Luke Murray - Assistant Coach - Women's Volleyball Coaches

Miami

Oct 3 (Fri)

7pm

Luke Murray

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
ljmurra2@ncsu.edu

Luke Murray first joined the NC State volleyball coaching staff in July of 2019. Murray came to Raleigh after spending five seasons as an assistant coach at Colorado State. He primarily works with the team's offensive systems and oversees video and analytics.

In 2021 the Wolfpack went 16-13 overall record with a 10-8 ACC record, marking the most ACC wins since the 2017 campaign. Murray assisted the team to a couple of notable wins in 2021 highlighted by defeating Rutgers on Sept. 10 which was NC State’s first win over a B1G school in the rally scoring era.

At the end of the season, the Pack finished the year third in the conference in assists (12.83) and kills (13.82) per set while claiming the fourth spot in the ACC in digs per set averaging 14.94. Individually, Evans was named to the All-ACC First Team for the second consecutive season and Jada Allen landed a spot on the ACC All-Freshman Team.

In his first season under new head coach Luka Slabe, Murray helped the Wolfpack go 8-9 including a 7-9 record in conference play after navigating through a difficult year due to the CoVID-19 pandemic. Two Pack players earned all-conference honors in Melissa Evans (First Team) and Jade Parchment (Second Team). Additionally, Evans and Parchment earned All-Region honors as Evans was named to the AVCA East All-Region Team while Parchment was an AVCA East All-Region Honorable Mention.

In his first season at NC State, Murray helped guide Nina Sharpton to 1,012 assists in her debut season. Sharpton became the first freshman in the rally-scoring era of the program to eclipse 1,000 assists in a single-season. Sharpton and the Wolfpack ranked second in the ACC following the regular-season with 1,439 total assists.

During Murray’s time with the Rams, Colorado State reached the NCAA Tournament each season and finished the year ranked among the top 25 of the final American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll three times. Colorado State compiled a 130-28 overall record during Murray’s tenure, highlighted by an impressive 82-8 clip in Mountain West Conference play. He helped lead the squad to conference titles in four of his five seasons – 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.

The 2014 campaign, Murray’s first at Colorado State, saw the team post a banner year with a 31-3 record, the second-best winning percentage (.912) and second-highest win total in program history. The Rams were ranked as high as No. 6 nationally that season, winning the Mountain West and ending the campaign ranked No. 12. A perfect 18-0 conference clip led Colorado State to the 2015 Mountain West title.

In 2017, Murray added another conference championship to his resume as the Rams went 29-4 overall and 17-1 in the Mountain West to take home the title. Murray played a role in coaching a conference-record six All-Mountain West players, including Player of the Year Katie Oleksak. Colorado State went on to repeat as conference champion in 2018.

Before arriving in Fort Collins, Colo., Murray was an assistant at East Tennessee State for two seasons (2012-13) where he helped guide the Buccaneers to a pair of conference titles and a 45-22 overall record. In 2012, ETSU earned its first-ever berth to the NCAA tournament after going 23-13 and winning the Atlantic-Sun Tournament. While with the Buccaneers, Murray coached ETSU’s setters, including Megan Devine who was the 2012 Atlantic-Sun Player of the Year and tournament MVP and a 2013 AVCA All-American.

A former setter at Penn State, Murray brings a wealth of volleyball experience to the table as a player and a coach. In his senior season, Murray helped lead Penn State to a national title earning himself a spot on the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team and AVCA Second Team All-America honors.

The Nittany Lion captain ended his collegiate career with 3,191 assists, which ranks eighth all-time in Penn State history. The squad reached either the national semifinals or finals during all four seasons that Murray was on the roster (2005-08).

Murray trained with the U.S. National Team in Anaheim, Calif., following his collegiate career and went on to play professionally in Cyprus and Puerto Rico from 2009 to 2012. He also spent three summers (2011-13) as a volleyball clinician with U.S. Elite Volleyball and two summers (2009-10) as the lead coach for Gold Medal Squared.

A native of Washington, Pa., Murray graduated from Penn State in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He is married to the former Kendall Grow and they have a son.