Cal State San Bernardino volleyball coach Kim Cherniss has been selected Division II national coach of the year by her peers.

Cherniss directed the Coyotes to a 30-4 record and their first appearance in the national championship match. The Coyotes headed into the Elite Eight ranked No. 1 in the country and fought their way to the final before losing to No. 1 Concordia St. Paul on that team’s home court.

It is a deserving honor for a coach that has built a program and led it national prominence. The fact that she has done it using mostly local talent is even more noteworthy. She recruited players from non-volleyball hotspots and turned them into some of the top players in the country.

Anyone can take quality players and win with them. But Cherniss has been able to indentify raw talent and help those players develop into top athletes. The best case in point is senior rightside hitter Jessica Granados who played at Beaumont High School which was average at best and finished her career as a first-team All-American.

The next great player coming out of the program could be Samantha Middleborn, a freshman out of Carter who saw considerable playing time down the stretch this season.

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