CHATTANOOGA --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga head volleyball coach Travis Filar officially announced the addition of Scott Carter as an assistant coach and has now finalized the coaching staff in its entirety for the upcoming 2019 season, Tuesday morning.

In addition to the hiring of Carter, Filar added Juliana Yensho as a Volunteer Assistant Coach while Lauren Barr returns for her third season on the bench, this time serving a volunteer role as both the Staff Consultant and Director of Student-Athlete Development. More information including quotes from Filar can be found below.
 
"I could not be more excited to finally announce our assistant coaching additions and responsibility shifts within our staff," said Filar. "I believe all three of these individuals will immediately make our program better with their expertise in and out of the gym due to their minds for the game, their hearts for challenging, encouraging, leading young people, and most importantly, who they are as people. They embody our program's core values and make our culture, coaching staff, and program stronger."

SCOTT CARTER - ASST. COACH/RECRUITING COORDINATOR (FULL BIO)
A fixture in amateur volleyball across all levels including recruiting, training and developing, Carter comes to the Scenic City after an impressive a four-year head coaching stint at NCAA DIII Baldwin Wallace (Ohio) from 2015-2018. During his time at BW, Carter coached the Yellow Jackets to three of the school's top five winningest seasons including a program-best 27-5 (.844) record in 2018.
 
Before Carter's arrival at Baldwin Wallace, the volleyball program saw just four winning seasons in the past decade and carried an RPI ranking of 167. Carter brought the Yellow Jackets to national prominence, earning spots in the regional and national rankings for three consecutive seasons. The Greene, N.Y., native also has extensive experience in coaching and developing student-athletes including at the NCAA DI level.

After handling Recruiting/Offensive Coordinator responsibilities at MAC-member Kent State from 2001-2003, Carter joined SEC-power Kentucky from 2003-2005 as the program's Recruiting/Defensive Coordinator. Back-to-back Top 30 (ranked by PrepVolleyball.com) recruiting classes at UK saw the Wildcats improve from 12-18, to 26-6 over the course of the four seasons the recruits competed.
 
Carter returned to Kent State in 2005-06 as the program's Recruiting/Defensive Coordinator before taking over Interim Head Coach duties from 2007-08. He helped improve the Golden Flashes from a 9-22 mark to a 22-10 record in just three seasons. Between the two NCAA DI tenures at Kent State and Kentucky, Carter had a direct impact in the recruiting and development of two AVCA All-Americans, an SEC Defensive Player of the Year winner, 16 All-Conference Team selections and eight conference All-Freshman honorees.

Filar on Carter: "I have known Scott for over 15 years, first as a colleague and mentor at the University of Kentucky where we were assistant coaches together, then as someone I could always call and connect with to talk volleyball, training, and recruiting. We became great friends after our time in Lexington, and he is one I can bounce ideas off of about life, family, and professional growth. Scott is one of the best volleyball trainers and recruiters in the country, hands down, so the fact that he wanted to join our program here at Chattanooga to continue to help grow and build it into the premier volleyball program in the Southern Conference, means the world to me and I could not be more grateful for his belief in me and our culture here at Chattanooga! He is one of the hardest-working people I know in our profession and comes with over 25 years of collegiate volleyball coaching experience. He has an incredible ability to connect with student-athletes to get them to be better than they ever thought on the court, and is loyal to the core, which makes him the perfect fit for our staff and where we are trying to go as a program.  He, along with his wife Melissa and their four children, Grady, Aislin, Brylie, and Keegan are such welcome additions to our entire athletic department and our Chattanooga Volleyball Family!"

LAUREN BARR (GAINER) - COACHING STAFF CONSULTANT & VOLUNTEER DIRECTOR OF STUDENT-ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT
Barr will take on dual titles of Coaching Staff Consultant and Volunteer Director of Student-Athlete Development ahead of the 2019 season. She returns for her third season on the bench after previously serving as the VSAD during her initial coaching season back in 2017. She performed Volunteer Assistant Coach duties last season. Barr, formerly known as Gainer, was a four-year standout for the Chattanooga Volleyball program from 2012-15 and will be involved in all of our off-the-court coaching staff, program, and student-athlete development processes as well as home matches. 

JULIANA YENSHO - VOLUNTEER ASSISTANT COACH
Yensho will begin her first season on the Chattanooga bench in 2019, taking over for Barr in the Volunteer Assistant Coach position. Yensho previously served as a Sports Psychology Consultant within both the Indoor and Beach programs at Georgia State in nearby Atlanta over the last two seasons. While at UTC, she will assist in team travel, summer camps, training/coaching team defense and blocking systems, in addition to continuing her work with our program as a sports psychologist. An already familiar face within the program, Yensho worked with the team this past spring in a sports psychologist role.

She completed her M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling from Regent University in 2015 after finishing her B.A. as a Psychology major and Sociology minor from Christopher Newport University in 2010.

FILAR ON BARR & YENSHO: "In continuing to strengthen our staff, I decided that I needed our volunteer assistant to be more involved with the day-to-day dynamics of our program and interactions with our student-athletes. I knew that with Lauren's profession and growing business that would be impossible, so it is an absolute win-win situation that we can not only keep Lauren around our staff and team, but also add Juliana as an assistant coach. You cannot find two better women, mentors, leaders, role models, team-builders, or teachers of life than Lauren and Juliana, so the fact that they both will be involved with our student-athletes throughout the year on and off the court, I could not be more excited or thankful for who they are and what they will add to our family. As a student-athlete here at Chattanooga, Lauren was one of the main cornerstones (captain & four-year starter) of our program's growth, ending in her senior year, a 2015 Southern Conference Championship season, and the work that Juliana did within the fabric of our team and program's culture this past spring was incredible. I know that they both will continue to positively impact our program and be instrumental in achieving our next set of goals as a team."
 
ROSTER OUTLOOK | VIEW
The 2019 edition of the Chattanooga volleyball fall roster will feature four, four-year players in seniors Dani Szczepanski (MB), Mikaela Gauthreaux (RS) and Brianna Anderson (OH) and redshirt junior Sarah Root (MB/RS).
 
Adding to the veteran leadership are juniors Bailey Bennett (DS), Maddie Halsey (S) and Megan Kaufman (DS/L), who return to the court for UTC after two productive seasons on campus.
 
The sophomore class is the largest on the roster with six total including 2018 SoCon all-freshman selections in Jaquelyn Langhaim (S) and Gylian Finch (OH). Brenna Everingham (DS/L), Victoria Cerino (DS/OH), Nan Parrish (OH) and Maia Rackel (MB/RS) round out the class.
 
Chattanooga welcomes two freshman newcomers in Coniah Davis (RS/OH) and MacKenzie Saitta (OH) to the active roster. Both Davis and Saitta will enroll in UTC for the 2019 fall semester and be eligible for competition.

ADDITIONAL PREVIEWS | QUICK FACTS
Full roster, position and season previews will hit GoMocs.com during the summer months leading up to first serve on August 30 in Starkville, Miss.

SUMMER CAMPS | INFO
Chattanooga volleyball coaching staff are excited to host and welcome all who are interested in attending this summer's 2019 camp sessions. Multiple camp sessions remain, claim your spot NOW!
 
For full camp schedule and how to register, please visit: www.chattanoogavolleyballcamps.com.

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