BILLINGS – Rocky Mountain College announced late Monday afternoon that a media conference “regarding the Battlin’ Bears volleyball program” is set for Tuesday on campus at 3 p.m.
A family member of longtime head coach Laurie Kelly confirmed to MTN Sports prior to last season that Kelly was ready to step down. Kelly recently finished her 14th year in charge of the team after two seasons spent launching the collegiate volleyball program at Miles Community College. MTN Sports also learned that Bears’ assistant coach and former Rocky volleyball player Yang Yang is Kelly’s preferred replacement.
In December, the Bears made their sixth trip to the NAIA national tournament.
Kelly was selected 2014 Frontier Conference coach of the year and Northwest Region coach of the year.
Kelly was also the head volleyball coach at Roundup High School for 19 years with a career record of 456-167. She was named the Montana Coaches Association (MCA) coach of the year five times. During her final nine seasons at Roundup the Panthers won five state championships, including four consecutive between 2000-03.
Kelly was inducted in the MCA Hall of Fame in 2005.
According to her bio on Rocky’s website, she is also in the Bemidji State University Hall of Fame as a field hockey player. Kelly was part of nationally ranked teams of 1979, 1980, and 1981.
