ASHLAND – Southern Oregon beach volleyball coach Paul Elliott and the No. 1 pair of Grace Gulbrandsen and Tessa Zimmermann received the NAIA's top honors, and No. 2 pair Molly Grace and Kira Sandoval were named All-Americans on Tuesday by the national office.
Elliott, the SOU Sports Hall-of-Famer, was selected as the Coach of the Year 10 days after guiding the Raiders to their first NAIA Invitational championship. Previously a 381-match winner in 16 seasons as SOU's indoor coach (1991-2006), Elliott returned to Ashland to launch the beach program's inaugural 2023 campaign and has presided over a precipitous rise that culminated in a 24-3 record, Cascade Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and a national title this spring.
Elliott's Raiders were ranked no lower than No. 4 throughout the year and climbed to the top of the poll just ahead of the postseason. They were three years removed from a three-win season.
Gulbrandsen and Zimmermann were named the Pair of the Year for heading SOU's lineup with a 17-7 record. Gulbransen, a junior from Folsom, Calif., and Zimmermann, a junior from Albany, were also part of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's All-America team last week.
They won four of their five matches at the NAIA Invitational, hitting the All-Tournament team, and locked down the title-clinching win in straight sets against Ottawa (Ariz.).
Grace and Sandoval landed on the All-America second team after putting together a 19-5 season. They were at their best down the stretch, supplying wins in both the national semifinal and final rounds.
Grace, a graduate student from Cypress, Calif., who played her indoor career at Oregon Tech, was previously named the Cascade Conference Newcomer of the Year. She and Sandoval, a junior from Chelan, Wash., received All-CCC honorable mention following the regular season.