Sabrina Hernandez starts her second season as an assistant coach with the UCI program.
This is the second stint for Hernandez with the Anteater program as she spent nine years as an assistant coach at UCI from 2003-2011. During that time, Hernandez specialized in coaching the setters and defense. She mentored All-Big West Conference setter, Taryn Roberts, who was also an All-West Region honorable mention winner in 2008. Robertson was the first UCI setter to be recognized by the AVCA and was ranked nationally in assist average her last two years, concluding the 2009 campaign No. 23 in the country. Under her tutelage, the 2008 team led the Big West in digs and Hernandez also helped to bring in two ranked recruiting classes to UCI. She spearheaded the ’07 effort that resulted in a No. 21 ranking by PrepVolleyball.com and assisted in assembling the 24th-best incoming class (PrepVolleyball.com) in 2009.
A Long Beach State Hall of Fame inductee, Hernandez served as an assistant coach at Mater Dei High School for the past two years. She helped the Monarchs reach the CIF Southern California Finals both years with the 2014 team capturing a Trinity League title.
She spent a season as the top assistant at Occidental College from 2011-12 and helped lead the program to its first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship and a Sweet 16 finish, the highest for the institution.
In the summer of 2005, Hernandez was a member of the A2 High Performance USA National Team coaching staff, training and preparing junior elite volleyball athletes to become future members of the Women’s Olympic volleyball team.
Hernandez began her coaching career at Oregon State (1999-01), helping the Beavers reach the NCAA postseason for the first time in 18 years in 2001. She mentored Laura Collins to All-Pac-10 honors in her final season as at OSU and Collins was only one of two Beavers to have been named Pac-10 Player of the Week more than once.
Hernandez played at Long Beach State from 1989-92, guiding the Forty-Niners to the Final Four three of her four years, and was a member of the 1989 national championship team. She was a two-time AVCA All-America first-team selection and garnered a pair of AVCA All-Region honors. Hernandez was also a two-time All-Big West choice and as a senior, Volleyball Magazine tabbed her first-team All-American, having named her honorable mention the previous year. She ranks third all-time at Long Beach State with 4,796 career assists and is tied for ninth with 115 career aces. Hernandez also holds the second and fourth slots in the single-season annals, recording 1,735 assists in 1990 and 1,617 in 1991.
Hernandez graduated from Long Beach State in 1994 with a degree in history.
She currently resides in Long Beach with her husband, Josh, and their cat, Maddux.
