Montana State University Billings head volleyball coach Lisa Axel will have a familiar face next to her on the bench for her first season. Axel announced Monday that former Metropolitan State University player and student assistant coach Amy Watanabe will join the program this fall as the Yellowjackets’ assistant coach.
A 2011 graduate of Metro State with a degree in Human Performance and Sport, Watanabe began learning the ropes of coaching in 2006 by heading up the 13-2 team of the C3 Volleyball Club located in Centennial, Colo. Over the years, she has coached players ranging in age from 13 on up to 18 and her club ball experience has expanded to include coaching both a 13- and 14-year-old team with the 5280 Volleyball Club while also teaching private lessons with skill-players including hitters, setters and liberos.
During the fall of 2011, she served as the assistant varsity volleyball coach for Denver East High School and was the junior varsity squad’s head coach.
Watanabe also served as the student assistant coach for the Roadrunners after graduating from the court following the 2009 season. As the student assistant coach, she helped scout opponents, helped lead the team during pre-match warm-ups and organized statistics for the rest of the coaching staff.
As a player, Watanabe was a four-year starter for the Roadrunners serving primarily as a defensive specialist and libero and ended her time as the program’s all-time leader in digs (1640) and is eighth all-time in career service aces (141). As a senior in 2009, she was named Metro State’s Female Student-Athlete of the Year and was also the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year while earning All-RMAC second team honors as well as Daktronics All-Region second team plaudits.
Away from the court, Watanabe was a member of the Delta Alpha Pi: Alpha Alpha Chapter Honor Society as well as a member of Metro’s Student-Athlete Association Committee (SAAC).
