Amanda Berkley, a native of Racine, Wisconsin, was named head women’s volleyball coach at Loyola University Chicago on December 14, 2017 and will be entering her eighth season in Rogers Park in 2025.
Berkley and the Ramblers made more history in 2024. Loyola finished the year with a 22-12 overall record and 13-5 conference record. After earning the No. 3 seed, the Ramblers upset No. 18 Dayton (3-0) for their second league title. It was the first sweep the Flyers faced since September 2022. Loyola's momentum carried into the NCAA Tournament where the Ramblers upset No. 24 BYU (3-0) in the opening round for the program's first ever NCAA Tournament win. The historic run ultimately ended in the second round against No. 9 Purdue.
For the third straight season, Berkley coached Bree Borum to A-10 Setter of the Year accolades. Borum surpassed 3,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs during the George Washington series. Marta Cvitkovic and Ann Marie Remmes also took home A-10 honors with second team nods.
The Ramblers finished the 2023 season 19-12 overall and 16-2 in Atlantic 10 play, earning the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. Berkley guided the team to its second-straight A-10 Tournament Championship on the coattails of a 17-match win streak, a program record. The impressive season began with wins over Duke and No. 16 Purdue, culminating in a near-perfect 10-1 record when on the road.
Bree Borum repeated as the Atlantic 10 Setter of the Year and tallied AVCA Midwest All-Region Honorable Mention accolades. Karlie McNabb joined Borum on the All-Conference First Team while Emily Banitt and Addie Barnes raked in Second Team honors. In the classroom, Emily Banitt and Bree Borum were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. Additonally, Bree Borum tallied A-10 All-Academic Team recognition.
Berkley lifted the Ramblers to new heights in 2022, the program's first season as members of the Atlantic 10 conference. The 2022 squad captured the program's sixth-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament with a 3-1 victory over Dayton in the Atlantic 10 Championship match. The trip to the NCAA Tournament capped a year in which the Ramblers won the A-10 regular season title with a 17-1 mark in league play and finished with the first perfect home season since 1993 with a 12-0 record inside Gentile Arena. Karlie McNabb was tabbed as the A-10 Player of the year, Bree Borum was named the A-10 Setter of the Year and the tandem of Taylor Venuto and Emily Banitt picked up All-Conference honors. The awards would continue to roll in for McNabb, as outside hitter was named an AVCA Honorable Mention All-Midwest Region and AVCA Honorable Mention All-American. Loyola wold finish the season 25-9 overall, with Berkley being named the A-10 Co-Coach of the Year in the program's first season in the new conference.
In 2022, the Ramblers were once again atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings, finishing the year with a 22-10 record and won the MVC regular season title with a 14-4 mark in league play. Addie Barnes and Taylor Venuto were selected as MVC First Team honorees while Emily Banitt took home second team honors. Venuto would go on to be named an AVCA Honorable Mention All-North Region selection for her performance during the season. Berkley was recognized as the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year for guiding the Ramblers to the No. 1 seed in the MVC Championship.
Navigating her team through uncharted waters in 2020-21, Berkley captained a squad that featured just two upperclassmen to an 11-9 record and had them playing their best volleyball of the season. Despite not having the services of 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year Addie Barnes, who was sidelined with an injury, Berkley guided the Ramblers to the MVC Championship title match as well as two victories over perennial Valley power Northern Iowa, the program’s first-ever victories versus the Panthers.
Berkley has now recruited and produced four MVC All-Freshman Team selections in the last two seasons, with outside hitter Emily Banitt and libero Grace Hinchman earning the accolade in 2020-21. Off the court, the team captured the American Volleyball Coaches Association Community Voting Award. In her three seasons in Rogers Park, Berkley has guided Loyola to three straight winning campaigns, marking the first time that has happened since 1997 through 2004, when the Ramblers finished above .500 in eight consecutive seasons.
In 2019, Berkley steered the Ramblers to one of their most successful seasons in recent memory, as they established a single-season program record for conference wins, regardless of league affiliation, by going 14-4 in Missouri Valley Conference action, en route to a second-place finish, the program’s best since joining the league. Loyola, which was picked fifth in the league’s preseason poll, closed out the season with 21 wins, its most since 2004.
Her 37 victories were the most by a head coach in his/her first two seasons on the Ramblers’ bench since Liz Tortorello-Nelson (38) in 1997 and 1998 and she is the first Loyola head coach to produce three straight winning seasons to open her tenure in Rogers Park since Tortorello-Nelson (1997 through 2004).
Berkley recruited and developed the 2019 MVC Freshman of the Year, Addie Barnes, who became the first Rambler ever to receive that honor. In addition, Barnes and fellow rookie Taylor Venuto garnered First Team All-MVC and MVC All-Freshman Team recognition, while Heather Kocken collected Second Team All-MVC designation. Loyola notched its first win over local rival Northwestern since 2008 when it outlasted the Wildcats in five sets.
Off the court, Maddy Moser became the first Loyola volleyball player ever to be hailed as the MVC Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the libero also closed out her illustrious tenure in Maroon and Gold ranked third on the school’s career digs list with 1,706 digs.
In her first year at the helm of the Loyola program, Berkley engineered one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA Division I play, piloting the Ramblers to 16 wins to become the first Loyola women’s volleyball coach to record a winning record in his/her first season since 2004. Berkley’s positive influence helped the Ramblers to an eight-match winning streak early in the year and they closed out the year with a winning record for the first time since 2015, while also being one of only 18 NCAA Division I programs to boast at least a 10-game improvement in the win column from 2017.
Senior Gabi Maciagowski capped an sparkling career ranked 10thon Loyola’s all-time chart with 1,104 kills. Loyola sat atop the Missouri Valley Conference in blocks with 2.40 per set, its most in a single season since 2007, and off the court, seniors Alex Nunez and Morgan Gresham were named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team.
Prior to her arrival in Chicago, Berkley guided the University of Southern Mississippi to 104 total victories in five seasons, including four straight 20-win campaigns.
In five seasons at Southern Miss, Berkley piloted the program to a 104-59 (.638) overall mark and a 46-29 ledger (.613) in Conference USA matches. Berkley was named American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Southwest Region Coach of the Year in 2016 and also earned the AVCA Thirty Under 30 Award in 2013.
During the 2017 season, the Golden Eagles amassed a 20-12 overall record and a 9-5 mark in C-USA. Berkley mentored five All-Conference USA players, the most in school history, in 2016 as the Golden Eagles earned the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament, the program’s highest seed since 2009. She also led Southern Miss to a 24-win season in 2015, for the program’s most victories since 2009.
Under Berkley’s tutelage, 12 players earned First or Second Team All-Conference USA accolades, and she developed a pair of C-USA Libero of the Year award winners, as well as the 2016 C-USA Freshman of the Year.
She took over the direction of the Southern Miss program on an interim basis in 2013 and quickly turned around a program that won eight matches the previous season, winning 17 contests for a nine-match improvement.
Prior to assuming the reins at Southern Miss, Berkley spent three seasons as the top assistant coach for the Golden Eagles. She also spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Berkley, whose sister, Susie, is the head women’s volleyball coach at Milwaukee, and niece, Katie Adams, is an assistant coach at Indiana State, began her collegiate playing career as a walk-on at the University of Wisconsin before earning a scholarship. As a defensive specialist for the Badger program, she helped UW to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight finish in 2004 and 2005, and finished third on the team in service aces in 2006 and 2007.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology/physical education from the University of Wisconsin and earned a master’s degree in professional development with an emphasis in health, physical education and coaching from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
