St. John Fisher University Athletics

Kelly Greapentrog enters her 17th season as head coach of the St. John Fisher University women’s volleyball team in 2025. She also serves as the athletic department’s Senior Woman Administrator (SWA).

Greapentrog has had one of the most consistent Division III programs in the region since beginning her second stint leading the Cardinals in 2012. Fisher has won over 200 matches with five Empire 8 Conference titles and four appearances in the NCAA DIII Women’s Volleyball Tournament in that span.

In all, Greapentrog has posted a 271-215 (.558) overall record with seven 20-plus win seasons at Fisher. The four-time Empire 8 Coach of the Year has a dominant 69-9 mark in matches against conference teams, including 11-3 in E8 postseason play, since 2017. 

The Cardinals won 45 consecutive matches against Empire 8 opponents from 2019 until the conference tournament in 2023. In 2021, when they won their third of four consecutive Empire 8 titles, they finished with 26 victories, the most by a Fisher team in a season in 25 years. 

Several of the program’s best players have developed at Fisher under Greapentrog, who has coached five American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Americans. That list includes Alea Steigerwald (3x), Sydney French, Kaylene Noble, Ana Gutman and Lydia Fraser. Steigerwald, who played for Fisher from 2018-21, ranks second in program history in kills (1,436) and service aces (185). 

Gutman and Fraser became the first pair of Fisher players to earn AVCA All-America honors in the same season in 2024. The Cardinals won the Empire 8 and finished 21-9 overall that year. 

The Cardinals have also had six Empire 8 Rookie of the Year winners, six Empire 8 Player of the Year winners (Steigerwald 4x), two Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year winners, nearly 50 All-E8 selections and more than a dozen AVCA All-Region honorees under Greapentrog. 

After two seasons as an assistant, Greapentrog first served as Fisher’s head coach from 2007-09 before spending the next two seasons leading SUNY Brockport’s program. She began her collegiate coaching career at Erie Community College, where she led the Kats to the NJCAA Region III Championship Tournament in her first of three seasons as the team’s head coach.

The AVCA 2008 named Greapentrog to its Thirty-Under-30 list, which annually honors the nation’s top 30 volleyball coaches under age 30 at any level of organized volleyball. 

A 2002 graduate of Buffalo State, Greapentrog played four years of Division III volleyball. She served as a team captain as the Bengals went 27-13 over her final collegiate season.

Year-By-Year Records (Career)

By The Numbers At Fisher

Empire 8 Selections: 47 (19 first team)

Empire 8 Rookie of the Year Honorees: 6… Rebecca Hay (2017), Alea Steigerwald (2018), Lindsay Gilbert (2019), Gracie Jacob (2020-21), Kaylene Noble (2023), Lydia Fraser (2024)

Empire 8 Player of the Year Honorees: 6… Anna Marcy (2017), Alea Steigerwald (4x, 2018-21), Kaylene Noble (2023)

Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year Honorees: 2… Jenna Wladron (2007), Kiera Hartpence (2023)

Empire 8 Tournament MVP Winners: 6… Alea Steigerwald (4x, 2018-21), Kiana Walker (2022), Ana Gutman (2024)

AVCA All-Region: 14 (7 first team)

AVCA All-Americans: 7… Alea Steigerwald (3x, 2018-21), Sydney French (2022), Kaylene Noble (2023), Ana Gutman (2024), Lydia Fraser (2024)