Coaching Staff

Head Coach | Erin Lindsey is in her fourth season as head coach of Santa Clara volleyball in 2022-23.

Lindsey, hired in December 2018, is the 10th head coach for a Bronco program that dates back to 1963 and is in her second stint as a head coach after leading Dartmouth from 2011 to 2015.

Prior to being hired at Santa Clara, Lindsey spent the previous two seasons at Stanford, where she helped program win its eighth NCAA championship in 2018. As a collegiate student-athlete, Lindsey was a standout setter at North Carolina. She is the program's all-time assists leader with 5,751 for her career and garnered ACC Player of the Year honors as a senior in 1998, among many other accolades.

During Lindsey's time with the Broncos, Santa Clara has produced three AVCA all-region selections, 10 all-WCC accolades and 15 WCC all-academic nods.  Additionally, under her guidance, the Broncos have earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award in each of the first three seasons, honoring teams that maintain a year-long grade point average of 3.30 on a 4.0 scale. 

The Broncos battled through the challenges of playing during the COVID-19 pandemic in their 2020 season, which took place in spring 2021 after the fall campaign was postponed. They were one of the toughest serving teams in the country, leading the WCC in aces (114, 33rd NCAA) and aces/set (1.75, 24th NCAA). Julia Sangiacomo was named to the AVCA Pacific North All-Region Team, giving the Santa Clara all-region selections in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2007-08.

Lindsey led the Broncos to a stellar campaign in her first season at the helm in 2019. Santa Clara went 21-12 overall (10-8 WCC), reached the postseason for the first time since 2015 and won its first postseason match since 2008 with an opening-round victory at Long Beach State in the NIVC. The Broncos, who logged a 15-win improvement compared to the previous year, also won 20 matches for the first time since 2015. Santa Clara took fourth place in the conference after being picked to finish ninth in the preseason coaches poll. Lindsey became the program's first head coach to start 6-0 in a debut season and the team's 10-3 nonconference record marked its best start through 13 matches since 2014. Santa Clara was the only WCC program to win 10 matches in nonconference play, which included victories in all six neutral site tournament tilts.

Taylor Odom led the NCAA and set a program record with 196 total blocks, the most in any era in Bronco history and good for fourth all-time in the WCC. Odom became Santa Clara’s first AVCA All-Pacific North Region selection since 2015 and garnered First Team All-WCC honors. Santa Clara led the WCC with 326.5 total blocks (10th NCAA) and 2.63 blocks/set (22nd NCAA), while holding opponents to a .168 hitting percentage (2nd WCC, 32nd NCAA). The Broncos also excelled in the classroom by matching a program best with five WCC all-academic honorees, including three student-athletes on the WCC All-Academic Team for the first time since 2005.

Lindsey worked with setters and the offense during her time at Stanford, which in 2017 and 2018 produced five first- and second-team All-Americans, including two-time TeamSnap/AVCA Division I National Player of the Year Kathryn Plummer. During her first year, Lindsey helped guide the team to a Pac-12 title and an appearance in the national semifinals.

In 2016, Lindsey served as an assistant coach to Kevin Hambly at Illinois, where she helped the Illini to a 17-win season. Hambly was tabbed as head coach at Stanford the following season, and hired Lindsey as an assistant coach with the Cardinal.

Lindsey led Dartmouth its most Ivy League wins in program history in 2015 and the Big Green earned their highest league finish since 1998 that season. Lindsey was named the 2015 league co-coach of the year, a first for the school. She coached 10 all-conference players, four academic all-league student-athletes, and two CoSIDA Academic All-District selections. Along with the individual accolades, the program earned the AVCA Team Academic Award four times.

The Honolulu, Hawaii, native began her coaching career at her alma mater where in five years (2005-09) she helped develop three AVCA All-Americans and seven All-ACC players, including 2005 ACC Player of the Year Dani Nyenhuis.  She helped UNC to a share of the league regular-season title twice while also serving as recruiting coordinator. Lindsey recruited three AVCA All-Region and All-ACC players, including Kaylie Gibson, who went on to be named 2010 ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

A four-year starter and two-time captain at North Carolina from 1995 to 1998, the star setter earned All-ACC honors and AVCA All-Region accolades twice in addition to her conference player of the year accolade from her senior campaign. In 1998, she led UNC to the conference regular-season title and its first NCAA Tournament victory in program history.

A 2000 graduate with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science, Lindsey is the school’s all-time leader in career assists and was named to the ACC's 50th Anniversary Team.

Lindsey graduated with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science in 2000, before going on to get her master's degree in the same field in 2011.

Lindsey also served as the director of operations for the Carolina Volleyball Camps, Inc., as well as the head coach and director of setting academy at the Triangle Volleyball Club in North Carolina.

Assistant Coach / Recruiting Coordinator | Gretchen Reinert

Reinert returns to her alma mater after spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for UNLV. Initially joining the Rebels in 2023, she helped guide the team to the 2023 National Invitation Volleyball Championship (NIVC) and coached the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, Isabel Martin. Following the success of her first season, Reinert was promoted to the program’s recruiting coordinator for the 2024 season, and helped the Rebels land the No. 42 class in the country for 2025.

Reinert was a volunteer assistant coach for Stanford for the 2022 season prior to her tenure at UNLV. In her lone season on The Farm, she helped guide the team to an appearance in the NCAA Regional Finals, which was the program's highest finish since 2019.

Reinert played for both the indoor and beach volleyball teams at Santa Clara from 2017-21. During her time with the Broncos, she racked up 871 career digs indoors and was a three-time West Coast Conference All-Academic honorable mention selection for both indoor and beach. She graduated from SCU in 2021 with a bachelor's degree in communication and a minor in retail studies.

Upon graduation, Reinert used her final year of eligibility to play the 2021 season at BYU for the Cougars’ indoor volleyball team. After her playing career was over, she shifted her focus to coaching and pursued a master’s degree in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University Irvine, which she earned in the spring of 2023.

A native of Dove Canyon, Calif., Gretchen is the daughter of Jeff Reinert, the head basketball coach at the College of Southern Idaho.

 Assistant Coach | Ganna Khrystenko

Ganna Khrystenko (pronounced "ON-uh  Chris-TANK-oh") joined the Santa Clara University volleyball program's staff as an assistant coach in April 2023 and will serve her second season on the staff for the 2024 fall season.

An experienced Power-5 coach, a veteran of international competition and a long-time, seasoned professional player, Khrystenko came to Santa Clara after spending three years at Pac-12 Conference member Oregon State, most recently as the program's associate head coach in 2022. The Beavers won multiple all-Pac-12 honors during her tenure on staff, including Grace Massey becoming the first Beaver in four years to win consecutive all-conference honors. Oregon State had players ranked in 2022 among the Pac-12's top-15 in kills per set, total assists, assists per set, total digs and triple-doubles.

Khrystenko went to Oregon State after a three-year run as an assistant coach at Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights set the school record with 300 team blocks in 2018. Prior to coaching the Scarlet Knights, she spent three years at Florida State, where she focused on blocking and international recruiting. During her time in Tallahassee, Fla., the Seminoles finished as Atlantic Coast Conference runners-up each year and advanced to a pair of Sweet 16s in three NCAA Tournament appearances.

In addition to three top-20 rankings in the AVCA Final Poll, Khrystenko coached two All-American and All-ACC middles. Florida State's front row finished with 370 blocks and ranked fifth in the NCAA in blocks per set (3.03 b/s) in 2015. It marked the third straight season the Seminoles had at least 500 assisted blocks, posting 634 on the year.

The native of Ukraine played five seasons on the Ukranian National Team (2002-06), competing in a pair of Junior World Championships and European Championships, and took fifth at the World Students games in the Republic of Korea in 2003.

She went on to play professionally from 1995-2008, earning four Ukranian Championship titles (2001-04). She was awarded multiple honors as 'Best Blocker' and 'Best Scorer' during her career, and was named "Best Server" in the 2003 European Top Teams Cup. She and her teams were a four-time winner of the Ukranian Cup (1996, 2001-03).

At the conclusion of her playing career, she became a State Volleyball Coach for the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Ukraine (2008-2013). Anna was responsible for the development of volleyball in the entire country and was instrumental in selecting both coaches and players for National Ukrainian Teams. In addition, she oversaw the planning, adoption and implementation of the annual budget, identified new sponsors, and implemented sponsor activation and marketing. She was the Chairman of the Athletic Commission for the Ukrainian Volleyball Federation, member of the Executive Committee of the UVF, and member of the Athletic Commission of Ukraine's National Olympic Committee.

She earned a bachelor's degree in business management from Tavrian University of Business Law in 2000. She furthered her education with an L.L.B. degree in Civil Law and an L.L.M. in civil and commercial law from the National Law Academy. In addition, she secured a bachelor's degree in coaching volleyball and a master's degree in physical education and coaching from the National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport.

She is married to Alexander Khrystenko and the couple has a son, Ivan.

 Graduate Assistant | Malie Powell

Maile Powell joined the Santa Clara University volleyball staff as a graduate assistant in July 2023 and is in her second year with the program during the 2024-25 academic year.

Powell brings an abundance of volleyball experience to the position as both a former student-athlete and club coach. With the Broncos, Powell handles planning and organizing team meals, planning travel itineraries, assisting with scouting reports, coding using volley station, and helping out daily with team practices.

Powell played five years of NCAA collegiate volleyball as a setter at both the Division I and Division II levels. She spent her freshman year of 2018 at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, leading the team and finishing among the PacWest Conference’s top-10 in service aces. She then transferred nearly 5,000 miles to play at Division I Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., from 2019-21. There, she was a three-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll honoree a MAAC All-Academic Team selection. She finished her career with the Gaels totaling over 400 assists and 260 digs with 26 service aces. She’d close out her collegiate career with a graduate year at Hawaii Pacific University in 2022, appearing in 25 matches and finishing the season with 264 assists, 115 digs and 16 service aces.

Powell has acted as a club head coach for 16s and 18s boys teams since 2020. As the head coach of the California Volleyball Club’s 16s boys team, she took the program to the AAU Nationals and the SoCal Cup tournaments. In 2022, she also took the club’s 18s boys squad to the SoCal Cup tournament. She’s also helped run summer clinics for Tstreet Volleyball Club alongside other NCAA Division I men’s and women’s volleyball athletes. She’s conducted private setting lessons for three years in California at Fairmont Private Schools.

Powell earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Iona College in 2022. She is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in clinical psychology, following her strong interest in going into sports psychology.