The 2020 season marks the second for Loni Kreun as an assistant coach on the Redhawks volleyball staff.
In 2019, Kreun helped lead Southeast (23-11, 12-4 OVC) to their first OVC Tournament Championship since 2006 and sixth overall in school history. The team matched the 2000 Southeast Missouri team that totaled 23 wins (23-9, 16-0 OVC). As the second seed, the Redhawks overcame #7 Tennessee Tech (3-1), #3 Murray State (3-2) and #4 Morehead State (3-0) en route to the Championship.
Laney Malloy, Mikayla Kuhlmann and Claire Ochs were each named to the 2019 OVC All-Tournament Team. Ochs was selected as the tournament MVP. The trio are the first Redhawks awarded OVC All-Tournament Team honors since Colleen Yarber garnered the distinction in 2012.
Kreun also coached four All-OVC players in 2019 in middle blocker Maggie Adams (First), outside hitter Laney Malloy (First), setter Claire Ochs (Second) and libero Tara Beilsmith (Second). Southeast last had four selections to the All-OVC Team in 1999 when Angie Aschoff, Krista Haukap, Amy Henken and Lea Beckenmeyer earned the nod.
As OVC Tournament Champions, Southeast represented the conference in the First Round of the 2019 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship. The Redhawks fell to #9-seed Kentucky in three sets to conclude their historic season.
Kreun was named an assistant coach for the team in May after spending a season as the Volunteer Assistant Coach at UNC Charlotte. At Charlotte, she gained experience in scouting, recruiting, and practice organization. She coordinated logistics for team travel and helped develop the team’s social media presence. Kreun also assisted in the development of two-time Conference USA's Libero of the Year Yumi Garcia and Tyra Galloway who earned American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) South Region Freshman of the Year and Conference USA's Defensive Player of the Year.
Prior to her time with the 49ers, Kreun helped Cara Guthrie earn First-Team All-Big South laurels and Ava Venema garner All-Freshman honors at UNC Asheville.
Before transitioning to coaching, Kreun was an outside hitter at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina.
During her senior year, she led the Camels with a team best 332 kills, which ranked fifth in the Big South Conference. Kreun was named to the Big South Second-Team and North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association All-State Second-Team after competing in 121 sets over 31 matches. She slammed down 10-plus kills in 19 matches during her final collegiate season.
Kreun graduated from Campbell in 2016 with a Bachelor's of Science in Psychology.
