Albany, NY—The Sage Colleges' department of athletics has selected Rachel Martin (Troy, NY) as the newest member of the coaching staff. Martin, a 2015 graduate of The Sage Colleges, has served as an assistant men's volleyball coach and an assistant with Sage's women's volleyball team. Martin joins the department full-time as the new head men's volleyball coach and will also serve as the assistant women's volleyball coach under the direction of Sandy Augstein-Collins.
"I am very excited to be joining the Sage Gators' family full-time," noted Rachel Martin. She continued, "I am honored to become the Men's Head Volleyball Coach for Sage and have the opportunity to start my collegiate coaching career here. I want to thank Sandy Augstein-Collins, the Sage Athletic Department staff, and administration for their confidence in my abilities. I look forward to building the volleyball programs to their full potential and assisting the student-athletes in achieving their educational goals."
Director of Athletics and Head Women's Volleyball Coach Augstein-Collins commented, "I am thrilled to announce that Rachel Martin has accepted our offer to become the next Head Men's and Assistant Women's Volleyball Coach at Sage!" She added, "Rachel is an alumna of The Sage Colleges and played a key role during the 2014 season when the women's team captured the Skyline Championship and an NCAA bid. She loves Sage, is familiar with the functions of the Athletic Department (having recently completed an internship for her Master's degree), and knows both of the volleyball programs extremely well. I look forward to Rachel's continued contributions to Sage and the Athletic Department. I am excited to watch the growth of the Volleyball Programs under her leadership. It's always a great day when you can bring a Gator home again. Welcome back Rachel!"
As a member of the Sage Women's Volleyball team in 2014, she led the Gators to the program's third Skyline Conference Championship and an NCAA bid. After graduation from Sage, she served for one season as an assistant coach with the women's team in 2015. She returned to the Gator sidelines as an assistant coach with the Sage men's team in 2017 and 2018.
This past season, Sage women's and men's volleyball teams competed as a member of the Empire 8 Conference, while the men's team also participated as a member of the United Volleyball Conference and the Gator coaching staff helped to produce the Empire 8 and UVC Men's Rookie of the Year in Scott Sanders.
As a player at Sage for one season, she had a .339 attack percentage, while racking up 269 kills with 18 aces. Martin added 322 points in 32 matches played and started for the Gators and by year's end had 55 total blocks. Tapped as a 2014 Skyline Conference All-Star First Team pick, Martin was also honored as the league's Player of the Week on September 15 after helping the Gators capture the Plattsburgh State College Tournament, where she was named tournament MVP.
She came to Sage after attending the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. She was a three-sport athlete at Troy High School and served as a volleyball team captain in 2010, while also setting the indoor shotput record in 2009. A member of the school's conference championship volleyball team three seasons, she also captured the conference indoor shotput title in 2010.
A 2015 graduate of Russell Sage College, Martin earned her bachelor of science degree in health science and is working on completion of her master's degree from SUNY Cortland in sports management.