Troy, NY ----Sage’s director of athletics, Dani Drews has announced the selection of Sandy Augstein-Collins, a 1987 Russell Sage College graduate to assume the role as Associate Athletic Director and Head Women’s Volleyball Coach at The Sage Colleges. She replaces Lisa Gallagher, who resigned in early January.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring Sandy back to Sage to guide our women’s volleyball program,” said Drews. “She has proven herself one of the best coaches in the region and brings over a decade of administrative experience to our growing department.  We are very lucky to be able to call her a “Gator”, again, “said Drews. 

The head coach for the women’s volleyball team at nearby Union College (Schenectady, NY), Collins returns to Sage having produced 219 career victories at Union in her 11-year tenure, the most by any coach in the program's 35-year history.

Highlights of her career at Union are many. In 2007, Augstein-Collins’ team established records for wins in a season with 28, eclipsing the mark from the 2001 season of 25, won the program’s first league title, and hosted their first-ever ECAC Volleyball Championship. Also in

2007, Rachel Ormsby became the program’s first-ever recipient of an AVCA All American Honorable Mention selection, while Veronica Mynders was named the NYSWCAA Co-Defensive Player of the Year. Coach Augstein-Collins was also selected as the AVCA New York Region Coach of the Year.

The 2008 team followed up their record-setting season with a 36-6 overall record, the most victories of any sports team in Union's 149 years of athletics, and hosted an NCAA Division III Regional Championship.

Prior to taking over the Dutchwomen's program, Coach Augstein-Collins spent the 1998 and 1999 seasons as the head volleyball and head softball coach at Randolph Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. During the 1996 and 1997 volleyball seasons, Augstein-Collins was the head volleyball coach at Russell Sage College. Previous to the 1995 season at Union, she coached at the high school level, heading up a successful program at Bethlehem Central, where she also taught physical education for 10 years.

Coach Augstein-Collins is an active volleyball clinician, directing the Union College Volleyball Camp and coaching at numerous volleyball camps throughout the Eastern United States. She has completed Level II in the U.S.A. Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program. She is also an A.C.E. certified personal trainer, a nationally certified kickboxing instructor, and an expert in Title IX issues and women's participation in sports.

She received her B.S. in physical education from Russell Sage College in 1987, where she also played intercollegiate volleyball. She received her Master of Physical Education with a concentration in teaching and administration from Springfield College in 1997. Augstein-Collins was inducted into the Russell Sage Athletics Hall of Fame on October 14, 2006.

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