March 28, 2008

RUSTON -- Louisiana Tech announced Friday morning that former Newberry College and Tulsa head coach Matt Sonnichsen would become the Lady Techsters' new head volleyball coach beginning in the 2008 season. Sonnichsen's hire is pending approval by the Board of Supervisors of the University of Louisiana System.

"We are certainly excited to announce Matt Sonnichsen as our new head coach," Tech senior associate athletics director Mary Kay Hungate said. "He's the complete package. First, he's an individual the women will enjoy playing for. Second, he's a proven head coach who has taken two programs who were not winning and turned them into winners. And third, he was a three-time All-American while competing on two NCAA National Championship teams at UCLA and was named MVP of the 1989 National Championship. A person with that kind of playing and coaching experience knows what it takes to win and obviously has the work ethic, mental toughness and focus needed to turn our program around."

Sonnichsen said he is excited about the opportunity at Tech and looks forward to competing in the Western Athletic Conference.

"Louisiana Tech is a wonderful opportunity to build a winning volleyball program within one of the toughest volleyball conferences in the country," Sonnichsen said. "I was very impressed with the positive changes happening on campus and feel the community of Ruston will be a great place for my family."

Sonnichsen finished with a 19-9 record in his first and only season with the Newberry Indians. Before he arrived, the 2006 Indians went 4-30.

Prior to his stay at Newberry, Sonnichsen was an assistant at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, where he coached the 2006 season under his father, Tom.

Sonnichsen's longest tenure as head coach came during his eight seasons at the helm of the University of Tulsa Hurricanes. Under his guidance, Tulsa had its first winning season in over 20 years in 2000 while finishing with 20 wins or better three separate seasons. His team finished in second in the Eastern Division WAC in 2004 and earned a third place finish in C-USA in 2005. Sonnichsen had four teams receive the Academic All-American Team Award as well as coaching over 30 Academic All-Conference selections while at Tulsa.

In the winter of 2006, Sonnichsen was the first coach from the USA to coach a team in the Puerto Rican Women's Professional Volleyball League.

Sonnichsen earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1994. While at UCLA, he was a member of the two-time NCAA Champion Bruins men's volleyball team, playing from 1986-89. He was a three-time All-American and was named the Outstanding Player of the 1989 NCAA Championship.

As a professional volleyball player, Sonnichsen played for the USA National Team from 1990-91 and played in the Goodwill Games in Seattle, Washington. Sonnichsen also played in the Swiss Professional League with two different clubs; LUC Lausanne and MTV Nafels.