Dec. 5, 2013
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State women's water polo head coach Carin Crawford has announced the addition of Kelly Phelps Hovorka and Sandy Onweller Dielman to her coaching staff. Hovorka will be Crawford's interim assistant coach while Allison Gregory is on maternity leave and Dielman comes aboard as a volunteer assistant.
"Kelly Phelps Hovorka will be a valuable addition to our coaching staff and I'm looking forward to working with her," Crawford said. "Kelly has head coaching experience at Coronado and she will bring extensive knowledge of NCAA women's water polo to share with our athletes. I'm excited to have her on board."
Hovorka comes to Montezuma Mesa following a three-year coaching stint at Coronado Aquatics Club and Coronado High School. Her responsibilities included organizing practices, skill building and team development. In addition to her time at Coronado, Hovorka has been a seasonal lifeguard since 2005 for the California State Parks system.
Prior to her coaching career at Coronado, the former Kelly Phelps was an accomplished water polo player at Arizona State. A 2010 graduate of the Tempe, Ariz., campus, Phelps was a four-year starter and finished her time at ASU as the third-highest goal scorer in school history. The 2010 team captain was an all-conference performer her senior year and picked up All-America accolades in 2008. Phelps also spent time with USA Water Polo and was a member of the Senior National B Team and Olympic scout team in 2008.
As a water polo player at Coronado High, Phelps earned all-CIF first-team honors her final two seasons. In addition to lettering three times in water polo, Phelps was a four-year varsity volleyball player and three-year letterwinner in swimming and diving.
Dielman joins the Aztec staff with junior college and high school coaching experience. The former 2004 SDSU All-American most recently spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Miramar Community College. Prior to that, Dielman was the head varsity coach at Westview High School for two seasons after stints at Southwestern Community College and Palomar College.
"Sandy Onweller Dielman, is one of the most tenacious and hard-working athletes I have ever coached," Crawford said. "She knows what it takes to be successful and she is a tough-minded and extremely competitive. I know our drivers and attackers will benefit from her coaching expertise this season."
During her playing career at San Diego State, the former Sandy Onweller earned two letters (2003-04) and helped the Aztecs to a 21-12 record in 2003 and a 26-9 effort in 2004, en route to a national ranking of No. 6 and 7, respectively. SDSU's 26 victories in 2004 were the second-most wins in program history at the time.
At the end of her two-year career atop Montezuma Mesa, Onweller ranked ninth on the all-time assists chart with 45. In the Aztec single-season record book, Onweller sat in fifth place on the assists list with 31 in 2004. Today, Onweller's six-goal performance vs. Hawai'i on Feb. 26, 2004, still stands as the fifth-best goal scoring performance in program history.
Before arriving at SDSU, Onweller played two seasons at Palomar College where she helped lead the Comets to the Pacific Coast Conference championship in 2000. That same season, Onweller was an All-American, PCC most valuable player, all-PCC performer and all-Southern California honoree.