Sabrina Hernandez Joins Aztec Volleyball Staff as Assistant Coach
SAN DIEGO – San Diego State volleyball head coach Brent Hilliard announced a valuable addition to his staff on Wednesday with the hiring of Sabrina Hernandez as an assistant coach.
A two-time All-American setter and Long Beach State Hall of Fame inductee, Hernandez brings a wealth of Division I experience with her to The Mesa after previous stints as an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton, LBSU, UC Irvine and Oregon State.
“We are very excited to welcome Sabrina to a new era of Aztec volleyball,” Hilliard said. “She is an extremely well-liked and respected coach with an extensive résumé. It's always nice to start with the national championship she earned at Long Beach State as a player, but you can also add the vast knowledge obtained from coaching at four Division I universities. Sabrina will be an elite recruiter for us and will coach our setters from day one. There will be very little that she can't handle here at SDSU, as we embark on a new chapter in the Pac-12 Conference.”
Most recently, Hernandez spent the 2025 campaign as an assistant coach at Irvine Valley College following a three-year tenure at Cal State Fullerton (2022-24), where she was elevated to associate head coach in advance of the 2024 season.
During her term with the Titans, Hernandez mentored a pair of all-Big West selections in Elizabeth Schuster and Danielle Jefferies, who received honorable mention following the 2022 campaign, while Bianca Martinez garnered all-freshman accolades. With Hernandez’s assistance, Fullerton posted its highest victory-total since 2012, as the Titans compiled a 13-15 record that season.
Prior to her hire at CSF, Hernandez spent four years at her alma mater Long Beach State where she coached nine all-Big West performers and two all-freshman honorees, leading the Beach to the first round of the 2019 National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC), its first postseason appearance since 2014. She also served as interim head coach at LBSU in 2021, posting a 7-3 record over the final 10 matches of the season.
In addition, Hernandez served two stints at UC Irvine, patrolling the sidelines as an assistant for nine years with the Anteaters from 2003-11, before returning to the program for two more seasons in 2016 and 2017.
During her first tour of duty at UCI, Hernandez was part of a program that made consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (2003-04), as the 2003 Anteater squad became the first team in school history to advance to the second round of the bracket. Individually, she coached all-Big West setter Taryn Robertson, who was ranked nationally in assist average over her final two seasons, finishing the 2009 campaign at No. 23 in the country. In addition, Hernandez spearheaded two nationally ranked recruiting classes, according to PrepVolleyball.com, with her 2007 effort rated 21st in the country, while her effort in 2008 was listed at No. 24.
Upon her return to UCI, Hernandez helped the Anteaters produce a 24-8 ledger in 2017, which equaled the program record for victories in a single season and culminated in an NIVC appearance, their first postseason berth since 2004.
In the interim, Hernandez spent two years as an assistant coach at Mater Dei High School (2013-14) in Santa Ana, California, where she helped the Monarchs reach the SoCal finals of the CIF state volleyball championships in both seasons.
Hernandez was also the top assistant at Occidental College in 2011, aiding the Tigers’ efforts to secure their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament title and advance to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament.
Hernandez began her collegiate coaching career at Oregon State (1999-2001), helping the Beavers clinch an NCAA postseason berth for the first time in 18 years in 2001.
Along her collegiate and prep coaching experience, Hernandez spent the summer of 2005 as a member of the A2 High Performance USA National Team coaching staff, where she trained junior elite volleyball athletes to become future members of the Women’s Olympic volleyball team.
Hernandez played collegiately as a setter at Long Beach State from 1989-92, leading her squad to NCAA Final Four berths in three of her four seasons on the court, highlighted by a national championship in 1989.
A heavily decorated player, Hernandez twice received first-team AVCA All-America recognition to go with a pair of first-team AVCA all-region honors. She also garnered all-Big West accolades on two occasions.
Hernandez ranks third in LBSU program history with 4,796 career assists and is tied for 10th with 115 career aces. In addition, she is slotted second on the school’s single-season charts with 1,735 assists in 1990 and occupies the fourth spot with 1,617 helpers in 1991.
Hernandez received her undergraduate degree in history from Long Beach State in 1994 and was inducted into the Beach Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.