WINONA, Minn. – Winona State University has named Tricia Melfy the WSU Volleyball head coach, as announced by Winona State Director of Athletics Jen Flowers.
 
"We are thrilled to welcome Coach Melfy to Winona State. She emerged through this process as the right person to lead Warrior Volleyball into the future," noted Flowers. "Coach Melfy will operate with a student-athlete centered approach, and her leadership and experience will be of great benefit to our program. I am excited to watch our volleyball program excel under Coach Melfy's guidance."
 
Melfy, who brings over 25 years of volleyball coaching experience with over 400 career victories, most recently served as the head volleyball coach at East Stroudsburg University.
 
"I am honored and excited to lead the Winona State University volleyball program," Melfy said. "This team is built on a strong foundation of high-caliber talent and high-character student-athletes, and I look forward to building on that tradition of excellence. I want to thank Jen Flowers and the search committee for this tremendous opportunity. I am eager to get on campus and begin working with our Warriors family."
 
This past season, Melfy was named the 2025 AVCA Atlantic Region Coach of the year after leading the ESU Warriors to a PSAC East Regular Season Championship, the PSAC Tournament Championship, and the program's first ever NCAA Division II National Tournament victory while coaching the AVCA Atlantic Region Player of the Year and a pair of AVCA All-Americans.
 
During her five-season tenure at East Stroudsburg, Melfy led ESU to a pair of NCAA DII National Tournaments, four straight PSAC semifinal appearances, three PSAC East first-place finishes, and was named the PSAC East Coach of the Year in 2021 and most recently the AVCA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year in 2025.
 
In total, Melfy held a 102-46 (.689) record at East Stroudsburg with three consecutive 20-win seasons. Melfy tutored two All-Americans, one AVCA Atlantic Region Player of the Year, four PSAC East Player of the Year honorees and a PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year to go along with four Atlantic All-Region recipients, and 15 All-PSAC award winners.
 
Prior to ESU, served as the head women's volleyball coach for two seasons at Fort Lewis College. She spent two seasons as the head women's coach at Phoenix College after guiding the women's program at the University of Minnesota-Morris in 2015. During the 2014 season, Melfy was the first assistant coach at Minot State University (N.D.).
 
As a student-athlete, she was a two-time All-American at Arizona State University in the heptathlon (1992, 94) and twice qualified for the United States Olympic Trials (1992, 96). She was also an All-American in the heptathlon at Mesa Community College (1990). Melfy found her passion for volleyball competing on Mesa's Regional Runner-up Mesa volleyball team during the 1989-90 season.
 
Melfy received her bachelor of science degree in exercise science/physical education from Arizona State University in 1994. She earned her Physical Education Teacher Certification from Ottawa University in 1995, and her master of education in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University in 2002.