One of Hillsdale College's all-time great volleyball players under current head coach Chris Gravel has returned to the program as an assistant for the upcoming 2024 season.
Megan Molenkamp, a former standout libero for the Chargers from 2004 to 2007, began in the position earlier this week. She'll also serve as the program's recruiting coordinator under Gravel.
"As a first-time college coach, I couldn't think of a better scenario than to be working at Hillsdale College and getting to work with Coach Gravel again," Molenkamp said. "I've always said, as a player in college I was blessed to play for and with the best, and now I get to coach with and learn from the best."
As a player for the Chargers, Molenkamp (nee Megan Howard) was an integral part of a 2006 squad that won the program's first conference title, went undefeated in the regular season and hosted the NCAA DII Midwest Regional for the first time. Playing libero for the Chargers, Molenkamp was the one to set a high standard at Hillsdale College for a position that had just been introduced to college volleyball in 2002 and lay the foundation for a series of excellent Hillsdale liberos to come. Her 2,134 career digs still rank third all-time in Hillsdale College history, and she holds all three of the top single-season marks for digs at Hillsdale in the 30-point rally scoring era.
After graduation, Molenkamp stayed active in the sport of volleyball by helping out as an instructor at Hillsdale College volleyball camps for several years. She took her first formal coaching job in August 2020, taking over the head coaching job of the Kalamazoo Cougars homeschool volleyball team and leading the Cougars to a third place finish in the Michigan Homeschool State Championships, as well as first place in the Bronze Division at the Homeschool Volleyball nationals in Nebraska.
Fresh off that success, Molenkamp took a leadership role with the Kalamazoo Premier Homeschool Volleyball organization as both program director and head varsity coach of the Kalamazoo Premier program, leading the program to two additional top four finishes in the Michigan Homeschool State Championships in the last three years, as well fourth place at the 2021 East Coast Nationals, a Silver Division title at the 2022 NCHC Tournament in Kansas, and a sixth-place finish in the top division of the 2023 NCHC Tournament.
At the same time, Molenkamp also served as the program director and head coach of the Kalamazoo Force Club Volleyball organization, coaching 12U girls and 18U boys to high levels of success in the 2022 and 2023 campaigns.
Molenkamp's background as not only a coach but a program director at the high school and club levels give her a valuable skill set to bring to college coaching and will allow her to make a positive impact on the program in a variety of ways on top of her proven acumen as a head coach and instructor.
"Being in charge of club programs and being in those administrative positions, you do a lot of management, organization, and logistics work on top of coaching and skill instruction," Molenkamp said. "I think all those skills will pay dividends at the college level, because there's so much that goes into running a program behind the scenes that I have some experience with already."
Now, she reunites with her former college coach, looking to help Gravel and the Chargers build on an unprecedented run of year-after-year success that's included record streaks of conference titles, NCAA Tournament appearances and 20-plus win seasons.
The Chargers will go through a spring schedule over the next couple of months to prepare for the fall season, where Hillsdale will seek an eighth-straight G-MAC title, seventh-straight NCAA Tourney appearance, and another deep run in the tournament.