University of Nebraska at Omaha Women's Volleyball

Matt Buttermore was named the head volleyball coach in April 2019. The Mavericks made history in 2023, winning the Summit League Championship and appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Buttermore led Omaha to a 15-14 record (12-4 in conference competition), including a 3-2 reverse sweep over Kansas City in the conference championship.  Omaha took on the host school Kansas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, falling 3-0.  The Mavericks took home five All-Summit Honors in 2023. McKenna Ruch and Shayla McCormick earned First Team honors for the second straight year, Rachel Fairbanks earned an Honorable Mention, and Emily Huss and Amanda Hardt both made the All-Freshman Team. In 2022, Buttermore led the Mavericks to their second consecutive 20-win season as they went 20-11 (14-4 in league play) to reach the Summit League Championship for second year in a row. During this season, Omaha won eight-straight matches to claim the program's second-longest winning streak of the Division I era. Hosting the conference tournament for the first time, Omaha defeated No. 3 North Dakota State 3-1 in the semifinals before falling to No. 1 South Dakota 3-0 in the finals. In December, the Mavericks picked up their first ever Division I postseason berth, competing in the NIVC where they were defeated by Pacific 3-1 in the opening round. All told, the Mavericks earned five All-Summit Honors, including Freshman of the Year for Kali Jurgensmeier. Shayla McCormick and McKenna Ruch also became the first Mavericks duo to ever be named to the AVCA All-Midwest Region Team in the same season. Ruch would later become the second Maverick in Division I history to earn an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention. During the 2021 season, Buttermore guided the Mavericks to their first ever regular season title since the Division I transition earning him Summit League Coach of the Year accolades. Omaha finished with a 20-10 overall record and a 16-2 finish in the league. It marked the first 20-win season since 2009. The Mavericks advanced to the Summit League championship match with a 3-1 win vs. No. 5 Oral Roberts. Their historic season came to an end with a 3-0 loss to No. 2 South Dakota. Buttermore led Sadie Limback to AVCA All-America Honorable Mention, AVCA Midwest All-Region, Summit League Player of the Year, and Summit League First Team honors. She was the program's first Division I All-American nod. Sami Clarkson earned Summit League Setter of the Year honors, while the team collected nine total All-Summit nods. Omaha played an abbreviated 2020 season in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mavericks posted a 13-6 overall record and a 12-4 finish in league play. Omaha faced the No. 1 seeded Pioneers in the Summit League Tournament to conclude the season's action. Ahead of the league tournament, Mountjoy was tabbed the Defensive Player of the Year. She and Clarkson were named All-Summit honorable mentions, while Limback and Anna Blashcko were tabbed All-Summit. Mountjoy, Limback, and Blashcko were also named Academic All-League. Limback earned five straight Summit League Offensive Player of the Week awards, while Mountjoy earned one Defensive accolade for the Mavericks. In his first year at Omaha, Buttermore led the Mavericks to the Summit League Championship game for just the second-ever appearance since Omaha joined the Summit League. The team finished with a 19-14 overall record.   Prior to Omaha, Buttermore served as the head coach at Hastings for seven seasons. Buttermore’s pedigree includes an NAIA National Championship at Hastings in 2016. He guided the school to three Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) crowns (2012, 2016-17), back-to-back GPAC Tournament titles (2016-17), five NAIA National Tournament appearances and an NAIA Elite Eight (2012).  Buttermore has coached 37 all-conference honorees, three GPAC Players of the Year and a two-time NAIA Libero of the Year (2016-17). He also has had 12 of his players achieve All-America status.  Among his coaching accolades, Buttermore has garnered GPAC and West-Central Region Coach of the Year recognition three times (2012, 2016-17) and earned NAIA National Tournament Coach of the Year honors for his team’s 2016 national championship run. For that season, he also was the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association (AVCA) NAIA National Coach of the Year.  A native of Lincoln, Neb., Buttermore played collegiately at the University of Findlay in Ohio (NCAA I-II). As a middle blocker, he was a four-year letterwinner and earned academic all-conference honors. He still holds the program’s records for blocks in a single match and total blocks in a season.  Buttermore earned his bachelor of arts in English from Findlay and completed his master of arts in leadership at Bellevue where he also developed a leadership program for the college’s student-athletes. He is married to the former Laura Pilakowski who was an All-American and former volleyball student-athlete at Nebraska. The couple has two daughters: Emelyn and Lainey.   

Kelly O'Connor joined head coach Matt Buttermore's staff as an assistant coach for the Omaha volleyball program in the spring of 2019.  O'Connor was named a 2021 AVCA Thirty under 30 award winner.  O'Connor most recently served as the video coordinator for the Nebraska Husker volleyball program where the team captured the 2017 NCAA Division I National Championship and earned a runner-up finish in 2018. Before coming to NU, OConnor was a graduate assistant for two seasons at Hastings College, helping the Broncos win the 2016 NAIA national title.   She played two seasons at Dickinson State in North Dakota, where she was a two-year starter. She began her collegiate career at Great Falls College in Montana and later was a student assistant at Dickinson State in 2014.   O'Connor earned her bachelors degree in math education with a minor in biology in 2015 from Dickinson State.

Kyle Breitbarth joined the Omaha Volleyball team as an assistant coach in February 2024 after spending the previous year as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Southern Mississippi. During his year with Southern Miss, Breitbarth primarily focused on training the team's outside hitters and liberos, while also being in charge of all scout reports, recruiting efforts, and camp programs. Breitbarth has been coaching at the college level since 2016 when he started as a volunteer assistant coach at Loyola University Chicago. There he was primarily focused on developing the team's defense and breaking down scout video. Following a season with the Ramblers, he had his first of three stints at Arizona State from February 2017 - December 2018 as a volunteer assistant. In those two seasons Kyle was responsible for coaching the team's back row defense and liberos. After spending spring 2019 helping K-State with defensive statistical analyses, he returned to ASU for another season, this time as a full-time assistant.  Right before the start of the 2020 season, Breitbarth moved on to Columbia University as a full-time assistant and recruiting coordinator, as well as helping to run the team's social media efforts. After a year in New York City, Kyle returned to ASU one last time for the 2021 and 2022 seasons as a defensive coordinator, as well as handling non-conference scheduling and donor relations. Across his five seasons with the Sun Devils, Kyle's teams led the PAC-12 in digs twice, while two of his players finished their careers in the top five in digs in program history. At the club level, during the spring of 2023 and 2024, Breitbarth spent time at 1st Alliance Volleyball Club in Chicago as an assistant with their top 16’s team. He was a part of the 2023 team that won the Northern Lights and Lone Star Qualifiers in the 16 open division. Originally from Frankfort, Illinois, Breitbarth graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2014 with a Bachelor's in Broadcast Journalism, before getting his Master's there in Education in Curriculum and Instruction in 2016. He was also a member of the school's men's volleyball team from 2010-16.