Meredith Schamun (pronounced shah-MOON) was hired as head coach of the University of Pennsylvania volleyball program in March 2020.
Schamun's influence really started to take hold in the 2024 season, as Penn more than tripled its win totals both overall (13) and in Ivy League play (7) from the previous season and finished just one game out of a spot in the four-team Ivy League Tournament. The campaign included the Quakers' first win over archrival Princeton since 2015, their first victory over Brown since 2019, and the Red and Blue's first Ivy League road sweep since 2016 (3-2 wins at Harvard and Dartmouth). That final weekend included a reverse sweep of the Crimson, the program's first in an Ivy League match since 2012. Following the season, sophomore Zada Sanger and freshman Adell Murray received honorable mention All-Ivy recognition.
Schamun's first season as head coach (2021) started with three straight wins, Penn winning its own Sheraton University City Invitational, and ended with the Quakers' first true sweep of an Ivy League weekend since the 2012 season as they beat both Cornell and Columbia by 3-0 scores at The Palestra. Junior outside hitter Autumn Leak earned second-team All-Ivy honors as the Red and Blue exceeded preseason expectations. In 2022, libero Abigail Reid was one of just two freshmen named All-Ivy as she received honorable mention recognition.
Schamun came to Penn from the Main Line, as she helped Villanova to a 39-23 record in two seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Wildcats. A highly decorated setter at Rice University, Schamun also served two seasons as an assistant coach at Tulane and two seasons at UCF following a professional playing career.
Schamun helped Villanova to a pair of Big East Tournament appearances and a combined 23-13 record in conference play. In 2019, the Wildcats were 22-9 overall and 13-5 in the Big East and ranked 60th in the final NCAA RPI (out of 335 teams). She coached the Wildcat offense which finished second in the league in hitting percentage and trained Villanova’s all-time assist leader Emma Decker, who earned a spot on the All-Big East team.
Prior to arriving at Villanova, Schamun served two seasons as an assistant coach at Tulane, helping the Green Wave to the highest RPI jump in the nation (157 spots) in 2016. That season, Tulane had its first winning season in three years and finished fifth in the American Athletic Conference. In 2014 and 2015, Schamun was the director of volleyball operations at UCF, helping organize travel, scheduling and recruiting for the Knights, which won the conference title and reached the NCAA Championship field in 2014.
Schamun also has nearly a decade of club volleyball experience, including the past two years with East Coast Power Volleyball. She is a cap I certified member of USA Volleyball and the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Schamun played collegiately at Rice, where she was a highly decorated setter and four-year starter for the Owls. The Conference USA Setter of the Year in 2009, Schamum was a two-time All-C-USA First Team, AVCA All-Region and AVCA All-America honorable mention selection. She helped lead the Owls to a conference championship and two NCAA Championship berths, and finished her career as Rice’s all-time leader in assists with 5,190. Following graduation, Schamun played professionally in Germany for a season.
Schamun graduated from Rice in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and policy studies for healthcare administration and earned a master’s from UCF in sport and exercise science in 2015.
Â
