Astyn Bjorklund, a former standout at Xavier University, was named graduate assistant coach for the University of Delaware women’s volleyball program in August, 2010.
A native of New Sweden, Minn. where she was a standout at Sibley East High School, Bjorklund will work closely with Kenny and Associate Head Coach Cindy Gregory and will help lead the Blue Hens to a fourth straight Colonial Athletic Association championship in 2010. The Hens captured the CAA Tournament in both 2007 and 2008 and shared the regular season title last fall.
“Astyn comes from a storied program at Xavier and played under Floyd Deaton,” said Kenny in making the announcement. “She had a great career and was a quality middle blocker. With her experience in that position she will make an immediate impact with our middles. She has experience in coaching Club at Northern Lights and will also coach for Club Delaware. She came highly recommended and we look forward to working with her.”
While at Delaware, Bjorklund will pursue a master’s degree in business administration.
Bjorklund began her college coaching career last season at NCAA Division III Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. where he helped lead the Scots under head coach Stephanie Schleuder. Since 2006, Bjorklund has been coaching for Minnesota’s Northern Lights Club program, specializing in training middle hitters and working with the 16-3 team. She was also employed by Wells Fargo as a Private Mortgage Banking Associate.
As a collegiate player at Xavier (Ohio) in 2003-06, Bjorklund was selected to the Atlantic 10 Conference All-Rookie team her first year and to the All-Atlantic 10 all-star team three times as a middle hitter. She was captain of the team in her senior year and is third on Xavier’s career record list for hitting percentage (.326) while also becoming a member of the 1,000 Kill Club. She graduated from Xavier in May, 2007 with a degree in finance.
Bjorklund is the second Macalester product to serve as graduate assistant for the Blue Hen volleyball squad in the last five years. Sarah Graves, a 2004 graduate of Macalester, was Delaware’s graduate assistant during the 2006 and 2007 seasons and earned her master’s degree from UD.
Updated 8/15/11
Head Coach Bonnie Kenny
Associate Head Coach Cindy Gregory
Assistant Coach Doug English
Graduate Assistant Coach Astyn Bjorklund
