TAMPA, DEC. 14, 2023 – The University of South Florida Bulls Beach Volleyball program and head coach Pri Piantadosi-Lima have announced the hiring of Jae-Lyn Visscher (viss-sher) as assistant head coach.

A former standout volleyball player at Concordia University of Edmonton and touted beach volleyball player at Stetson University, Jacksonville State, and for her home country of Canada, Visscher is an AVCA 30 under 30 recipient (2022) and most recently spent the last two seasons as the Assistant Coach for Stetson University Beach Volleyball.

"We are so lucky to have Jae-Lyn joining us," Piantadosi-Lima said. "The fact that she is coming from a very well-established and ranked program will help us not only in our recruiting but in all aspects of our program. Jae-Lyn will be heavily involved in all aspects of the program including academics, organizational and administrative responsibilities, and player development."

In her two seasons as Stetson's assistant beach volleyball coach, Visscher helped guide the team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths, as a No. 14 seed in 2022 and a No. 15 seed in 2023, and back-to-back ASUN conference championships. Visscher's athletes were often recognized for their achievements under her coaching. She is credited with two ASUN Tournament MVP award-winners, four All-Tournament selections, four ASUN First-Team All-Conference selections, one ASUN Pair of the Year, three All-Freshman selections, one ASUN Freshman of the Year award, two All-Academic selections, two AVCA Top Flight awards, and four AVCA All-American selections.

"It's an honor to be named assistant coach of the Bulls Beach Volleyball program. Thank you to Coach Pri Piantandosi-Lima, Senior Associate Athletic Director Dr. Jodie Libadisos, and Vice President/Director of Athletics Micheal Kelly for their trust in me to join an esteemed USF Athletics Department," Visscher said. "To be able to work with and learn from Pri is an opportunity I could not pass up. We have big goals to bring this program to the national stage and create an environment where our student-athletes can thrive both on the sand and in the classroom."

Outside of her work at Stetson, Visscher was as an assistant coach and game analyst for USA Men's Volleyball Gold Medal winners Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb. She also assisted head coach Pompillio Mercandante at AVP Hermosa and has coached various teams on the AVP. Visscher also acted as the lead coach for the USA pair of Brunner/Crabb during the Beach Pro Tour Challenge Event in Edmonton.

Visscher has worked as the Chief Executive Officer of VOGO Beach Volleyball where she was responsible for advocating the sport to rural areas in Western Canada. She previously served as the California Region Director for Dakine Beach Volleyball Club (2019-21) and the Associate Director of Adult and Youth Programming and Events for VolleyOC (2019-21). Visscher was named the head women's varsity coach for Paul Kane High School (2018-20) and coached with the Pandas Volleyball Club (2018-19) where she led her team to Best of the West Champions (2019) and Provincial Champions (2019).

"Jae-Lyn is a dynamic leader and coach, and I'm beyond excited to see how well we will work together and build our program and culture," Piantadosi said. "We have similar viewpoints on building the culture and what it takes to not only train but also mentor players so they can be highly successful on and off the court."

As a player, Visscher played beach volleyball at Stetson in 2019, the same year the Hatters finished sixth overall in the final AVCA poll and upset the No. 1 seed USC at the NCAA Championships. They finished 30-10 overall and held a conference record of 8-0 where they were also named ASUN Champions. Ahead of her transfer to Stetson, Visscher played beach volleyball for Jacksonville State in 2017. Before transitioning to sand, she spent two seasons at Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) where she played indoor volleyball as an outside hitter accumulating 194 kills, 35 service aces, and 333 digs. During her years in Canada, Visscher represented Team Canada internationally on the NORCEA professional beach volleyball tour.

"For us to be a top program we not only have to bring in the players that can reach that level and have those goals, but we also have to surround them with high achievers in our sport," Piantadosi-Lima said. "Having a coach who has played at a high level and has done what we want our program to do is very important. The power of sharing her own experiences and stories with the team will help them grow and understand faster what it takes to be a top student-athlete in the NCAA."

Visscher received her Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Chemistry and Physical Education from Concordia University of Edmonton in 2018. She received a Masters of Arts in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University Irvine in 2021.

About USF Athletics

USF Athletics currently sponsors 19 varsity men's and women's teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference, which will expand to 21 teams with the recently announced additions of women's lacrosse (2024-25) and women's beach volleyball. The Bulls' athletic program began in 1965 and is in its 57th season in 2022-23. Nearly 450 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 26 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, including seven trophies in the 2021 calendar year, and own 140 conference titles claimed in 15 sports in department history, led by 20 each for men's tennis and men's soccer. USF has claimed 74 men's conference championships and 64 women's titles, led by 14 in women's tennis and 12 in volleyball. The Bulls have posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for more than eight straight years and have posted a program record of 17 straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0 as of the spring of 2023. USF has had over 600 student-athletes earn their degree since 2016-17.

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