University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies welcome Abby Gilleland as Assistant Coach
4/15/2019 2:43:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
STORRS, Conn.—UConn volleyball interim head coach Ellen Herman-Kimball announced the addition of Abby Gilleland to the Huskies' coaching staff.
"We are extremely excited and lucky to add Abby to the staff and to our program," said Herman-Kimball. "I am confident that she will have a positive impact on our student-athletes. Her contagious personality, successful playing background, and her relentless work ethic will not only add to our program dynamic, but also help us get to the next level."
"I could not be more excited and thankful for this opportunity to join Ellen, Matt and the rest of the Husky Volleyball family," said Gilleland. "The moment I stepped on campus it was evident that this is a very special University and a program with a solid foundation to achieve even greater successes in the future. I look forward to working with our staff and student-athletes to do just that. Go Huskies!"
Gilleland joined the coaching staff at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in February of 2017. She helped coach two Southern Conference All-Freshman selections, four SoCon Player of the Week selections, as well as a pair of All-SoCon Second Team honorees. Gilleland worked with the Mocs' setters, overall offense, recruiting, in-match strategies, operations planning, and served as the academic liaison. During her time, the team posted a 3.5 GPA or higher all four semesters, nabbed 14 Academic All-SoCon selections in 2017-2018, with a student-athlete earning Google Cloud Academic All-District Team honors in 2018.
Prior to her stay with UTC, Gilleland served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at The College of William & Mary. While there, her duties included organization of and follow through with the recruiting process, overall operations, as well as training setters. She coached a pair of student-athletes to the 2016 All-CAA Third Team and All-CAA Rookie Team.
Gilleland has also coached several camps in addition to two club teams over the years.
A graduate of Ohio University in 2016, she earned her bachelor of science in Sports Sciences. Gilleland was the setter and team captain for the Bobcats who posted a 93-33 overall record and 57-7 in the Mid-American Conference during her time. She is third in Ohio University's record books for total assists of 4,702, second in assists per set at 10.45, and third in hitting percentage of .310.
Individually she garnered various honors such as Mid-American Conference All-Freshman selection, Tournament MVP, and AVCA All-Mideast Region. Gilleland is also a two-time All-American honorable mention, conference player of the year, setter of the year, AVCA All-Northeast Region, and NCAA Tournament qualifier. She has been selected to the All-MAC First Team and Mid-American Conference Distinguished Scholar Athlete on several occasions. Her other accolades include being named the Mid-American Conference 2016 NCAA Women of the Year nominee and receiving the conference Medal of Excellence.
Gilleland is currently pursuing her master's degree in business administration from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
