The fall 2021 season is the second for Justin Snyder with the PC Volleyball program. Hired in January of 2021, he primarily works with the Blue Hose middle blockers and defensive specialists.
In his first season with the program, Presbyterian increased its blocks/set number from 1.73/set in 2019 to 2.08/set in the spring of 2021, which helped the Blue Hose shave 14 points off of their opponents' hitting percentage from the prior campaign to .172, fourth-lowest in the Big South. Several Blue Hose increased their blocks/set total, including Erin Cooke, who was named Second Team All-Big South. Libero Anna Hewitt finished second in the conference in total digs and digs/set to earn a spot on the All-Freshman Team. Â
Snyder arrived at PC after spending two seasons as an assistant volleyball coach at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. Working primarily with middle blockers and outside hitters, Snyder helped the Rattlers improve their assists, blocks and kills per set numbers in his first season with the team. In 2018, St. Mary’s ranked second in assists/set (12.2) and third in kills/set (12.8) in the Heartland Conference. During his tenure, five different Rattlers earned an All-Conference honor, including outside hitter KK Payne, who averaged 2.6 kills/set or better in each of Snyder’s two seasons.Â
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Prior to St. Mary’s, Snyder spent one season as a graduate assistant at Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks went 23-13 that year, and earned the sixth seed in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
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Snyder served as a volunteer assistant at Davidson in 2016, and also has experience coaching club teams and working camps. While coaching the Carolina Juniors 15s, the team earned a trip to nationals in Indianapolis. He’s also worked camps at several schools throughout the country, including Appalachian State, NC State, North Carolina and UAB.
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A native of Dayton, Ohio, Snyder played collegiately on the men’s volleyball team at Belmont Abbey, where he was a two-year starter at middle blocker, and also spent time as an outside hitter. As a senior, he helped lead the Crusaders to an 18-11 record, the best single-season win total in program history. In that campaign, Snyder tallied 173 kills and 83 blocks with a .400 hitting percentage, while leading the team to its first postseason victory in school history.
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Snyder graduated from Belmont Abbey in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in sport management.
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