West Virginia University Athletics

Traci Plungas enters her fourth season at West Virginia University after being hired as an assistant coach on Feb. 12, 2020.
 
In her second season, Plungas helped the Mountaineers make their postseason debut for the first time in program history, when the squad earned its first-ever at-large bid in the 2021 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championships. WVU played Illinois in the first round but fell in four sets.
 
West Virginia finished the 2021 season at 19-10 and 8-8 in the Big 12 Conference. The squad posted a program-best, 8-8 mark for the second consecutive year to finish third overall in the Big 12.
 
Plungas helped the team to open the season 10-0 for the first time since 2017. The 2021 season was highlighted when West Virginia swept No. 23 Michigan in a match on Sept. 3. The squad went on to tally its first win at Iowa State, as well as a season sweep over Oklahoma for the first time in program history.
 
Following the 2021 season, six individuals finished the season in the top-10 of four Big 12 categories, while Lacey Zerwas and Skye Stokes ranked in the NCAA top-50 in assists and service aces, respectively. Zerwas was also named to the 2021 Academic All-America Third Team for the first time in her career. She is the second Mountaineer all-time to garner the award.
 
Specializing in recruiting, Plungas helped the Mountaineers recruit two of the top-150 players of the 2022 recruiting class, Jordyn Schilling and Tierney Jackson. Prep Volleyball also ranked West Virginias as the No. 25 top recruiting class for 2022. 
 
In her first season, Plungas helped the team to a program-best eight conference matches, ending their fall season with an 8-8 overall mark to finish fourth overall. West Virginia also earned a series split with Oklahoma for the first time since 2017 and defeated the Sooners in Norman for the first time in program history.
 
The 2020-21 volleyball season was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. WVU, as well as the other eight members of the Big 12 conference played 16 league matches. Each program played eight doubleheaders with competition against the same opponent in consecutive days at the same site.
 
The teams were not permitted to play any non-conference opponents during the fall season. Fall championships were moved to spring 2021. WVU concluded its spring slate with five nonconference matches with a 2-3 record.
 
Plungas joined the Mountaineer staff after spending two-years as an assistant at Colgate. She now serves as WVU’s recruiting coordinator, while assisting with the team’s daily training sessions and match preparations.
 
While at Colgate, the Mogadore, Ohio, native helped the Raiders post a 24-8 overall record in 2019, with the wins total tying the second-most in program history in the Division I era. The squad also earned the Patriot League regular-season title after recording a 15-1 mark in league action. Following a successful regular season, the Raiders advanced to the 2019 National Invitational Volleyball Championships (NIVC) Quarterfinals in postseason play.
 
Additionally, Plungas helped coach five All-Patriot League performers in her two-year tenure, including the 2019 Patriot League Player of the Year, Alli Lowe, who also landed on the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Honorable Mention Team. Lowe became just the second player in program history to receive the recognition and the first since 1996.

Plungas arrived at Colgate after a five-year stint on the Albany volleyball staff, serving as an assistant coach from 2015-17, after a two-year stint as the team’s graduate assistant. She was a four-year letterwinner for the Great Danes from 2009-13.
 
Plungas helped the Great Danes to 63 total wins and a 47-15 record in the America East Conference throughout her five years as a member of the UAlbany coaching staff. She helped UAlbany to a 2017 regular-season America East championship and a pair of tournament championship-game appearances in 2015 and 2016.
 
As a student-athlete at UAlbany, Plungas served as a six-rotation player, leading the Great Danes to a pair of America East titles in 2010 and 2011. She tallied 732 kills, 653 digs, 219 total blocks and 48 service aces in her career, earning All-America East Second Team honors as a senior.
 
Plungas graduated from UAlbany with a bachelor’s degree in history and English in 2013. She later received her master’s in secondary education in 2015. During that time, she spent time on the club circuit, serving as the head coach of the Legion Volleyball Club from 2010-16.

Plungas and her husband, David who is the football defensive coordinator at Robert Morris, have one daughter, Viola.