LOS ANGELES –
Randi Smart, who led Cal State L.A. to 23 wins and into the NCAA Division II West Region championship match as the interim coach in 2009, has been named Cal State L.A.’s head women’s volleyball coach, Golden Eagle Director of Athletics Dan Bridges announced on Wednesday.
Smart was named the interim coach in February following the resignation of long-time coach Bill Lawler. She led a young squad with only two seniors to a 23-9 overall record and to a third-place finish in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
The Golden Eagles qualified for the NCAA playoffs as the No. 6 seed in the West Region and knocked off No. 3 seed Sonoma State in five sets and No. 2 seed UC San Diego in three sets before falling in the championship match to No. 1 seed Cal State San Bernardino.
Cal State L.A. finished the year ranked 15th in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
The Golden Eagles reached the regional championship match for the first time since winning the region in 2005 and the third-place finish in the CCAA was the best for Cal State L.A. since it shared the conference title in 2005 with Cal Poly Pomona.
The Golden Eagles accomplished all that with a young roster that included only two seniors. Cal State L.A. also overcame a slow start that was due partly to the absence of two key starters. After starting the season with a 5-5 record through 10 matches, the Golden Eagles finished up 18-4 over their final 22 contests with three of those losses coming to Cal State San Bernardino and the other to UC San Diego.
Smart came to Cal State L.A. in 2008 as an assistant coach and helped the Golden Eagles to a 21-8 record, a national ranking of 18 and a trip to the NCAA West Region semi-finals.
Before coming to Cal State L.A., Smart was a successful assistant coach at a pair of Southern California schools. She was at CCAA program Cal Poly Pomona for four years and helped the Broncos to a 73-40 record. The Broncos enjoyed the best year in the program’s history in 2005, going 24-3 overall and sharing the CCAA title with, ironically, Cal State L.A.
Smart also earned valuable championship experience after serving as an assistant coach at La Verne for six seasons. The highlight of her tenure there came in 2001 when the Leopards won their third-ever national championship. As an added bonus, she got to coach her younger sister, Ryan Wynn, who was an All-American setter for the Leopards and the 2001 National Player of the Year.
Smart went to La Verne after playing volleyball overseas in Austria for one year. She was a successful player at the NCAA Division I level as well, competing for two years at Utah State, where she was named “Rookie of the Year” as a freshman and for two years at Louisiana State, where she earned All-SEC honors. She graduated from LSU in 1998.
She becomes the fifth head coach in Cal State L.A. women’s volleyball history.
Cal State L.A. has reached the NCAA playoffs six straight seasons and for the 10th time in the past 11 years.
Cal State L.A. has been a national power in women’s volleyball and is a perennial contender in the CCAA. The Golden Eagles have been ranked in an AVCA end-of-the-season national poll 15 times, which is more than any other CCAA school.