Assistant Coach Phuong Luong begins his fifth season with theGardner-Webb volleyball program. He is primarily responsible forhandling the setter training, offensive systems, both individualand team defenses, as well as serving as the recruitingcoordinator. Luong spent the previous 14 years as an assistantvolleyball coach at University of New Hampshire, NortheasternUniversity, University of Wyoming and East Tennessee StateUniversity before coming to Boiling Springs in 2006. GWU’s2009 season saw the Lady Bulldogs pick up 12 wins, the mostvictories since 2007, and saw another team etch its name in the GWUDivision I record books, finishing second in service aces with 227on the season, only one shy of the single season record. Luong hada freshman for the second straight season earn a spot on the BigSouth All-Freshman Team in Molly Rhyne, while fellow freshman CarolSolano earned a Big South Defensive Player of the Week honor.Solano also finished the season with 74 total blocks and 54 blockassists, which both rank fifth in GWU’s Division I singleseason record books, while her 20 solo blocks is tied for thefourth most in a single season. In 2008, the team accounted for thefourth-most assists in school history (1,128) despite the change inthe scoring system per set from 30 to 25 points. Also in 2008,Luong’s first freshmen class since coming to Gardner-Webb setnew heights, as it had a freshman named the Big South ConferenceFreshman of the Year and also be named to the All-Conference SecondTeam. Luong has helped guide the Lady Bulldogs to two of the beststatistical seasons since the GWU’s move to Division I. The2007 squad set school records for kills (1,634), kills per set(14.09), assists (1,519) and assists per set (13.09). The team hadthe second-most digs in school history (2,115) and the second-mostblock assists (229) in the program’s young Division Ihistory. The squad was among the top-five all time in each of the17 statistical categories that GWU maintains. The 2006 teamrecorded more kills per set (14.04), assists per set (12.86),service aces per set (2.02), digs per set (15.79) and total blocksper set (1.69) than the 2005 season. The team set single-seasonschool records for kills per game, service aces per game andassists per game. The squad had the second-highest total blocks pergame in school history as well as the highest hitting percentage.The 15.79 digs per game were the third highest for GWU in a singleseason. While attending Ferris State University, Luong played fouryears with the school’s highly competitive club squad as wellas two seasons with the Grand Rapids (Michigan) AAU Junior Olympic18’s Elite Team. From there, he spent two more years playingin the Midwest Professional Volleyball Association. In the springof 1995, Luong graduated from Ferris State with a bachelor ofscience degree in business management and a minor in finance. Alongwith his duties at Big Rapids, Luong also served as a graduateassistant coach for the Ferris State women’s volleyballprogram. His duties included analyzing video for scouting purposes,coordinating team offensive plays during matches and assisting thecoaching staff with practice and team workouts. In just one seasonat the head of the West Michigan’s Jr. 18’s AAUvolleyball program, Luong led the squad to a first-place finish atthe Michigan State AAU Junior National Championship, and all six ofhis senior competitors went on to play volleyball at the collegiatelevel. After his time coaching at various levels in Michigan,Luong’s coaching career soared to the next level as he becamethe first assistant of the University of New Hampshirewomen’s team from 1996-1998 where he helped the Wildcatsreach the conference tournament finals in his second year as coach.There he helped coach 3 All-Conference First Team and Player of theYear honors. The next step in his coaching career would keep Luongon the East coast taking over first assistant responsibilities atNortheastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, where the teamposted back-to-back 20-win seasons. There he also helped coach 5All-Conference First and Second Team, Player of the Year andFreshman of the Year honors. This led him to the head coachingposition at Wentworth Institute of Technology men’svolleyball program. At Wentworth, Luong led his squad to conferencechampionships from 1998-2000 and finished 13th in the final AVCADiv. III national rankings during the 1999 campaign. He coached 2All-Conference First team along with having AVCA National Player ofthe Week honor in February 2000. Luong also spent two years as thecoordinator with the New Hampshire Seacoast Junior OlympicVolleyball Program. He served on the board of directors committeeand coached the 16’s and 18’s Elite Teams. Under hisdirection, the East Coast 18’s Elite team captured the silverdivision team championship at games held on the campus of PennState University. During his time in various coaching capacities,Luong has held duties ranging from recruiting coordinator, planningpractice, game preparation, scouting, game management, compliance,coordinating summer camps and tracking student-athlete academicprogress.
