Beginning her fourth season as Head Volleyball Coach at St. Mary’s University in 2024, Laura Ulrich finally has brought not one, but two preseason tournaments to the friendly confines of Bill Greehey Arena for fans to enjoy a lot more of the Rattlers this season.

THE ULRICH FILE
College: Arkansas Tech (2012 BA, 2014 MA)   Hometown: Morton, Ill.   Experience: 4th Year
YEAR-BY-YEAR REVIEW
Year	Record	Highlights
2021	14-11, 8-9	Lone Star Tournament Quarterfinals
2022	14-14, 10-6	Lone Star Tournament Quarterfinals
2023	12-15, 7-9
2024	17-11, 9-7	Lone Star Tournament Quarterfinals
Totals
4 Yrs.	57-51, 34-31

 

In her first season, head coach Laura Ulrich took a team that won just two matches the previous season and turned it into a winning team as they were 14-11 overall and 8-9 in the tough Lone Star Conference. In 2022, continued the improvement as the team was 14-14 overall and 10-6 in the Lone Star.  
 
Last season, the team narrowly missed qualifying for the Lone Star Tournament but won two of its last three games to shake up the standings. The Rattlers saw Alyssa Koehl, Cali Nims, Alicia Virthe, and Landri Withers earn CSC Academic All-District Honors, while Koehl was named to the Lone Star All-Academic Team.
 
Both Dallasstar Johnson and Withers were named to the Lone Star All-Freshman Team in 2022. Withers was also honored on the Second Team and Johnson was tabbed an honorable mention pick. Setter Cali Nims, a sophomore in 2022, was also on the honorable mention team as well as the 2022 All-Tournament team. 
 
Ulrich was named the 11th volleyball coach in St. Mary's history and immediately put her stamp on the program, as senior Alissa Tolbert was named an All-Conference First Team pick, while Nims earned a place on the All-Freshman squad. The Rattlers started the season by winning their first six matches, including three in five-set fashion.
  
Ulrich (Farney) joined the staff from Texas Woman’s where she was an assistant coach from 2017-2020. She spent the previous four seasons at the University of Montevallo (Alabama) in the same role.

While with the Pioneers, Ulrich helped develop two American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Americans, four All-South Central Region selections and had 10 named to the Lone Star All-Conference teams. In 2019, she was selected to the AVCA 30 under 30 Coaches List, a list that recognizes up and coming coaching talent.

She has also helped TWU to their highest team GPAs in each of the last two semesters and in 2017, the team finished as the Lone Star Tournament runner-up, the Pioneers highest finish in 20 seasons.

Prior to Montevallo, Ulrich was a graduate assistant coach at Arkansas Tech, where the Golden Suns were 52-22 over two seasons. While in Russellville, Ark., she also spent three seasons as a club coach while finishing her master’s degree in college student personnel.

She played for the Golden Suns from 2008-11 before moving to the bench as a coach. While there, she became just the fourth player in school history to collect both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. She helped Arkansas Tech to a 121-27 overall record, three conference tournament championships and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. For her efforts, she was a nominee for the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year and as a senior in 2011 she was an AVCA honorable mention All-American.

Ulrich earned a Bachelor of Arts and Humanities in sociology in 2012 from Arkansas Tech before completing her master’s degree in 2014. She is married to Dave Ulrich and the pair has two sons, Davey (3) and Daniel (born in December, 2023).