VOLLEYBALL STAFF

Head Coach Chris Riley

Head coach Chris Riley, in his third season at the helm, led this season's squad to a battle for the ACC title, and matched the school's longest winning streak with 11 victories in a row. The Hokies swept NC State in the season series. Tech opened its season with a third consecutive sweep of the Hawthorn Suites Hokie Invitational, and finished the non-conference slate 9-2. The Hokies continued the hot start with five straight wins to open conference season, including a sweep of Virginia, a 3-1 decision over preseason ACC favorite Clemson, and a sweep of Georgia Tech in Cassell Coliseum.

Riley coached Felicia Willoughby to the program's first ACC Freshman of the Year selection in 2007, and saw the program collect its first two All-ACC Freshman Team nominees, in Taylor Parrish in 2006 and Willoughby in 2007. Willoughby also went on to become the first Hokie to be named the AVCA's All-East Region Freshman of the Year, and in 2008 was named Honorable Mention All-American. She was only the second player in the program's history to earn such an honor, the first being Katie Esbrook-King in 2006, whom Riley coached in his first year with the program.

In 2006, Riley's first season, he led the team to one of its best finishes since joining the ACC in 2004. In his six years at Towson University, Riley led his Tigers to five-straight 20-win seasons, three Colonial Athletic Association regular season championships, the 2004 CAA tournament championship and the 2004 NCAA Tournament. He was named CAA Coach of the Year in 2003 and the America East Coach of the Year in 2001. In his ninth year, Riley has an overall record of 193-94 (.672) and has posted a 100-50 (.667) conference mark and a 89-28 (.761) record in matches played on his respective home court, including a 28-12 (.700) record in Cassell Coliseum.

Shelbylynn Mcbride

Shelbylynn McBride is in her third season at Virginia Tech Prior to coming to Tech, McBride worked with current Tech head coach Chris Riley at Towson University as an assistant. While with the Tigers, she helped lead the program to a 28-7 finish in 2005. In 2004, McBride worked as an assistant at UMBC. McBride played both basketball and volleyball as an undergraduate for the George Mason Patriots, before finishing her final year of volleyball eligibility as a graduate student at Georgia State University. At Georgia State, she led the Panthers to the 2003 Atlantic Sun Conference championship game and led the team with 3.46 kills per game. The Panthers ended the season 27-8 overall and 9-1 in the conference. McBride tallied 688 career kills in three seasons at George Mason. She was Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year in 1999 and was the only freshman to earn second-team All-CAA honors.

Jolene Shepardson

Jolene Shepardson comes to Tech from American University, where she worked as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Eagles volleyball program in 2009. Prior to her stint at American, Shepardson coached with Front Range Volleyball Club in Colorado from 2006-08.

Along with her time at American, Shepardson also brings collegiate coaching experience from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and Regis University in Denver, Colo. She graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of South Florida in 2002 where she helped the Bulls to a Conference USA championship and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in her senior season.

Aaron Shepardson

Aaron Shepardson joins his wife at Tech in the role of assistant coach. Aaron previously coached at American University where he served as the primary on-court trainer from 2008-2009. Shepardson was the head coach of the Front Range Volleyball Club - Mountain Division from 2006-2008, as well as in 2002, as an assistant coach for the 18-Open National Championship team. He was an assistant coach at Winthrop in 2005 and at the University of Denver in 2002, as well as a student assistant coach with Baylor University in 1996-1998.

A native of Littleton, Colo., Shepardson graduated from Baylor in 1998 with a degree in psychology. He played on Baylor's men's volleyball club as an outside hitter and setter from 1993-98 and was a member of the USA Men's National Volleyball team in 2000-2001. In 2003, Shepardson played professionally in Indonesia and Belgium.