Volleyball adds two assistants

MURFREESBORO – Dan Ahiers and Middle Tennessee volleyball announced today the hiring of Jeffrey Huebner and Kristen Pickett as assistant coaches.

Huebner comes to Murfreesboro from Coastal Georgia. He began the Mariner volleyball program from scratch in 2011 and ended his five-year tenure with a 121-54 record, including 65-10 in the last two years. Over those past two seasons Huebner also guided Coastal Georgia to the Southern States Athletic Conference regular and post-season championships which helped the Mariners to the NAIA National Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa in 2014 and 2015.

Among his various accolades, Huebner earned 2014 AVCA Region Coach of the Year, 2014 Southern States Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, coached four All-Americans, 27 All-Conference team members, and a current streak of 22 weeks in the Coaches Top 25 Poll. His teams have also faired very well in the classroom with a cumulative GPA of 3.41 in the last five years.

"I am so thankful to Coach Ahiers, Mr. Massaro and Mrs. Turnham for the opportunity to contribute every day to developing a championship culture," Huebner said. "We have a great staff, terrific support and are looking forward to impacting the lives of our student-athletes for excellence in all things."

"Jeff built a championship level team at Coastal Georgia because he is a tireless recruiter, meticulous in detail, and is a great trainer," Head Coach Dan Ahiers added. "It's easy to see why his players all love him. I hired Jeff because he's unbelievably smart, and will challange me, this program and Middle Tennessee to be better at everything we do. He is the embodiment of taking pride in what you do, no matter what it is."

Huebner is a native of Buffalo Grove, Ill. and graduated from Stevenson High School. He attended Illinois State where he played college club volleyball, earning Best Setter in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association two times and All-American honors twice.

While in college, he also coached at Illini Elite volleyball club and picked up six medal finishes at USAV Junior Olympics and AAU National Championships. As a coach at Tri-Valley High School, his teams finished in the top 10 four times in five years before he moved on to Brunswick, Ga. to begin the Coastal Georgia program.

Pickett is in just her second year as an assistant coach, but her first was impressive. As an assistant for Ahiers at Carson-Newman in 2015, Pickett helped lead the Eagles to a 29-8 record and the school's first ever Southeast Region championship. The 3-1 win over Lenoir-Rhyne advanced Carson-Newman to the National Quarterfinals for the first time in school history.

"I am excited to be apart of this program and I look forward to the future here as a Blue Raider," Pickett stated. "This is a huge opportunity and I'm honored to get the chance to work with Dan and Jeff in turning this program around."

"Kristen was a great player because of her work ethic, desire and competitiveness," Head Coach Ahiers said. "I believe those same traits make her a great coach. Her effervescent personality will be great for recruiting, and will immediately ingratiate her with the players on the team."

As a senior setter in 2014, Pickett and the Eagles finished with a 27-7 overall record and a program record 20 South Atlantic Conference wins. Carson-Newman also won their first ever NCAA Tournament match as they upset No. 3 seed Wingate 3-0 in the first round.

2014 was a banner year individually for Pickett as well as she earned AVCA All-Southeast Region and second-team All-South Atlantic Conference. She led the SAC with 1,269 assists and was second with 10.40 assists per set. Her total assists ranked 19th nationally while her assists per set were good enough for 46th in the country.

The Cleveland, Tenn. native was a four year starter for Carson-Newman and finished her career second in program history with 150 service aces and nearly 4,000 assists with 3,948.

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics

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