University of West Florida

Melissa Wolter Mic'd Up

Wolter has been the architect of the University of West Florida’s volleyball team’s climb to the position of perennial powerhouse in the NCAA Division II South Region. She owns a conference-record nine GSC Coach of the Year awards, won 2010-19 GSC Coach of the Decade, and was named AVCA All-Region Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2021. During her time at UWF, Wolter has coached 30 AVCA All-Americans, 40 AVCA All-Region players, six D2CCA All-Americans, 36 D2CCA All-Region players, 23 NCAA Division II All-South Region Tournament players, four CSC Academic All-Americans, 13 GSC All-Decade Team members including the 2010-19 GSC Player of the Decade, 10 GSC Players of the Year, 85 All-GSC Team selections and 46 GSC All-Tournament Team honorees.  
 
At UWF, Wolter has led the Argos to 20 seasons with 20 or more wins, 16 with 25 or more wins, including the last nine, and 18 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, the most of any GSC program. Wolter has also coached the Argos to 16 GSC regular-season titles, 20 GSC Championship appearances and 13 GSC Championship titles (2008-2013, 2017-2019, 2021-2024). Wolter has an overall standing record at UWF of 542-167 with a winning percentage of .764. Wolter has a career GSC regular season record of 281-27 (.912) and a 34-7 (.829) record in the GSC Championship.

Wolter is the winningest coach in GSC volleyball history, outpacing Jon Moseley of Alabama Huntsville by nearly 100 wins. Her .764 winning percentage is the best among active conference head coaches and is tied for second all-time with former Harding and UAH head coach Keith Giboney.
 
Upon her hiring after the 2002 season by then-UWF athletic director Richard Berg, she promptly led the Argonauts to their best record in just the fourth season for the program. UWF went 24-7 overall, one shy of the program’s total wins throughout its first three seasons, and 9-5 in GSC play as it earned just its second berth in the GSC Championship. The Argos also got their first All-Region honoree, as Kristy Krause earned Honorable Mention from the AVCA and won her second First Team All-GSC award, also a first in program history. The .774 winning percentage was also the highest of Wolter’s career to that point. 
 
After a 2004 season that was called off after 12 matches with the effects of Hurricane Ivan, she led the Argos to another 24-7 record in 2005 and second place in the GSC, a program-best finish. 
 
Two weeks into the 2006 season, Wolter was faced with her toughest battle yet: a breast cancer diagnosis. In the midst of it, she led her team to come back from a 2-6 start to win 12 of their next 14 matches and record another season of firsts for the program. 
 
In the 2006 GSC Quarterfinals, the team earned the program's first postseason win with a 3-1 victory over Henderson State before falling in the Semifinals. The accomplishment earned UWF volleyball its first NCAA Regionals berth and its first of 18 straight, a run still going to this day. The Argos swept Washburn in the South Central Regional First Round before falling in five to Central Missouri, and Naiara Fernandes and Carly Moyers were the first Argos to earn NCAA Regional All-Tournament honors. (The Argos moved to the South Region in 2008). Fernandes set a program record for season kills with 598. 
 
In April 2007, Wolter underwent her final radiation treatments and has been cancer-free ever since. She has stayed committed to supporting others at UWF and in the Pensacola area fighting the disease, and in October 2007 in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she helped spearhead a movement in the volleyball program in the first annual Pack-it-Pink Match. As the team and the UWF Field House is decked out in pink for the special night, the team raises funds for breast cancer treatment and awareness efforts with donations in lieu of tickets and a silent auction in the Field House lobby. The beloved tradition is going on its 18th annual installment in 2025.
 
That season, the Argos outdid themselves once again in setting a new program record for wins with a 32-7 record and a 12-0 GSC mark, the program’s first undefeated conference mark and No. 1 finish in the conference standings. UWF advanced to the GSC Championship match for the first time following sweeps in the Quarterfinals and Semifinals of Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State, respectively. For her efforts, Wolter won her first GSC Coach of the Year honor in this season, and the program also claimed its first GSC Player of the Year honoree in right side hitter Luciana Rapach. Madeline Gonzalez also set a program record for season assists with 1,628. 
 

In 2018, Wolter tallied her 400th career win as head coach at UWF in the GSC Semifinals with the win over Montevallo on Nov. 10. Wolter coached a record six Argos that received All-GSC honors, three student-athletes that earned all-region honors and two players that were named AVCA All-Americans.
 
2019 was another great year for head coach Melissa Wolter and the Argonauts as they won their 3^rd GSC Championship in a row, 9^th all-time, and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the 14^th consecutive season. Senior Jordyn Poppen and Redshirt Freshman Veresia Yon lead the way for UWF and as a result were both named AVCA All-Americans for the season.

Poppen continued on her success throughout her career last season when she picked up many additional accolades including being named AVCA All-America (Third Team), D2CCA All-South Region Player of the Year, as well as GSC Player of the Year. This made Poppen the only player in UWF history to be named All-South Region Player of the Year, the 5^th player to be a two-time All-American, and the 6^th Argonaut to be named GSC Player of the Year.

Another key player in UWF’s success in 2019 was Veresia Yon who stepped up big for the Argonauts in her Redshirt Freshman season. With 142 blocks on the year, Yon broke the UWF single-season record for blocks and finished in the top ten in the GSC in Points, Kills, and Hitting %. This success helped her to be named AVCA All-America (honorable mention) alongside Poppen, D2CCA All-South Region First Team, as well as All-GSC First Team in her first year with UWF.
 
The 16-0 conference record marked the 5^th time under Wolter’s coaching that the Argonauts have gone undefeated in GSC regular season play.
 
Wolter came to West Florida from NCAA Division II Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wis. She was the head coach of the Rangers for three years after finishing her playing career, in which she was a three-time captain, and serving one year as an assistant coach. She took the reins of the program ahead of the 2000 season at just 23 years of age upon her college head coach’s departure. Wolter led the Rangers to their seventh straight Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament in 2002 with a record of 16-11. She also served as the Assistant Director of Marketing for the Wisconsin-Parkside Athletic Department in 2001.

In June of 2018, Wolter was invited to coach with USA Volleyball's Collegiate National Team in Anaheim. From June 23-29, the Collegiate National Team (CNT) squad trained at the American Sports Centers in Anaheim, the official host city for the U.S. Women's and Men's National Volleyball Teams as Wolter was one of four coaches in the country offered this opportunity and the only NCAA Division II representative.
 
The CNT-Anaheim coaches also included Dan Fisher (University of Pittsburgh), Travis Hudson (Western Kentucky University), and Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Creighton University). The technical coordinators for the team were Taylor Filzen (University of Dayton) and Jess Aschenbrenner (University of Denver). Rod Wilde served as the mentor coach, while Jeff Wanderer was selected as the team manager.
 
Wolter has worked her way into the USA Volleyball High Performance Pipeline and has since dedicated 17 years to USA Volleyball and is a part of their National Cadre. 
 
During the summer of 2012, Wolter put in her 10th year of service with USA Volleyball, coaching in their national High Performance pipeline. She served as an assistant coach with the United States Girls’ Youth Team under head coach Jim Stone, helping guide the team to a gold medal at the NORCECA Girls’ Youth Continental Championship in Guatemala City, Guatemala. This was the 3rd gold medal in the NORCECA Girl’s Youth Continental Championships for Coach Wolter, as she was part of the 2008 and 2004 teams that earned that top honor. Wolter has served as an assistant coach in three separate Federation Internationale de Volleyball World Championships. In 2005, the team placed fourth, the second highest in the history of any United States Girls’ Youth Team.

Outside of working with the Youth National Team, Wolter has been asked to run numerous programs for USA High Performance.  In 2018, she was the Associate Head Coach for the Select A1 group at the High Performance Championships along with the Associate Head Coach for the Holiday Camp for the Youth age group.  She has also served as the lead coach for the Gulf Coast Region and Delta Region High Performance Camps. In this realm of volleyball, Wolter met Heath Hoke, the Director of High Performance USA Volleyball.