Susan Jean "Sue" Woodstra (born May 21, 1957) is an American retired female volleyball player and coach who won the silver medal with the USA National Women's Team at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

in Los Angeles, California.

Playing days

At the collegiate level, Woodstra earned All-American honors at

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and played eight years on the United States women's national volleyball team, serving as captain for four years, including for the 1984 Olympic silver medal team. Woodstra also played professional volleyball from 1984 to 1988 for the NEC Red Rockets of the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

V.League. She also played three season owith the Merrill Lynch/Reebok USVBA team where she earned MVP honors. Her number 4 hangs on a banner in the volleyball court in USC's Galen Center, along with Tim Hovland's number 10.

Coaching

Woodstra entered coaching as an assistant at Arizona State in 1995 until she was hired as the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers women's volleyball team in 1989 where she served as head coach until 1992. During her tenure, she led her teams to Big East Conference Tournament Championships in each season as well as three Big East regular season championships, winning the regular season each year from when the Big East instituted round-robin play in 1990. She also led the Panthers to four post-season appearances including one Women's Invitation Volleyball Championship appearance in 1989 in which Pitt finished third, and three NCAA volleyball tournaments, including in 1990 where Pitt reached the regional semifinal and finished ranked 18th in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches poll. Woodstra's earned Big East Coach of the Year honors in 1990. Her NCAA tournament teams were led by standout second team All-American outside hitter Ann Marie Lucanie, who won multiple Big East Tournament MVP awards and Big East Player of the Year awards. In total, Woodstra compiled an overall record of 110–39 (.738) over four seasons as head coach. After her tenure at Pitt, Woodstra became the head coach of the SC Münster women's profession volleyball team in Münster, Germany, and led the team to a

CEV Cup The CEV Cup is the second tier official competition for men's Volleyball clubs of Europe. The competition takes place every year. Until 2000, it was the CEV Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000 it was renamed CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 it was renamed ...

championship in 1992. She then served as a volunteer assistant coach at

Notre Dame Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...

for one season before taking over as the head coach of University of California, Berkeley Golden Bears volleyball team from 1995 to 1998. In 1999, Woodstra was hired as an assistant coach at Florida State before serving as the head coach of Humboldt State University

Lumberjacks Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unit ...

from 2002 to 2012. Woodstra took a leave of absence from coaching at Humboldt State in 2007 and the beginning of 2008 in order to serve as the head coach of U.S. women's national volleyball team in 2007 and an assistant coach during the 2008 Olympics. In 2007, she led the team to a bronze medal at the

Pan American games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

. Woostra served as the first assistant coach for the silver-medal winning U.S. Olympic women's team in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. Woodstra was inducted into the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodstra, Susan 1957 births American volleyball coaches American women's volleyball players Living people Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in volleyball People from Colton, California Pittsburgh Panthers volleyball coaches Volleyball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics USC Trojans women's volleyball players Pan American Games medalists in volleyball Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games Arizona State Sun Devils women's volleyball coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's volleyball coaches