Sarah Chlebana - Women's Volleyball Coach

Sarah Chlebana

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
schlebana@csufresno.edu

Last updated July 7, 2017

Assistant coach Sarah Chlebana enters her third season on the Bulldog volleyball coaching staff after guiding the team to an overall winning record and 15 victories with a 9-2 record in non-conference play last season. The squad finished tied for eighth in the final Mountain West standings in 2016.

She helped lead Fresno State to its best 11-game start to a season since 2002 winning its first five matches before dropping a pair of matches at the Bulldog Showdown. The 'Dogs answered back with a four-match winning streak sweeping three matches at the Incarnate Word Invitational and took down UC Irvine at home in four sets to finish non-conference play.

Senior and co-captain Aleisha Coates picked up the 'Dogs fifth all-conference honor since joining the Mountain West being named All-MW honorable mention.She led the team and finished sixth in the MW with 383 kills and was fifth with 3.55 kills per set, closing out her senior season ranking among the top six in the Mountain West and top 150 nationally in seven categories.

In 2015, the Bulldogs seized a 14-win season, nearly doubling the amount of victories logged the previous year. The ‘Dogs were victorious in eight of the 14 non-conference matches, accounting for six three-set sweeps along the stretch.

Fresno State was victorious in eight of its 14 non-conference matches and accounted for six three-set sweeps along the stretch. Overall, four Bulldogs earned all-tournament honors including Maggie Eppright (Western Carolina Tournament, Fresno State Classic), Brooke Legaux (Western Carolina Tournament), Carly Scarbrough (Bulldog Showdown, Fresno State Classic MVP), and Aleisha Coates (Bulldog Showdown).

During her Bulldog coaching debut, Chlebana coached her first Mountain West All-Conference student-athlete, Maggie Eppright, who became the fourth Bulldog to be recognized since joining the league in 2012 and first since 2013.

Both in conference and overall matches played, the ‘Dogs checked into the Mountain West top five in five categories consisting of assists (1,455, 850 MW) , kills (1,617, 932 MW), aces (142, 79 MW) , digs (1,788, 1,016 MW) and combined attendance figures during the 65 total sets played at home.

Likewise, the squad ranked among the nation’s top 100 within six categories of the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Division I Team Rankings. The 2015 squad capped the season with a pair of Fresno State Student-Athlete of the Week (fueled by Deli Delicious) accolades. Eppright was first to represent the volleyball team on Aug. 31, followed by Carly Scarbrough on Sept. 21.

Chlebana came to Fresno State after seven seasons as an assistant coach at Sacramento State, where she served as the teams recruiting coordinator and assisted in all areas of on-floor coaching, scouting and team training. Additionally, she was the director of operations for the Hornets sand volleyball team and the primary contact for their youth camps for seven-straight years.

Chlebana played a big part in leading the team academic efforts, as the Hornets had at least three Big Sky All-Academic selections in her tenure there, including a program-record eight in 2008.

She was a member of the Sacramento State coaching staff that saw its 2011 and 2012 squads both finish 13th in the nation in blocks while the 2011 team was the only program in the country to rank among the nation’s top 35 squads in both digs per set (ninth) and blocks per set (13th).

Prior to Sacramento State, Chlebana spent the 2007 season as an assistant at Division I member Long Island University and helped lead her team to the Northeast Conference regular season and tournament championship, plus an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

From 2006-07 Chlebana was an assistant coach for the Belgian semi-professional team Volleybalclub Oudegem. Additional coaching experience comes from a two-year stint at Syracuse (2004-05) where she helped lead the Orange to a 50-17 overall record during her tenure there and a one-year stint at Belmont University (2003) in Nashville, Tenn.

Chlebana starred at Sacramento State during her collegiate playing career and is one of just 11 players in Hornet history to accumulate 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. She was a two-time, second-team All-Big Sky selection in 1999 and 2000 and in 1998 garnered Big Sky All-Tournament team honors. She never missed a match during her career where she accumulated 1,116 kills, 1,348 digs, 271 blocks and 85 aces.

She helped lead Sacramento State to four consecutive Big Sky Conference Championships and four NCAA Tournament appearances. A team captain as a senior, Chlebana helped the Hornets go 92-40 overall in her playing career.

A Calgary, Alberta native, she graduated from Sacramento State in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and a minor in mathematics.