Women's Beach Volleyball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- wholly@tulane.edu
Wayne Holly enters his sixth year as the head coach of the Tulane beach volleyball program in the 2018-19 season.
Holly led the Green Wave to a nationally ranked status for the fifth consecutive year in the 2018 season, earning a No. 17 AVCA ranking and a No. 15 DiG Volleyball Magazine Poll ranking. The team’s successful 23-14 record also marked the third consecutive season that Tulane had earned at least 20 wins and the fourth consecutive that the team had recorded at least 18 wins.
Tulane’s No. 1 duo, Madeline Mertz and Kaylie McHugh, were named the program’s first All-Americans in the 2018 season and helped lead Holly’s team to continued success. The two earned spots on the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) Beach Volleyball All-Conference Team in a unanimous selection and were selected as the 2018 AVCA Top Flight Award Winners. Mertz and McHugh had 11 victories against ranked opponents in their accomplished season on the sand, going 32-9 overall to earn the program record for the most wins in a single season.
In 2017, Holly's squad made program history on many different fronts. The Green Wave finished 24-13, good for the most single-season wins in program history, and earned their first-ever wins at the CCSA Conference Championships. McHugh and Tarin Mergener combined for 54 overall wins, helping to spur Holly's Tulane beach volleyball program to its fourth consecutive winning season.
2016 saw Tulane's winningest season for the second year in a row, as Holly led the Green Wave to 20 wins for the first time in program history with a 20-15 record. This was Holly's third straight winning season in as many years with the program.
Ranked No. 18 in the preseason, Tulane completed eleven sweeps on the season and upended a pair of national seeds. The Green Wave defeated No. 19 South Carolina 3-2 and then upset a No. 8 Georgia State team in a 3-2 contest.
Tulane's top pair of Jackie Wegner and Tea Juric made their third straight trip to the AVCA National Championships and notched ten straight match sweeps in the 2016 season.
In 2015, Holly led the Green Wave to an 18-10 overall record and a No. 19 national ranking, according to the final DiG Poll. The Green Wave notched their third straight winning season, including their second in as many seasons under Holly.
The Wave remained undefeated against in-state rival LSU, twice topping the Tigers in 2015 to move to a then 4-0 record. Tulane also flexed its muscle for the top beach school in New Orleans, sweeping UNO 5-0 four times. In addition, the Green Wave achieved its first program win against Arizona State.
Standouts Wegner and Juric continue to leave an impact on the program’s first few years. After a 19-15 campaign in 2014, the duo became the program's first 30 match winners, earning an impressive 30-11 record.
In addition, Wegner and Juric not only became the first tandem to receive back-to-back bids to the AVCA National Championships, but also the first duo to reach the Round of 16 elimination bracket for the national pairs title. Furthermore, in a highlight from earlier in the season, Wegner/Juric accomplished six straight wins to reach the title match at the Fiesta on Siesta Key Pairs Championships.
In his debut season, Holly's beach volleyball team went 8-7 overall with a 3-0 record at home. Holly also guided Wegner and Juric to qualify for the 2014 AVCA College Beach Volleyball National Championship, the first Tulane team to be invited to the postseason since beach volleyball was initially announced in 2010.
Holly arrived at Tulane after serving two seasons as the assistant coach at Brown University. While there, he was responsible for recruiting, scouting and preparing video analysis of opponents.
In addition to his previously listed duties at Brown, Holly developed extensive experience coaching beach volleyball in the USA Volleyball Beach High Performance and Junior Beach National Team Programs. For USA Beach, he has previously served in several capacities, deeming titles including high performance tryout coach, elite development camp head coach and national high performance camp head coach.
During the summer of 2014, Holly served as the assistant coach for the U23 USA Junior Beach National Teams, as well as led teams at the FIVB U23 Beach Volleyball World Championship in Poland.
In 2013, Holly was appointed the assistant coach under Jose Loiola for the USA squad at the FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championship in Croatia after holding a volunteer assistant position with the U19 junior national teams in California.
Holly was also selected as a cadre member of the USAV Beach Coaching Accreditation (BCAP) Program in 2013. He continues to conduct research and write on subjects related to the science of both teaching and learning beach volleyball.
In July of 2012, Holly guided two beach volleyball teams to Gold and Bronze medals in the U17 division of the USA Beach Volleyball National High Performance Championship in Hermosa Beach, California.
Prior to his national and collegiate coaching tenures, Holly was active on the club volleyball circuit. For six seasons, Holly served as the program designer and lead instructor for beach programming at the CT Velocity Volleyball Club, where he was also a head indoor coach and club director. Before sand volleyball became a collegiate sport, Holly founded and led the highest attended beach volleyball juniors program in New England.
Holly served as the head coach of the Chariho High School boys' volleyball team in Rhode Island for four years. While at Chariho High School, Holly was also an assistant coach and head JV coach for the girls' volleyball team. In 2010, he was named as the Rhode Island Boys Volleyball Coaching Association Division I Volleyball Coach of the Year after leading his squad to a state championship appearance.
Before beginning his coaching career, Holly played on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Pro Beach Qualifier Tour in 2006 and 2007. He competed in a number of AVP Open tournaments, including the AVP Louisville Open, the AVP Cincinnati Open and the AVP Cuervo Gold Crown Fort Lauderdale Open.
Holly graduated from Rhode Island College in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science. He also earned a J.D. degree from New York Law School. He served as an attorney and partner at Klestadt & Winters, LLP in New York for 10 years.
