The 2011 Hope International Men's Volleyball season is the
fourth with Head Coach Victor
Jennings-Santiago at the helm.
Last year, the Royals repeated history as they returned to
the NAIA National Invitational. In the
end, they came up short but still finished with a 14-10 record.
Current Assistant Coach and former Libero Noah Casaquit repeated All?-American
honors- the only All-American of Jennings-Santiago's tenure up to this point.
In 2009, the HIU men qualified for the NAIA National
Invitational Tournament for the first time in the history of the program. They ultimately finished ranked third- their
highest ranking ever. Along the way to a
16-10 record, they knocked off the NAIA's #1 ranked team twice- against Park
near the beginning of the season and at California Baptist to end the regular
season. For his efforts,
Jennings-Santiago was honored as the 2009 NAIA Coach of the Year.
The 2008 men's team suffered through injury after injury and
only managed a 5-17 record. The
highlight of their season was sweeping Holy Names in both matches the two teams
played.
Along with coaching the men, Jennings-Santiago spent two
seasons- 2007 and 2008- as the coach of the Women's Volleyball team. Prior to taking over the head coaching reins,
Jennings-Santiago served for two years as an Assistant Coach for both teams at Hope.
He serve as a coach for various high school and club teams
in Hawaii prior to coming stateside for a new employment opportunity. The highlight of his club coaching was
winning the Gold in the 2002 Junior Olympics Club Division- the first time ever
for an 18 and under team from Hawaii.
Jennings-Santiago, who was born in Samoa but raised in
Hawaii, has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from the University
of Hawaii-Manoa.
