Wes Sjoerdsma joined head coach Jozsef Forman’s staff for the fall of 2021 as a volunteer assistant coach.
Sjoerdsma was named a 2021 recipient of an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches 4 Coaches Scholarship during the 2021 fall season. He was one of 18 recipients of the 2021 Coaches 4 Coaches Scholarship.
In his lone season at CCU in 2021, Coastal opened up the fall season with an exhibition win at NC State before going 19-9 overall and 12-4 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Chants continued their domination under Forman on their home court, as CCU went 12-2 at home on the season with losses to Duke and Georgia Southern. The Chants reached the semifinals of the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament, falling to the 2021 Sun Belt West Division Champions in Texas State.
The Chants once again led the Sun Belt Conference in hitting percentage (.252), second in service aces per set (1.66), and were third in kills per set (13.76). The defense led the Sun Belt in blocks per set (2.53) and allowed the fewest kills per set (11.39) on the season. In Sun Belt Conference play, Coastal ranked first in kills (820), first in assists (757), first in blocks (172.0), first in blocks per set (2.67), second in hitting percentage (.274), second in assists per set (12.62), second in kills per set (13.67), and third in both service aces (92) and service aces per set (1.53).
Four Chants picked up All-Sun Belt honors, as graduate transfer Cheyenne Jones was named the Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year and earned second-team honors. Super senior Ani Bozdeva earned a spot on the All-Sun Belt first team for the second consecutive season, while fellow Chants Brigitta Petrenko and Doris Carter joined Jones on the second team.
Several Chants reached career milestones in 2021, as Carter, Bozdeva, and Jones all reached and surpassed the 1,000-career kills mark, while setters Petrenko and Marija Borcic each passed out their 2,000th-career assist. Defensive specialist Lina Perugini also reached a milestone, as she surpassed the 1,000-career digs mark in the season.
Prior to joining the Coastal coaching staff, Sjoerdsma spent three and half years, Nov. 2018 to August 2021 with the Island Thunder Club Volleyball Team in Mercer Island, Wash.
From July 2018 to November 2018, Sjoerdsma was the assistant head coach and setters coach at Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs, Colo.
His last stint as an active volleyball player occurred in Brazil with the Universidad de Fortaleza from Feb. 2018 to June 2018.
In 2015, Sjoerdsma was vital to helping the University of Idaho’s club team move from 1AAA to 1AA for the first time in its history, with the highest being 1A.
In his playing career at the University of Idaho, Sjoerdsma played five seasons with the Vandals squad from 2012-2016 and was named PIVA first-team outside hitter in 2014 and first-team opposite hitter in 2015.
As an undergrad at Idaho, Sjoerdsma assisted in the athletic media relations office as a media relations assistant.
