For information on all East Texas A&M sports, see East Texas A&M Lions The East Texas A&M Lions women's volleyball team (formerly the East Texas State Lions and the Texas A&M–Commerce Lions) is the women's intercollegiate volleyball program representing East Texas A&M University. The school competes in the Southland Conference (SLC) in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). For the first 44 years of existence, they competed in the Lone Star Conference of Division II. The East Texas A&M women's volleyball team plays its home games at the University Field House on the university campus in Commerce, Texas. The Lions have won two conference regular-season titles, an LSC tournament championship, and have appeared in the NCAA tournament on six occasions, three times during the tenure of head coach Kathy Goodlett (1983–89) and three under Craig Case.
The team is currently coached by Joe Morales.
History
Women's volleyball has been a varsity sport at East Texas A&M (then East Texas State) since 1978, and the team has played in the LSC since it began sponsoring the sport in 1983. In 1980, the Lions finished the season as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national runners-up. From its inception until 1982, the program competed in the NAIA under head coach Donna Tavener; that year, it began competing at the NCAA Division II level.
The Lions were one of the strongest teams in the LSC during the 1980s, never finishing below fourth place in the conference under the guidance of head coach Kathy Goodlett between 1983 and 1989, and winning the conference regular-season title in 1986 and 1987 as well as the LSC tournament in 1986. The team also reached the NCAA Division II tournament quarterfinals in 1987, and advanced to the second round of the national tournament in the two subsequent seasons, 1987 and 1988.
Since the end of Goodlett's coaching tenure in 1989, the A&M–Commerce women's volleyball program has failed to win a regular-season conference championship. From 1990 to 2022, the Lions have been coached by Terri Johnson (1990–95), Larry Blackwell (1996–2002), Gwen Weatherford (2003–07), Mark Pryor (2008–09), and Craig Case (2010–2022). Case would lead the Lions to a Lone Star Conference championship in 2018. Case also guided the Lions to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in 2017, 2018, and 2019. On February 3, 2021, Case became the winningest coach in program history, earning his 186th victory.
During their first Division I season, the Lions endured their first losing season since 2014, going 11-23 overall and 6-12 in conference play. Despite this, the Lions still managed to qualify for the Southland Conference Tournament with a seventh place finish. There, they would defeat the New Orleans Privateers in the first round before falling to the McNeese State Cowgirls in the quarterfinal round.
After the season, Case stepped down after 13 seasons as the Lions' head coach on December 5, 2022. Joe Morales was hired as the program's eighth head coach on January 19, 2023.
In Morales' first season, the Lions endured another losing season, but still managed to qualify for the Southland Conference Tournament, clinching the final spot. They were eliminated in the first round by the Northwestern State Demons.
Morales' second season saw the Lions go 10-19 overall and 7-9 in conference play. They once again clinched the final spot in the Southland Conference Tournament, where they once again lost to Northwestern State in the first round.
In 2025, the Lions went 9-19 overall and 7-9 in conference play. They qualified for the Southland Conference Tournament for the fourth year in a row, but were eliminated in the opening round by the SFA Ladyjacks.
All-time record Year Head coach Overall Pct. Conf. Pct. Place Tourn. Postseason 1978 Donna Tavener 23–22 – – – – – 1979 11–18 – – – – – 1980 26–16 – – – – – 1981 20–18 – – – – – 1982 28–11 – – – – – 1983 Kathy Goodlett 34–12 3–3 3rd – – 1984 33–17 8–2 2nd 2nd – 1985 25–25 6–4 4th 2nd – 1986 22–2 12–0 1st 1st Quarterfinals 1987 31–6 8–1 1st – Second round 1988 23–10 12–2 2nd – Second round 1989 17–19 10–6 3rd – – 1990 Terri Johnson 12–16 9–6 4th – – 1991 8–22 3–6 6th – – 1992 18–17 3–5 5th – – 1993 15–21 5–9 7th – – 1994 21–12 11–2 2nd 2nd – 1995 20–13 10–6 3rd – – 1996 Larry Blackwell 7–27 5–13 8th – – 1997 17–16 5–5 4th (North) – – 1998 16–19 7–5 4th (North) – – 1999 13–20 6–6 4th (North) – – 2000 24–13 7–3 3rd (North) – – 2001 21–13 7–3 3rd (North) – – 2002 24–13 7–3 2nd (North) – – 2003 Gwen Weatherford 15–16 4–7 4th (North) – – 2004 7–23 3–7 T4th (North) – – 2005 10–19 2–8 6th (North) – – 2006 11–19 4–8 6th (North) – – 2007 9–19 3–9 11th – – 2008 Mark Pryor 15–12 6–7 7th T5th – 2009 26–9 9–4 4th T3rd – 2010 Craig Case 14–15 4–10 T10th – – 2011 11–17 6–14 T9th – – 2012 20–11 11–9 5th T5th – 2013 23–9 9–7 4th T3rd – 2014 7–23 4–12 8th T5th – 2015 15–14 7–9 6th 6th – 2016 19-13 13-7 5th Quarterfinals – 2017 21-12 15-5 2nd Semifinals Regional quarterfinals 2018 30-6 17-3 2nd Champions Regional finalist 2019 24-7 16-2 T1st Quarterfinals Regional quarterfinals 2020 7-7 6-6 2nd Quarterfinals – 2021 14-10 12-5 5th First round – 2022 11-23 6-12 7th Quarterfinals – 2023 Joe Morales 9-23 5-13 8th First Round – 2024 10-19 7-9 8th First Round – 2025 9-19 7-9 8th Quarterfinals –
Year-by-year results through the end of the 2025 season
Arena
The Lions women's volleyball program has played at the University Field House since the inception of the program in 1978, although the arena itself was built in 1950 and dedicated in January 1951 as the home of the school's men's basketball program. The Field House has a capacity of 3,055 for both volleyball and basketball contests. The building as a whole measures a total of , enabling it to host the offices of numerous A&M–Commerce sports (including cross country, track and field, soccer, and softball in addition to basketball and volleyball) and university departments (the Athletic Department, Athletic Training, Health and Human Performance, and the James Thrower Academic Center). The arena has also been the host to numerous athletic camps and concerts.
Designed by George Dahl, the Field House was intended to resemble an airplane hangar, with an arched roof topping out at that is supported by steel beams. In 1949, school president James Gee announced plans for the building's construction along with Memorial Stadium at a combined cost of $325,000. Since its opening in 1951, the Field House has been renovated on numerous occasions: in 1969 (adding classrooms, offices, and dressing rooms), 1991 (replacing bleachers, hardwood playing surface, the HVAC system, and scoreboards), and 2014 (again replacing the playing surface).
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