April 23, 2008

CINCINNATI - Head volleyball coach Floyd Deaton has announced the addition of Christy Utnage, 24, to fill the open position on his staff.

"We are lucky to have someone who knows the Atlantic 10 after a very accomplished career as a player at Dayton. Christy has a great personality and she is driven in everything that she does. Christy brings different ideas about how to do things and she is someone the players can relate to in the aspect that she has been where they are now."

Utnage comes to Xavier after spending the last two seasons as an assistant under Joe Bonner at Youngstown State University. She worked with all aspects of the team including managing the outside attackers, breaking down film, recruiting, academics, travel plans and several other aspects as well.

Before her time at Youngstown State, Utnage served as an assistant coach at her alma mater, the University of Dayton, under current head coach Tim Horsman. She was apart of the UD staff for the 2005 season and helped with recruiting, scouting, academics and practice plans in addition to assisting during UD's summer camps.

Utnage has also served in several other capacities within the volleyball community including as a summer and winter volleyball camp coach, an individual instructor, as a certified junior national volleyball referee and as a Junior Olympic volleyball coach.

During her collegiate career at Dayton, Utnage garnered several Atlantic 10 and national accolades in addition to participating on two NCAA Tournament teams. She was named the A-10 Player of the Year in 2004 and earned AVCA All-American honors that year as well. Utnage was named to the CoSIDA District IV All-American Third Team and also garnered A-10 Academic All-Conference accolades in 2004 as well. She is a 2005 graduate from UD with a bachelor's degree in education with a concentration in physical education and allied health.