The 2021 Patriot League Coach of the Year, Kathleen Colpoys enters her sixth season as head coach of the Holy Cross volleyball team in 2024.
For the second straight season in 2023, the Crusaders had an Academic All-Patriot League selection, Rachel Johnson the seventh athlete in team annals and third during Colpoys run as head coach.
In 2022, under Colpoys guidance, Gracyn Benck became the sixth different student-athlete in team history and second during Colpoys tenure to be named Academic All-Patriot League. Benck also moved to 10th place all-time in program history in kills (733).
During the 2021 Spring Season, Colpoys guided the Crusaders to their first-ever Patriot League Tournament berth since the league moved to a four-team format in 1996. Holy Cross earned the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament, the team's highest-ever seed.
Colpoys became the first volleyball coach in Holy Cross history to earn Patriot League Coach of the Year honors and was also named an AVCA Thirty Under 30 Award winner. Under Colpoys’ tutelage in 2021, Clare Honan earned First Team All-Patriot League honors and Patriot League All-Academic Team honors for the first time in her career.
Several Crusaders broke long-standing school records during the abbreviated 2021 season under Colpoys’ watch. Clare Honan broke the school record that had stood since the 1990 season after averaging 1.03 blocks per set. Sophie VanSeveren became the program’s all-time career digs leader and finished her Holy Cross career with 1,508 digs. Katie Kerins became the first-ever Crusader to join the 800 kills and 200 blocks club.
Colpoys earned her first win as the head coach of her alma mater with a 3-0 victory against Merrimack College on Sept. 10, 2019. The Crusaders also earned a five-set win over Providence on Sept. 21, the team’s first victory over Providence since 2011. In Colpoys' first season, the Crusaders saw significant academic success, with 12 student-athletes being named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll and Holy Cross earning its first AVCA Team Academic Award since 2013-14.
Colpoys returns to the Hill after four seasons as the head coach at Stonehill College, where she guided the Skyhawks to the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Semifinal in 2017. Throughout her tenure, her student-athletes have earned several individual athletic and academic honors, including an AVCA All-East Region selection, two NE10 All-Conference nods, three league all-rookie honors, two NE10 Academic All-Conference accolades and a CoSIDA Academic All-District recognition. The Skyhawks also won the AVCA Team Academic Award in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.
In addition to her coaching duties, Colpoys redesigned a leadership development series for Stonehill student-athletes and also served as the athletics department’s representative for the Alcohol and Other Drugs Committee. She was a facilitator for the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) and Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) programs, as well.
Prior to her time with the Skyhawks, Colpoys was a graduate assistant at the University of New Hampshire, winning America East Conference titles and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and 2014.
Colpoys graduated from Holy Cross with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 2012. A four-year starter for the Crusaders from 2008-2011 and a team captain during her senior season, Colpoys is the first player in program history to record more than 700 kills and 200 blocks over her career, Clare Honan and Katie Kerins joined her in this exclusive club during the 2021 season. She ranks second in program history in career hitting percentage (.236), sixth in career blocks (214) and ninth in career kills (755).
