Stephanie Hernesman

Stephanie Hernesman, like her husband Hugh, is entering her fourth year as the co-head coach of the Lady Demon volleyball program. She has brought in some of the strongest recruits in NSU history, and has continued to improve the level of play each of the first three seasons.
 
With eight sophomores and four freshmen she and Hugh coached the 2012 NSU squad to its second consecutive Southland Conference Tournament appearance and improved its conference win total by six matches from 2011.
 
On top of helping the Lady Demons to the Southland Tournament, the Hernesmans also coached them to 20 overall wins, 12 Southland Conference wins, a third-place SLC finish, NSU’s first winning season since 1987 and its longest winning streak of eight matches.
 
All of these achievements combine to cement the 2012 Lady Demons as the most successful team in NSU history.
 
Hernesman’s success was recognized when the Louisiana Sports Writers Association named her and Hugh Louisiana Coach of the Year.
 
A graduate of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Hernesman was a three-time AVCA All-American as a player and was the team most valuable player in 1995, 1997 and 1998.  She led her team to the NCAA Final Four in 1995 and earned Final Four All-Tournament honors.
 
During her playing days, she guided her team to three conference championships (1996, 1997, 1998) and four NCAA Tournaments (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998) and was named the team captain in 1997 and 1998.
 
Her teams posted a combined record of 134-21 for an 86.5 winning percentage.  She was also co-captain of her 1997 and 1998 teams.
 
Prior to arriving on the NSU campus, Hernesman was a volunteer assistant at Ball State from 2007-2009 where she assisted in leading those teams to the Mid-American Conference Tournament and falling to the eventual champion in both seasons.
 
She began her coaching career in 1999 as an assistant coach for the Wisconsin-Whitewater men’s volleyball team; a stint that lasted until 2003.
 
In addition to her coaching assistance at Whitewater, she was the head coach of the head coach of the Milwaukee Sting Volleyball Club from 2002-04 where her 2003 team placed second at the Junior Olympics and was the camp instructor for the USA Volleyball High Performance Program in 2003 and 2005.
 
From 2004-07, she was the assistant coach at Hardin-Simmons where she joined her husband in helping transform her team into a conference champion in just three seasons.  She helped coach two ASC West Division Players of the Year, two league newcomers of the year, 10 ASC All-Conference selections, and a first team Academic All-American.
 
She also assisted in guiding her team to the 2006 ASC tournament championship and the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.  The 2005 squad won the ASC West Division title and was an ASC tournament runner-up.  The program also won the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2004-05 sports calendar year.
        
She and her husband Hugh are proud parents of son, Austin and daughter, Emma.