West Texas A&M University Athletics

Kendra Potts enters her sixth season at the helm of the Lady Buffs as she was named the 15th head coach in WT Volleyball history on December 10, 2018. Potts had been selected as the AVCA National Coach of the year for NCAA Division II as well as South Central Region Coach of the Year in the 2022 season leading up to the programs fourth National Championship and first under Coach Potts tutelage. 

In 2023, the defending National Championship team made their ascent to the national championship match in back-to-back years, marking it as only the second time in WT history to do so since 1991. In the four-set championship match, the Lady Buffs took the third set against the Cal-State LA Eagles before falling to become NCAA Division II National Runner-up. One of the most memorable matches in history in the NCAA tournament was the Final Four match vs No. 1 Tampa that saw the Lady Buffs fight back after being down 1-2 sets to win the fourth set 36-34 and fighting off ten-match set points for Tampa to then complete the decisive win with a fifth set 16-14 score. 

Under Coach Potts direction, five Lady Buffs earned All-American honors, marking the most honors in a single season in Lady Buff history, with four of the honorees earning NCAA All-Tournament recognition. The Lady Buffs made their 30^thNCAA tournament appearance in their third consecutive year after winning the South-Central Regional tournament that saw WT come away victorious in a five-set battle against No. 8 MSU Denver in The Box in front of the second largest crowd in WT history. The Lady Buffs won their 18^th LSC Tournament title after defeating Texas A&M-Kingsville in the championship match and were co-champions of the Lone Star Conference regular season finishing 14-2. Overall, the Lady Buffs finished with a 33-4 record marking the fourth year Coach Potts team registered over 20+ wins in a season and second year in a row with over 30 wins.  

Head coach Kendra Potts' Lady Buffs registered another historic season for the program as they won the NCAA Division II National Championship for the 2022 season and had a 33-4 overall record. Under the direction of Kendra Potts, the Lady Buffs had a perfect 16-0 record in Lone Star Conference Play. They completed a 26-game winning streak all the way to the National Tournament. WT has now won the programs 17th LSC Tournament title after a sweep over Dallas Baptist to win the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the 29th time in school history. The Lady Buffs earned No. 2 seed in the regional tournament where they swept the then No. 1 ranked team in the nation, MSU Denver. The Lady Buffs advanced to their 15th NCAA Elite Eight in Seattle, WA., as the No. 4 seed. They faced nationally-ranked No. 25 and No. 5 seed Wingate in a tough 5-set match to advance to the final four against No.7 seed Missouri-St. Louis. The Lady Buffs completed a 4-set win against Missouri-St. Louis to then face nationally ranked No. 3 and No. 1 tournament seed, Concordia-St. Paul. The match lasted four sets before the Lady Buffs won the NCAA Division II National Championship for the fourth time in program history. 

In 2022, Torrey Miller earned her third AVCA All-American status and first 1^st team All-American honor. Freshman middle blocker, Taytum Stow, earned her first All-American honorable mention honor while three additional players were also named to the NCAA All-Tournament team including Miller, Stow, Kayla Elliot, Abi Nash and Bryli Contreras. Four athletes were named to the South-Central Region all-tournament team, with Torrey Miller picking up the regions most valuable player, other players include Abi Nash, Camy Jones and Kayla Elliot. 

In 2021, Torrey Miller and Chandler Vogel earned AVCA All-American Honorable Mention honors while six players were named All-Conference selections with Miller, Vogel, Kayla Elliott, Camy Jones, Sadie Snay, and Blair Moreland.  Hereford native, Chandler Vogel was named the LSC Libero of the Year for the fourth consecutive year, becoming the first in league history to ever win any individual award four straight years.  She finished as the all-time digs leader with 2,691. 

In 2020, Potts and the Lady Buffs overcame unexpected challenges during the 2020-21 campaign as the Lone Star Conference moved their normal volleyball schedule to the spring while shortening the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lady Buffs finished the spring with an overall mark of 10-4 including a 9-3 mark in league action as they advanced to the program's 16th consecutive and 26^th overall appearance in the LSC Tournament. WT also finished with an unbeaten 6-0 mark inside of "The Box" to mark the first undefeated season inside of the facility since 2013. 

The former Lady Buff All-American led her alma mater to the South Central Regional Quarterfinals during her first season at the helm in 2019 to become just the fourth head coach in program history to guide WT to the NCAA Tournament during their first season. Junior libero Chandler Vogel picked up her second straight LSC Libero of the Year accolade while Torrey Miller was named the league's Freshman of the Year, both student-athletes earned AVCA and D2CCA All-South Central Region honors as Miller was named the Region's Freshman of the Year.
 
Potts served as the club director and recruiting coordinator for the Corpus Christi Force since 2015 as she has built the program into one of the top club teams in the country. The Force finished 2018 as the Top Club Team in South Texas while ranking in the Top-30 nationally as 100% of players moved on to play at the collegiate level.
 
She spent six seasons as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi under former WT head coach Tony Graystone where they turned the Islanders into one of the premier volleyball programs in the Southland Conference. TAMUCC registered just four victories in 2008 prior to Graystone and Potts stepping on campus, the pair led the Islanders to 94 wins over the next six seasons with three appearances in the Southland Conference Tournament.
 
The Islanders improved their win total in each of her first four seasons on the Island, culminating with the 2013 season, which was a historic season for the team. TAMUCC finished with a 20-12 record, including a then school-best 13-5 record in Southland Conference play as the Islanders made history by advancing to the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament for the first time.

TAMUCC was recognized as a Top-75 Recruiting Class in 2010 by PrepVolleyball.com while registering an improvement of 230 RPI spots from 2009 (#312) to 2012 (#82), considered the most improved program in the country. Brianna Brink was named the program’s first All-American in 2014 as the Islanders had a top ranked recruiting class with three high school All-American candidates, a pair of Top-50 national recruits and two Junior Olympic Champions.

Potts spent four seasons as an assistant in Canyon from 2005-2008 where the Lady Buffs went 131-27 during that span with a pair of appearances in the NCAA Division II National Semifinals. WT went an incredible 43-2 in league action during her four seasons on the sideline with three undefeated Lone Star Conference Championships and three LSC Tournament titles.
 
The Amarillo High product registered a standout collegiate career for the Lady Buffs, becoming a three time All-American and the LSC’s all-time assists leader with 6,087. She finished her career as just the 12th person in NCAA Division II history to reach 6,000 career assists, she now ranks 19^th all-time in assists while sitting 18^th in assists per set (12.55).
 
The 2014 WTAMU Hall of Champions inductee was named to the Lone Star Conference 75^th Anniversary Team, her senior campaign in 2003 saw Potts earn LSC Offensive Player of the Year and Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame Volleyball Player of the Year accolades. During her four year career in Maroon & White, the Lady Buffs went 129-16 overall including 39-1 in league action with four NCAA Tournament Appearances and a pair of Regional Championships (2000, 2003).
 
During her prep career, Potts led the Lady Sandies to back-to-back appearances in the Class 5A State Title match including an undefeated 39-0 season in 1998 under legendary head coach Jan Barker.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Marketing (’04) and a master’s in Business Administration (’07) from West Texas A&M. Kendra and her husband Jim, a highly-respected public school administrator, are the proud parents of three children: Ella, Easton and Elizabeth.