, hip-hop, contemporary, ballet, modern, tap and musical theater. She continues to serve as a veteran choreographer and adjudicator for Danceline USA.

I have coached club and private lessons in Iowa for about 4 years now and recently graduated from Iowa State University. I was their Libero for the past 2 years while earning Big 12 weekly awards and as well as academic awards. I am now one of the assistants at Missouri Western State University.

Former Griffon volleyball student-athlete Kayla Ruff rejoined the program in August of 2025 as an assistant coach. "I could not be more excited to be back at MoWest," Ruff said. "the opportunity to return to my alma mater and coach at a place that means so much to me is truly an honor. I am very grateful to Coach Fey, Theresa (Grosbach) and Athletic Director Andy Carter for giving me the chance to part of the Griffon program again." Ruff joins a Griffon volleyball renaissance that has reached a sustainability of success under head coach Jessica Fey. The Griffons are coming off two straight 21+ win seasons, including an NCAA Regional berth in 2024. Prior to last season, MWSU's last regional appearance came in 2017, where Ruff was a 2nd-team All-MIAA libero and helped lead the Griffons to the program's first-ever MIAA conference championship and an NCAA tournament victory. During her 2017 senior season, Ruff set the single-season school record with 705 digs, and exited MWSU second all-time with 1,768 career digs in 363 sets. Most recently, Ruff served as head coach of MAVS Volleyball club program in Lenexa, Kansas, guiding the MAVS 816 18 National Team from 2024-25 and is slated to lead the MAVS KC 17 National team for the 25-26 club season.  Prior to her time on the club circuit, Ruff served as the assistant volleyball coach at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa from 2020-23, helping to guide the program to the NAIA National tournament in her final season. A 2018 MoWest graduate, Kayla earned her Masters Degree from the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, where she was a graduate assistant volleyball coach in 2018-2020. 

Missouri Western Athletics announced the hiring of Adrian Lowry as the new Director of Athletic Bands in May 2025. He will officially join the Griffon family on June 2.  Lowry comes to Missouri Western after serving as Graduate Assistant to the Director of Bands at Western Illinois University for the last two years. At Western Illinois, Lowry directed and instructed the University Band and pep band, increasing its membership by more than 60%. Lowry also assisted with marching band techniques and Advanced Conducting courses, providing hands-on training in show design and music instruction. Lowry also served as the assistant director for the Legacy of Leadership Camp while at Western Illinois – a camp for  area high school band leaders, which had over 100 participants. Lowry's background with music goes back years, as he spent 14 years as a private studio music instructor in Glade Spring, Virginia, providing instruction on brass performance, conducting and musicianship. A performer and conductor himself, Lowry was a guest conductor at the Midwest Clinic in December 2024 and is scheduled to be a conductor for the Western Illinois Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall this month. Lowry has also performed in the Western Illinois University Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble and Pep Band. Lowry is a member of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the Illinois Music Educators Association (ILMEA).