Story courtesy of University of Dallas Sports Information
IRVING, Texas – Emily Holembek announced her resignation from the University of Dallas volleyball team to pursue another career endeavor. Holembek will complete her final day with the institution on Friday, February 26. An immediate search for the position is underway.
Holembek was the fifteenth head coach for the Lady Crusaders, and guided the club to a 34-36 record in two seasons. She joined the University of Dallas Athletics Department in March, 2014.
In her first campaign at the helm, Holembek led the 2014 Dallas squad to a 23-13 record overall and finished fourth place the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) with an 8-6 mark. After topping Texas Lutheran University in the SCAC Quarterfinals, 3-2, the Lady Crusaders fell in the next two matches.
During the first season, Holembek inherited five juniors and three seniors. Two seniors notched All-Conference Second Team with Emily Caples and CJ Broadbent. Current senior Jaime Birzer was the other member to earn the award. The other current senior, Cat Dowgwillo, notched the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) All-Academic Team. Current juniors Jessie Koster and Allison Seager were named USCAA All-American Honors.
In that same year, two volleyball program records were broken, with Caples garnering 271 block assists over her career for the top spot. Koster set a career record in digs per game with a 5.19-clip.
In 2015, the Lady Crusaders were led by Koster in the libero position. She set the single-season record in digs per set with a 6.69 mark. That led the SCAC and was tied first in the NCAA DIII rankings. The native of Sherwood, Okla. also led the USCAA in total digs for single season with 790, and also broke the record for Dallas. Finally, Koster bested her old career digs average with 5.56. Her huge year notched her USCAA All-American. Birzer wrapped up the accolades during head coach Holembek's time with her second straight All-SCAC Second Team Honor.
Holembek was also named the Senior Woman Administrator for the department on April, 24, 2015.
