Aven Lee (pronounced Eh-ven), who has 23 years of volleyball coaching experience, is currently in her second stint as an assistant coach at Sacramento State. The 2025 season will be her fifth with the program. She was promoted to associate head coach prior to a 2024 season in which the Hornets won the Big Sky Conference Tournament title and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Lee’s first coaching experience with the Hornets came as an assistant for two years (2015-16), and she returned to the Green and Gold in 2023.
Simply put, Lee has made a big impact on Sacramento State every season during her tenure with the Hornets. Consider her track record as a member of the program’s coaching staff:
2024 (associate head coach): 21-12 overall, 11-5 conference, Big Sky Tournament champs, NCAA Tournament participant
2023 (assistant coach): 22-12 overall, 13-3 conference, Big Sky regular season champs, NIVC participant
2016 (assistant coach): 20-12 overall, 13-3 conference, Big Sky South Division champs
2015 (assistant coach): 26-7 overall, 12-4 conference, 18-win improvement from the previous season
She was the associate head coach for a historic 2024 season that included the team winning the Big Sky Tournament championship and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007. The team finished with a 21-12 overall record, 11-5 in league play, and Sacramento State went 3-0 at the Big Sky Tournament in front of large home crowds throughout the entire event. It was the team’s second straight postseason appearance, which includes an NIVC berth in 2023.
The Hornets never lost more than two matches in a row, went 12-2 at home and saw three players named to the all-Big Sky Tournament team (MVP Bridgette Smith, Caitlin Volkmann, Reese Ampi). In addition, both Smith and Volkmann were named first team all-Big Sky, including Smith receiving first team honors for the fourth straight season.
In 2023, Lee’s first season of her second stint with the program, Sacramento State won its first Big Sky regular season championship since 2017 while going 22-12 overall, 13-3 in league play, and 13-5 at home. The 22 wins were the most in six years, and the team never lost more than two straight matches. The Hornets qualified for the NIVC for the fifth time in program history, and won a match at the postseason tournament (sweep of UNLV) for the first time since 1995.
Five players were named all-conference (most since 2016), and three were named to the first team - Bridgette Smith, Tiyanane Kamba-Griffin and Kalani Hayes. In fact, Smith was named honorable mention All-America and Big Sky MVP. She became just the second Hornet during the Div. I era (1991-pres.) to receive All-America accolades.
During Lee’s four seasons with the program, Sacramento State combined for a 89-43 overall record and 49-15 mark in league play. That includes the Hornets’ first Big Sky South Division championship in 2016. During that 2016 season, Sacramento State was the No. 2 seed at the eight-team Big Sky Tournament after finishing the year with a 13-3 conference record. In addition, a total of 17 Hornets have been named all-conference during her tenure, including five in both 2023 and 2016.
Also during her four seasons, Sacramento State is a combined 29-3 at home vs. Big Sky opposition. Incredibly, the Hornets dropped just two sets at home in league play in 2016, outscoring conference opposition, 24-2, in sets played. The Hornets’ 13-3 conference record in 2016 was also the program’s best mark since the 2007 squad finished with the same record.
In her first season (2015), she helped the Hornets to a 26-7 overall record and a 12-4 mark in league. Despite Sacramento State being picked 10th out of 12 teams in the Big Sky’s preseason coaches poll, the Hornets finished the regular season with the third best conference record. Moreover, Sacramento State made an 18-win improvement over the 2014 season with nearly the same roster. The 18-win improvement was the best mark in the nation among the NCAA’s 329 Div. I volleyball programs.
Lee was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Syracuse in 2022. With the Orange, she recruited both nationally and internationally, maintained the program’s recruiting database, prepared scouting reports and game plans, oversaw team serve receive, and was the position coach for the outsides, opposites and liberos.
Prior to Syracuse, she spent two years on the sidelines at Portland (2020-21) as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator. While at Portland, she worked primarily with the pin attackers and liberos while overseeing the team’s serve receive and back row defense.
She spent the 2019 season on the Hawai’i-Pacific coaching staff where she assisted with technical training and strategizing of team systems. She also assisted in training all positions within the program.
Lee, a standout player at Hawai’i from 1996-00, returned to her alma mater to serve as the program’s director of operations during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. During those two years, the Rainbow Wahine combined for a 38-17 overall record, 28-4 in conference, and two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Prior to her first stint at Sacramento State, Lee spent two years as an assistant at Nevada (2013-14), and four seasons at Pacific (2009-12). With those two teams, she handled numerous responsibilities, including recruiting, in-game offensive tracking and strategizing, serve receive and defensive systems, outside hitter and libero training, on-court instruction, execution of drills, travel, academics, admissions, eligibility, compliance and match scouting.
Lee was involved with USA Volleyball where she coached for various USA High Profile camps and teams, including the 2009 Women’s National A2 Team and the 2008 Girls Junior National A2 Team.
Lee spent a decade coaching out of Hawaii at the junior national and high school levels. She coached club for Asics Rainbows VBC, Imi Ike VBC, Kilohana VBC, Magnum 5.0 VBC, and Quicksets VBC on the islands.
The Honolulu native also coached high school varsity girls volleyball in Hawaii as both a head coach and assistant. Lee spent two seasons as the head coach for Honolulu’s Kalani High School, where she was the 2003 Oahu Interscholastic Association Coach of the Year after her team finished third in the state.
Prior to coaching, Lee played five years at Hawai’i for Dave Shoji and Charlie Wade from 1996-00 (redshirt in 1998). Lee played both outside hitter and defensive specialist for the Rainbow Wahine, primarily at defensive specialist. That included appearing in all 31 matches during her junior season, and all 32 matches as a senior.
During her four active seasons, Hawai’i combined to post a 120-15 overall record, a perfect 60-0 record in the Western Athletic Conference, a pair of Final Four appearances (1996, 2000), a 1999 Sweet 16 appearance, and four conference championships.
Lee graduated with a Sociology degree from Hawai’i in 2002.
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