Lambert joins volleyball staff
Samantha Lambert
Samantha Lambert, the winningest volleyball coach in Rhodes College history, has been added to head coach Jenny Hazelwood's volleyball coaching staff at Mississippi State. She assumes her duties with MSU volleyball in February.
A native of Lancaster, N.Y., Lambert rang up 261 wins in 14 seasons as head coach at Rhodes College in Memphis from 1999 to 2012. She had also recently assumed the additional role of assistant athletics director for the Lynx.
Lambert, who replaces Lindi Sallach on the MSU staff, will coach middles and handle additional on-court and administrative duties with the Mississippi State volleyball program.
Sallach and her husband, MSU assistant football coach Scott Sallach, are expecting their first child this spring.
"We are very fortunate to have someone of Coach Lambert's caliber joining the Mississippi State family," said Hazelwood. "I have known her for a long time and we are both very excited to have this opportunity to work together. Coach Lambert has had a very successful coaching career and she will be a strong addition to our program."
"We are also so very grateful for the many contributions Lindi has made to the Mississippi State volleyball program during her four years on our staff," she added. "It's great that she'll be able to remain close to the program while she and Scott enter this exciting new phase in their lives together in Starkville."
At Rhodes Lambert guided the Lynx volleyball team to seven 20-win campaigns, including a 29-12 finish that included a school-first appearance in the 2006 NCAA Division III Tournament. She earned Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors in both 2004 and 2006 while two of her players earned honorable mention all-America team honors and joined three other Lynx players as all-region performers during her term at Rhodes College.
Lambert's teams also enjoyed success in the classroom, with her team's earning AVCA Team Academic Awards eight times.
She was a three-sport letter-winner and middle blocker in volleyball during her athletic career at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind. After graduation in 1996, Lambert worked briefly for Americorps' Athletes in Service to America" program. She then embarked on a coaching career as the varsity volleyball coach at Holy Angels Academy in Buffalo, N.Y. Lambert then served as an assistant coach for a season at her alma mater in Indiana before accepting the head coaching post at Rhodes College in 1999.
Lambert, named recently to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Board of Directors as the Division III Women's Representative, has been actively involved with Memphis area youth volleyball programs, most recently serving as the director for the Memphis Juniors Volleyball Association (MJVA), In 2003 she was name the recipient of the Robert L. Lindsey Meritorious Service Award for her work with the Delta Region of USA Volleyball.
She received a Master's Degree in Sport Administration from Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1999, is a 2006 graduate of the NCAA Women's Coaches Academy and a 2010 graduate of the WCA's Dimension II program.
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