St. Edward's University Men's Volleyball

DeJute began and ended her first year on the hilltop with wins over Southwestern Oklahoma State and Dallas Baptist. She helped lead the Hilltoppers to a top-six finish in the Heartland Conference and put together a season that included a record-tying performance from freshman libero Morgan Beckham. A veteran coach with 16 years of head coaching experience with mens and womens teams, she has more than 175 wins at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels, with a total of more than 20 years of experience as a player, camp director and coach. DeJute comes to St. Edwards after a successful run at NCAA Division II Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C. During her six seasons leading the Crusaders, DeJute compiled a 110-71 record and led the team to Conference Carolinas Championships in 2012 and 2013. She was named Conference Coach of the Year in both seasons after leading her team to the NCAA Tournament for the first and second time in school history. In each of her first four seasons at the helm, she either tied or broke the school record for wins in a season. The 2012 championship team captured the programs first Conference Carolinas Championship and NCAA Tournament berth. The team posted school records in overall wins (26), conference wins (14), winning streak (9), all-conference honorees (5) and all-region honorees (1). DeJutes 2014 squad won the conferences Messick Sportsmanship Award. She was also the mens volleyball head coach at Belmont Abbey from 2012 to 2014. Prior to joining Belmont Abbey, DeJute spent nine years as the founder/director of the Columbus (Ohio) Volleyball Experience club team where she instructed local youth in the game of volleyball through camps, clinics and Junior Olympic competitions. DeJute began her head coaching career at Mercer University from 1992 to 1996, where she posted back-to-back winning seasons, including the first 20-win season in school history. Her teams maintained the top GPA of all varsity sports and had 24 players earn Academic All-Conference. After directing Mercers efforts, DeJute moved to Northwestern State University, where she was the head coach from 1996 to 1999. While there, her teams were in the top-two academically, while producing 15 Academic All-Conference performers. On the court, the squad set 11 new school records and had five all-conference players. In the summer of 1999, DeJute returned to her native Ohio where she led Heidelberg College for one season while teaching in the department of Health and Physical Education. A native of Swanton, Ohio, DeJute is a 1986 graduate of Bluffton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and Art. On the court, she is among the schools all-time leaders in blocks per game. She obtained her masters degree in Education from Northwestern State.

St. Edward's Athletics welcomed Jeremy Garcia as its head volleyball coach in the spring of 2025.  The Hilltoppers recorded a six-win improvement in conference play from the previous season with largely the same roster in Garica's first year on the Hilltop, with three players earning all-conference recognition.  Before St. Edward's, Garcia was an assistant coach on the Duke Blue Devils' coaching staff since May 2022. During his time at Duke, his responsibilities have included recruiting coordinator and assistant in charge of defensive training and strategy. On the recruiting front, Garcia helped bring in multiple nationally ranked classes over the last several years, including a national top-10 incoming class for the 2025 season. Working primarily with the middle blocker position group, Garcia guided graduate student Jess Robinson to AVCA All-East Coast Region and All-ACC honors.   Before Duke, Garcia was the volunteer assistant coach for Penn State volleyball from December 2020 until December 2021. He was responsible for team and individual training across multiple positions, focusing on setters and defensive specialists. During his tenure, the Nittany Lions produced five Big Ten Conference Setter of the Week awards and All-Big Ten and AVCA All-Northeast Region honors within those position groups.   Garcia began his coaching career as an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin. In his three years with the program, the Austin native worked as a student manager, practice player, and volunteer assistant for the nationally ranked Longhorns. He was responsible for all practice and in-game statistical analysis, video coordination, and technology operations until he received his bachelor of business administration from the McCombs School of Business in December 2020.   During the spring of 2022, Garcia also worked a second stint with the University of Texas program, again as a volunteer assistant, assisting in off-season training and day-to-day recruiting and camp operations.    As an undergraduate, Garcia also coached with Austin Juniors Volleyball on both the girls' and boys' sides. In three seasons, all his national-level junior teams earned bids to the USA Volleyball Junior National Championships, with three Open division qualifications, one bronze medal, and two top-five finishes.  Jeremy Garcia's All-Time Head Coaching Record Year School W-L W/L Pct Conference Record W/L Pct. 2025 St. Edward's 11-11   .500   8-9 .471 Total       11-11 .505  8-9 .471

Holler trained and ran a defense that featured record-tying freshman Morgan Beckham. Under Holler's guidance, Beckham tied the program record for digs in a four-set match. Holler joins the Hilltopper Athletics staff with over 10 years of coaching experience at various levels of compeition. She started her coaching career as a senior in high school, where she volunteered as a second assistant for one of the younger teams at her volleyball club. Throughout college, Holler stayed in the coaching world by serving as head coach for a number of club teams in the Charlotte, N.C., area. Following graduation, she went back to Triangle Volleyball Club where she was the assistant coach for two seasons and head coach for one season. All three of the teams she worked with at Triangle were national level teams. Many alumni signed with top NCAA Division I programs around the country. In 2014, Holler was named head womens volleyball coach at Rolesville High School, where she led the team to their winningest season in school history. Before moving to Austin, Holler started and directed a youth volleyball league in her home town of Wake Forest, N.C. That club has now tripled in size with more than 300 athletes. As a student-athlete at Belmont Abbey, Holler was a four-year academic and athletic scholarship winner from 2008 to 2012. She qualified for the deans list and was honored as a member of Conference Carolinas All-Academic Team. The 2011 team captain, Holler graduated in May 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and minors in both Education and Sociology.

St. Edward’s Athletics welcomes Taylan Cook to the Hilltop as the new assistant volleyball coach, joining head coach Jeremy Garcia in his first season running the Hilltoppers’ volleyball program to run the serve receive and defense. Hilltopper libero Giselle Ojeda set a program individual season record for best reception percentage in Cook's first season coordinating the defense.   Cook joins St. Edward’s after serving as an assistant coach in charge of serve receive and defense for the California State University, Northridge men’s volleyball team during a 2024 season that produced three All-Americans, the second-ranked passing percentage in the Big West Conference, and a No. 9 ranking in the final AVCA National Poll.    Cook also worked with the COAST Volleyball Club, Sunshine Volleyball Club, and SC Legends Volleyball Club, helping seven student-athletes secure collegiate careers in NCAA Division I men’s volleyball programs.    Cook played three years for CSUN, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2024 after transferring from Loyola-Chicago. He was a three-time member of the Big West All-Academic Team, 2023 CSUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Off the Block Libero of the Week at CSUN, and on the 2020 MIVA All-Academic Team at Loyola-Chicago.