Melissa Ferris begins her second season as the head volleyball coach at William & Mary in 2016, after nearly two decades as an assistant coach in Division I. She is the eighth head coach in Tribe history.
In her first season at the helm of the program, Ferris placed three athletes on the Colonial Athletic Association All-Conference Teams. Junior Sydney Biniak led the way with an All-CAA Third Team nod, freshman Casey Foote received All-Rookie honors and junior Maddie Sanford rounded out the awards with All-Academic distinction. Biniak and Sara Zumbach also grabbed VaSID All-State second team accolades. Among the conference statistical leaders, freshman Autumn Brenner ranked fourth in assist per set (9.40) and service aces per set (0.28), while Zumbach slotted fifth in digs per set (4.52). Ferris helped both Gabrielle Pe and Zumbach eclipsed 1,000 career digs as well.
Ferris has almost 20 years of Division I coaching experience, which includes 13 winning seasons and nine years of 20 wins or more. She was most recently the associate head coach at Rice, where she spent the past 12 years. Ferris’ time with the Owls was also a success in the classroom, culminating with NCAA APR Public Recognition Awards each of the past two years. Prior that, she coached at both Wyoming and Texas State.
As the recruiting coordinator for the Owls, Ferris helped put together five nationally-ranked recruiting classes, and as the primary coach for the outside hitters, helped Rice to three NCAA Tournament appearances as well as its first-ever Conference USA title in 2009. Ferris' mentorship shows in the number of accolades her athletes earned. At Rice, she had three outside hitters earn All-America honors, and 11 times a hitter earned All-C-USA selection. In 2004, her first season at Rice, the Owls set all-time program records for hitting percentage (.277) and winning percentage at 25-5 (.833), advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
Before her time at Rice, Ferris spent two years at Wyoming, helping the Cowgirls to a 35-27 record with two hitters earning All-Mountain West Conference honors. In 2002, Wyoming tallied its first 20-win season since 1989. Ferris' collegiate coaching career began in 1998 with a four-year stint at Texas State, where the Bobcats averaged 22 wins a season. In 2000, she helped Texas State to an all-time record season of 29-4 (.879).
Originally from North Carolina, Ferris played collegiately at Arizona where she still ranks seventh in school history in both kills and solo blocks (as of 2015). She helped the Wildcats reach the NCAA Sweet 16 twice, and won a silver medal at the 1993 United States Olympic Festival. After earning her bachelor's degree in family studies in 1996, she played professionally in Switzerland, and in the National Volleyball Association in 1996-97. Ferris was named to the Pac-10 All-Decade team in 1998, and she was inducted into the Pinecrest High School Hall of Fame in 2000.
