Rocio Moro 5-5 L/DS So. San Juan, P.R. / San Juan School of Sports

Kristen Wright’s first year in Jacksonville saw the Ospreys garner a spot in the ASUN Championship. UNF bowed out of postseason play after falling to No. 3 Lipscomb November 15, 3-1.

Freshman Solimar Cestero had a big season under Wright, earning ASUN All-Freshman Team honors and the ASUN Freshman Player of the Week honor for September 10. Cestero tallied 197 kills, good for third on the team.

Junior Taryn Griffey was an integral part of the North Florida volleyball team in 2018 and earned a spot on the Fall Winners for Life team. The middle blocker posted career-highs in kills (17) against Oral Roberts, while also posting a new career-high with 10 blocks against New Mexico later in the season. The Wildwood, Mo., native garnered three all-tournament selections and finished the season with career highs in kills (317) and blocks (105).

Madilyn McCarty surpassed 3,000 assists for her Division I career and finished sixth in UNF history in assists (2,291). She posted 1,050 assists throughout the campaign, earning all-tournament honors at the Owls Classic.

Sophomore Devyn Wheeler put up one the best performances in a five-set match in program history as UNF took down a strong North Dakota squad, 3-2. Wheeler put up a 21-kill, 11-block double-double to give her the second-highest block total for a five-set match in program history.

Wright’s first season also saw the return of one of the most diverse Ospreys to don the Navy and Gray. Redshirt-sophomore Gabby O’Connell finished with 320 kills and 325 digs as an outside, putting up 13 doubledoubles. She would go on to tryout for the U.S. Women’s National Team at the Olympic Training Facility in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Ospreys took on a challenging non-conference schedule to open up the season, traveling to Wyoming, Knoxville, Tenn., and Boca Raton, Fla., for tournament play. UNF would play teams from the Mountain West, Summit League, Pac-12, SEC, Missouri Valley, Big South, SoCon and Conference - USA among others. UNF took a set from Tennessee who would finish with a 26 RPI, facing Colorado as the Buffaloes brought in a No. 15 ranking.

Prior to UNF:

Wright came to the Ospreys following a four-year stint leading the indoor and beach volleyball programs at MiraCosta College in Oceanside, Calif (2014-17). She started both programs and led the Spartans to five conference championships and a state title in beach volleyball.

Joining MiraCosta in January of 2014, Wright quickly built a strong program with the indoor squad posting an 80-28 (74.1 win percentage) record. Under her tutelage, the Spartans produced one All-American, two all-state, three all-region, two conference players and a beach duo of the year award winners. She also collected a pair of conference coach of the year awards. Wright was named an AVCA Top 30 Coaches under Thirty Award winner in 2012.

Owning over a decade of head coaching experience, Wright was a championship winning coach in the high school ranks before going to MiraCosta. She led Tri-City Christian to eight consecutive CIF San Diego Section Championships, five So-Cal Regional Championships and a California State Championship runner-up finish. At Santa Fe Christian, she guided the team to a California State Championship, SoCal Regional Championship and league championship.

In 13 years as a head coach, Wright’s teams have won a championship in 12, earning multiple titles in several seasons. Her prep pupils collected two all-American and seven player of the year laurels. Additionally, she was inducted into the San Diego Breitbard Coaching Hall of Fame in 2016.

Along with a successful coaching career, Wright was a four-year starter at the University of San Diego. She earned AVCA All-American and All-Region honors while also garnering three WCC All-Conference accolades during her career with the Toreros.

Wright earned her bachelor’s degree in history from San Diego in 2006 and completed her master’s degree from Azusa Pacifiic in June of 2018.

She is married to Doug Wright, and the couple are the parents of children, Bradyn and Kylee.

What Coach Wright says:

“My family and I are thrilled to join the UNF family. I am eager to work with our staff and student-athletes as we build a championship program in indoor and beach. I am well prepared and have outstanding experience in running a program that has both indoor and beach and our goal is to be the best mid-major school in the country that sponsors both. To become a championship program, it requires vision, hard work, and buy-in from everyone. We have to know where we want to go as a program and put in the time and work necessary to get there. You can build a championship culture and still have tight knit relationships on the team. Bringing a vision to fruition is what I’ve always done, and I plan to do it again at UNF.”