The 2024 season will be Amanda Walker's seventh season as Virginia State University’s Head Volleyball Coach after originally taking over the reins on August 3, 2017.
Virginia State had a 15-10 overall record and a 13-3 record in conference mark in 2021. The Trojans, which featured three All-CIAA selections (Bethany Henry, Jodorrian Taylor, and Helena Eubanks), were upset in the Quarterfinals of the CIAA Volleyball Championship Tournament as a fourth seed.
Most recently, in 2022, the Trojans went 15-16 overall with a 9-8 mark in league action. Virginia State qualified for the CIAA Volleyball Championship Tournament as a fifth seed and Najlaa Williams and Amaya Cooper were second-team All-CIAA selections.
In the 2023 season Walker lead the Trojans to a 10-16 overall record with a 9-8 conference record. Virginia State earned a spot in the CIAA Tournament and Najlaa Williams earned CIAA Defensive Player of the Year. Kennedy Hoge and Peyton reese also earned All-CIAA honors
In 2018 and 2019, Coach Walker led the Trojans to consecutive Northern Division titles, going 22-13 overall in 2018 and 16-12 in 2019. Over the two years, Virginia State was 25-7 against conference opponents. 2018 was a particularly historic year when Coach Walker led the Trojans to the program's first conference tournament finals appearance. That 2018 squad was also awarded the highest team GPA of all VSU sports for the 2018-19 school year with a cumulative team GPA of 3.49.
In 2017, Coach Walker’s debut season as Head Coach, she led the team to an overall record of 11-17, a conference record of 10-5, and an advancement to the conference tournament semi-finals.
During her time at VSU, Walker has coached 15 all-conference selections, including the 2019 Offensive Player of the Year, Jailyn Ivey and the 2023 Denfensive player of teh year Najlaa Williams. For three consecutive years, the CIAA Woman of the Year/Female Student-Athlete of the Year has been a member of the Virginia State Volleyball program: Alexis McNair (2022), Bethany Henry (2021), and Bria Anderson (2020). Coach Walker has also qualified for the CIAA Tournament in each of her six seasons.
Walker arrived at VSU with 11 years of volleyball experience, both as a coach and player. Prior to VSU, Walker was the Assistant Volleyball Coach at West Virginia Wesleyan College and she also served as the Head Volleyball Coach of the College’s JV program where she led the team to an overall record of 6-2.
Walker is a native of Virginia Beach, VA and attended Concord University, where she graduated in May 2015. At the time of her graduation as a volleyball player at Concord, she was the only CU player to have more than 900 assists and 900 digs in a career. She also ranked seventh in school history in aces and eighth in digs. She was a four-year starter and a three-year team captain. Walker was the starting libero during her freshman and senior year and was one of two starting setters her sophomore and junior year. Her other volleyball accomplishments include qualifying to play in the Junior Olympic Games for beach volleyball five years in a row and placing fifth nationally all five years. She has experience coaching volleyball on both the club and collegiate levels.
Year Season Record Conference Record
2017 11-17 10-5
2018 22-13 13-4
2019 16-12 12-3
2020 Canceled due to Covid19
2021 15-10 13-3
2022 15-16 9-8
2023 10-16 9-8
89-84 66-31
