Southern Arkansas University head volleyball coach Britney Davis has resigned her position to pursue other options.
“We would like to thank Coach Davis for her commitment to our volleyball program for the past five years,” stated SAU Director of Athletics Steve Browning. “I wish her, and her family, nothing but the best in their future endeavors. We will now begin the process of executing a national search to find our next head volleyball coach.”
Britney Davis (Grittman) was into her third season as the head coach at SAU.
In her first two seasons, she led the Lady Muleriders to 17 wins, including 11 at home inside the W.T. Watson Center.
In year two under Davis, Southern Arkansas recorded the most total blocks (222.0) by a Lady Mulerider team in ten years and the fourth-most total blocks since the 2000 season. The club’s 1.88 blocks per set average in 2017 ranks fifth in the Rally Scoring Era (RSE | 2001) and is the highest blocks per set average since 2007. Additionally, the team’s 342 block assists are the most in a single season since 2003 and the second-most by an SAU team in the RSE.
Under Davis’ leadership, senior Alli O’Banion capped her final season in classic fashion as the veteran opposite/middle hitter earned her third-consecutive All-GAC Honorable Mention honor behind a campaign that saw the Dos Palos, California, native become just the second player in SAU’s RSE history to eclipse 1,000 career kills and 300 total blocks.
In 2017, Davis was instrumental in Southern Arkansas hosting the first regular season volleyball tournament on campus in over a dozen years as the Lady Muleriders welcomed in Grambling State, Texas A&M-International and Mississippi College for the inaugural two-day Dr. Margaret Downing Invitational.
Davis didn’t shy away from competition in her first season at the helm of the Lady Mulerider program in 2016 as she scheduled a pair of nonconference opponents (No. 19 Central Missouri, No. 21 Northern State) that started and finished the season ranked in the AVCA Division II Top 25, while also meeting Lindenwood, Newman, Northwest Missouri and West Alabama; with the four teams combining for 70 wins in 2016.
In that first season, the Lady Muleriders ranked fifth in the Great American Conference in digs per set at 16.75, while averaging 11.85 kills per set, and 11.15 assists per set. O’Banion was named an All-GAC Honorable Mention performer after leading Southern Arkansas in attack percentage with at least 100 kills (.204), total blocks (52.0), and blocks per set (0.50), while finishing second on the team in kills (271) and kills per set (2.58).
Davis was promoted to the position on December 14, 2015. Prior to becoming head volleyball coach, Davis served two seasons as the program’s graduate assistant.
In her time as a GA, Davis worked extensively with the Lady Muleriders’ front attack line as well as assisting in the team’s overall blocking and setting efforts. Over those two seasons, the Lady Muleriders would rack up 3,144 kills, 384 blocks, and 2,962 assists, and this past season, SAU would rank second in the Great American Conference in Kills and Assists.
Additionally, over her two seasons as a GA at SAU, Davis helped lead the Lady Muleriders to their first-ever GAC Championship Game appearance this past fall as well as helping mentor four All-GAC honorees which included a pair of GAC Newcomers of the Year and two All-GAC First-Team players.
Davis, a native of Oak Grove, Mo., played collegiately at MidAmerica Nazarene where she was a part of three consecutive conference tournament championships from 2011-2013 and a pair of regular season championships in 2012 and 2013. With those championships in hand, Davis played in the NAIA National Tournament three times.
In her time at MidAmerica, Davis would help the team amass a 99-37 overall record and in the process, post its highest NAIA national ranking each year with a 14th overall ranking as a sophomore in 2011, a 7th overall ranking as a junior in 2012, and a 5th overall ranking as a senior in 2013.
A captain for the Pioneers as a senior, Davis would also cap her career ranking 32nd in NAIA Division I in Blocks per Set as she totaled 1.04 after having 119 blocks in 114 sets played.
Off the court, Davis was named to MidAmerica Nazarene’s President’s List while also being named an NAIA Champion of Character nominee during her career.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Corporate Communications with a minor in Marketing from MidAmerica Nazarene in the Spring of 2014, Davis is expected to complete her Master of Science degree in Kinesiology-Coaching from SAU in the summer of 2016.