By Kassidy Robinson
Triangle contributing writer
When Wingate University announced women’s beach volleyball as its 26th intercollegiate sport last January, Hannah Givens was the obvious choice to be the program’s first head coach. A 2019 graduate of WU and former standout for the Bulldogs’ indoor volleyball team, she brought a unique set of credentials from Lynchburg University, where she was faced with the same challenge of starting a beach volleyball program from scratch.
“All great programs start with great leaders, and you have one with coach Givens,” said Lynchburg Athletic Director Joe Waters. “She will be the type of positive advocate that is needed to build a foundation and then season it as the program begins to find success.”
Givens became the assistant coach for the Lynchburg indoor women’s volleyball team immediately after graduating from Wingate. When the previous head coach, Elizabeth Ellinger, unexpectedly left the team to direct the Old Dominion Volleyball Academy in April 2020, she was thrust into the role of interim head coach and then to full-time head coach a year later. When Lynchburg added beach volleyball in 2023, she became the Hornets’ director of volleyball as in charge of both teams.
“The level of care and intentionality that she puts into every aspect of the job will not only have an impact this first season but the years to come as well,” said Olivia Killeen, Givens’ assistant coach at Lynchburg and her successor as the Hornets’ beach volleyball coach. “She is very forward thinking in how different things build off each other for the years to come.”
Givens, whose Lynchburg beach team won 13 games in its first season of NCAA play, played under American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall-of-Famer and longtime Wingate indoor head coach Shelton Collier for four seasons. During her playing career, she helped the Bulldogs win two SAC championships and reach the NCAA Elite Eight in 2018 as an All-SAC and All-Region outside hitter.
When researching what makes a successful program, the Wingate athletic administration deliberated on candidates who would effectively build the Bulldogs’ beach volleyball team from the ground up. After asking for the input of Wingate volleyball players and coaches, present and past, Givens was among the first names to come up.
“Everyone in the volleyball family here at Wingate University raved about Hannah,” said Bulldogs Athletic Director Joe Reich. “That said, she also came in with good experience as an indoor coach and beach coach. She was perfect for what we were looking for: someone who had the energy and the passion to build the program from scratch and enough experience to draw from in doing so.”
Now, as Wingate’s inaugural beach volleyball season approaches in February, Givens continues to build a roster that now includes 14 players. Reich said the school had originally budgeted for 12 players, but Givens quickly exceeded that in her tireless recruiting efforts.
“Coach Givens worked hard over the process of a couple of years to recruit a strong group of women [to Lynchburg] that wanted a beach volleyball experience in college,” Waters recalled.
Killelea added: “I believe one of the things that coach Givens does really well while building a program is not just focusing on the tangible items such as building courts and recruiting players, but what she wants the future of the program to look like. One of the ways that she does that is she is quick to establish, build and support a strong team culture that will outlast the first initial players in the program through her care for the program.”
Currently, there are 93 college beach volleyball programs in the U.S., spread across all levels of NCAA, NAIA and junior-college athletics. Wingate is the eighth school in North Carolina to add the sport, joining four community colleges, South Atlantic Conference rival Catawba, NAIA St. Andrews and NCAA Division 1 UNC Wilmington.
Wingate considered adding a men’s indoor volleyball team instead of the women’s beach volleyball team as its newest intercollegiate sport but ultimately decided that hiring Givens to create the beach volleyball team was the best option due to conflicts that could occur with five teams requiring time in the Cuddy Arena.
“When we look at the cost of the beach team, we look at the overall net to the university and want to make sure that it is net positive in the final analysis, which beach volleyball is,” said Reich. “We came very close to going with men’s volleyball, but in the end it was the court usage that was the issue. The fact that women’s beach helps us in the male-female student-athlete ratio was helpful.”
The team will play home games at four sand volleyball courts that are currently being constructed near the Wingate Softball Complex at 224 E Wilson St. The courts are estimated to cost approximately $250,000 and are set to be completed in time for the team’s home opener on March 19.
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