Cal Volleyball Camps

Sam Crosson enters his fourth year at the helm of the Cal program in 2022.

Cal raced to a 7-3 record to start the 2021 season, which was highlighted by a Pacific Tournament title and senior Mima Mirkovic’s career day on Aug. 27 when she reached 1,000 total digs and 1,000 total kills, becoming just the 8^th player in program history to do so. The Bears then commenced one of the most difficult conference schedules in the nation, playing ranked opponents no fewer than 11 times. Two players – Lydia Grote and Leah Schmidt – were later invited to USA Volleyball’s National Team Open Program.

In the 2020-21 spring season, Crosson oversaw Lydia Grote’s Pac-12 All-Freshman campaign, crowned by her 11 matches with double-digit kills, as well as the Bears’ first win against Stanford since the 2011 season. The team also received its second straight AVCA Team Academic Award.

In Crosson's first year at Cal, he led the Golden Bears to a 20-10 record in 2019 for the first 20-win campaign since the 2013 season for Cal, falling just short of an NCAA Tournament bid. Crosson coached Mima Mirkovic to AVCA Pacific North All-Region honors that year, and four players earned All-Conference honors (Mirkovic, Preslie Anderson, Lauren Forte, Maddie Haynes). Cal spent eight weeks of the 2019 season ranked in the Top-25 of the AVCA Coaches Poll.

Crosson, a two-time Big West Coach of the Year, returned to Berkeley to lead the program after seven seasons at Cal Poly, where he successfully rebuilt a Mustangs program into a national contender with back-to-back postseason runs in 2017 and ‘18.

He was an assistant at Cal from 2010-12 under longtime head coach Rich Feller, when the Bears made consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including the program’s lone appearance in the title game in 2010. The Bears also claimed the Pac-10 trophy that season.

In his 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, Crosson has become a pillar of Bay Area collegiate volleyball with stops at Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s, where he assisted both women’s programs. He began his coaching career as a men’s volleyball assistant at nearby Pacific, his alma mater. As a head coach Crosson owns an overall record of 116-83, all with the Mustangs.

Touted as a technician, Crosson was named the AVCA Pacific North and Big West Coach of the Year in 2017 after leading the Mustangs to their most successful season in program history with a 27-3 record. Cal Poly also picked up a Big West title after going undefeated in league play, seven all-conference members, three AVCA All-Americans, and made an appearance in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Additionally, the Mustangs' Taylor Nelson, who was one of 12 players selected to the U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team Thailand Tour earlier in the spring, was named Big West Player of the Year.

That same year, Crosson also led Cal Poly to its first sweep of perennial powerhouse Hawai’i since 1985 in front of the team’s first sellout crowd since 2006 at Mott Athletics Center.

Crosson doubled-down on 2017’s success this past season when the Mustangs earned their highest national ranking (11th) since 2008 and were just two wins shy of 2017’s record (25-3). Again, Cal Poly clinched the conference title, added six players to the All-Big West team and made it to the post season, while Crosson picked up his second consecutive conference coach of the year honor. The Mustangs closed the season ranked 22nd, which was also highlighted by a pair of AVCA All-America nods for Adlee Van Winden and Torrey Van Winden, who was named the Big West Player of the Year. It was the second such honor for both sisters and the first back-to-back All-Americans for the program since 2010.

The Mustangs’ also finished 2018 ranked sixth nationally in match win-loss percentage (.893) and seventh in hitting percentage (.290).

The past two seasons at Cal Poly were a far cry from where the program started during Crosson’s first year at the helm, when the team went 4-26. However, the Crosson effect had been established and improvement was noticed immediately following a difficult start.

The next season in 2013, the Mustangs posted their first of six consecutive double-digit win seasons. They also picked up a pair of all-conference honors in senior Chelsea Hardin (first team) and freshman Taylor Gruenewald (honorable mention and freshman team), who became a first team honoree her junior and senior seasons.

Cal Poly’s 2015 squad went 19-8 overall, a 10-match turnaround from 2014, earned the team a third-place conference finish, which was the best since 2010. Cal Poly landed four players on the All-Big West First Team, including Gruenewald, Nelson and Raeann Greisen and outside hitter Adlee Van Winden. Van Winden also won the Big West Conference Freshman of the Year.

During the 2016 season, Cal Poly finished with a record of 19-9 and third in the conference standings for a second straight season. Some of the season highlights included a six-match winning streak and a win over No. 19 Western Kentucky. Three players were named All-Conference First Team, including middle blocker Gruenewald, Nelson, and Greisen. Nelson also earned AVCA All-Region honors, the first Mustang to receive the honor since 2011.

Regarded for his recruiting, Crosson has coached 21 all-conference honorees and entering the 2014 campaign, Cal Poly’s recruiting class was ranked 23rd nationally by PrepVolleyball.com.

Crosson graduated from Pacific in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in sports sciences. He then earned his master’s in sports sciences from Pacific in 2005.

One of the top attackers in program history during his playing career at Pacific (1994-97), Crosson still ranks third all-time in aces (86), fifth in digs (689), sixth in hitting attempts (2,117), seventh in kills (948), 15th in total blocks (218), 17th in kills per set (2.88) and 22nd in total assists (119). Also ranked 14th in Pacific history with 329 sets played, Crosson was voted team Most Valuable Player for the 1997 season.

As a professional, Crosson played one season for Herentals Volleyball Club in Belgium.

A native of Santa Cruz, Crosson and his wife, Courtney, have two daughters, Makenna and Logan.

Savannah Rennie enters her first year as an assistant coach for the Golden Bears in 2023.

Rennie spent the 2022 season as a volunteer assistant coach for the USC Trojans, who reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. During Rennie’s time on the coaching staff, the Trojans’ Skylar Fields received First Team All-American honors, while teammate Mia Tuaniga earned All-American Honorable Mention status.

In her final two years of collegiate competition, Rennie played for the Marquette Golden Eagles while earning a master’s degree in corporate communications, accumulating two All-Big East honors (2020, 2021) and a 2020 All-Region nod from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). She was also named to the 2020 All-Big East Championship Team and the 2021 All-Big East Preseason Team.

Rennie spent five seasons as a player on the California Golden Bears while majoring in media studies. She rose to national prominence following battles with congenital hepatic fibrosis with portal hypertension (which required her to undergo a liver transplant in 2016) and non-Hodgkin post-transplant lymphoma. In Rennie’s senior season in 2019, she earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 2) honors as well as the Tournament MVP title at the CSU Rams Volleyball Classic; later, she tore her ACL but continued to take the court for the Bears.

As a high school player, Rennie was PrepVolleyball.com’s No. 20 Senior Ace in the class of 2015, as well as an Under Armour Third Team All-American, a PrepVolleyball.com All-American and a U.S. Youth National Team member. The previous year, she earned the San Diego Section Player of the Year award.

Crissy Jones Schoonderwoerd is a first-year assistant coach with the Bears in 2023.

Schoonderwoerd comes to Cal with a strong collegiate and professional résumé as a player. A native of Long Beach, Schoonderwoerd played volleyball for four years at Washington, earning an AVCA All-American nod as well as three All-Pac-12 honors while also appearing in two Elite Eights. She was later named an All-American while playing beach volleyball at Cal Poly as a graduate student, leading the team to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and making her just the second player in NCAA history to earn All-American distinction in both indoor and beach volleyball. Post-graduation, she played for three years on the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) beach volleyball tour, earning a Rookie of the Year nomination in 2019, while also playing on Team USA in the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) world beach volleyball tour.

Schoonderwoerd was one of the nation’s top recruits coming out of high school, where she was a consensus 2013-14 First Team All-American and ranked No. 14 overall on PrepVolleyball.com’s Senior Aces List, as well as a Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 honoree and the 2011 ESPNHS National Sophomore of the Year. As a senior, Schoonderwoerd led Los Alamitos High School to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championship, where they finished runner-up, and earned CIF 1AA Co-Player of the Year honors. She was one half of the top U.S. duo competing at the 2014 FIVB U19 World Beach Volleyball Championships and also played for Tstreet Volleyball Club, helping the 18s take third at the 2013 Junior Nationals just one year after finishing third with the 17s, and won gold with Team USA at the 2012 NORCECA U18 Championships.

Schoonderwoerd comes from an athletic family, with her parents Stephanie and Derek both having played collegiate basketball at Boise State and Cal State Fullerton, respectively.