Stephanie Hernesman

Stephanie Hernesman, like her husband Hugh, concluded her fifth year as the co-head coach of the Lady Demon volleyball program in 2014. 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 four seasons.

The Hernesman duo guided NSU to its first Southland Conference championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2014 by winning the league's tournament title. On opening weekend of the season, the program reached the national spotlight after ending the nation's longest regular season win streak at 35 by sweeping No. 15 Missouri.

For their success, the Hernesmans were named Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Under the direction of the co-head coaches, the 2013 Lady Demons squad set a school-record in overall wins (21), conference wins (15), highest conference finish (2nd) and highest RPI (98) in the program's 32-year NCAA Division I history.

In the classroom, between 2011-2013, the squad captured three consecutive AVCA Team Academic Awards for maintaining a GPA above 3.30. Between 2010-2012, players made a total of 31 appearances on the Southland Conference All-Academic Team.

On Nov. 3, 2013, Hernesman was recognized for her successes as the Louisiana Sports Writers Association named her and Hugh Louisiana Coach of the Year.
 
In 2012, on the backs of eight sophomores and four freshmen, Hernesman coached the squad to its second consecutive Southland Conference Tournament appearance and improved its league 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.
  
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 two Mid-American Conference Tournament appearances.

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.
 
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 15 and under team placed second at the USA Volleyball Junior Olympics and was the camp instructor for the USA Volleyball High Performance Program in 2003 and 2005.

She began her coaching career in 1999 as an assistant coach for Wisconsin-Whitewater.
        
She and her husband Hugh are proud parents of son, Austin and daughter, Emma.