The Haver File:
Record: 127-71 (2018-2022)
- 2021 NCCAA National Coach of the Year
- 2X AAC Coach of the Year
- 2X AVCA Northeast Coach of the Year
- 3X NCCAA South Region Coach of the Year
- 21 NCCAA All-South Region Performers
- 9 NCCAA DI All-Americans
- 4 NCCAA South Region Players of the Year
- 6 AVCA All-Northeast Region Performers
- 1 AVCA Northeast Region Player of the Year
- 1 AVCA Northeast Region Setter of the Year
- 1 AVCA Northeast Region Attacker of the Year
- 2 AVCA Northeast Region Freshmen of the Year
- 6 AAC All-Freshman Team Members
- 12 All-AAC Team Members
- 3 AAC Freshman of the Year
- 1 AAC Setter of the Year
- 1 AAC Player of the Year
- 1 NAIA National Defender of the Week
- 1 NAIA All-American Honorable Mention
- 1 NAIA First-Team All-American
In five short years, Coach Amber Haver has turned the CIU women's volleyball program into one of the premier NAIA volleyball programs in the southeast. Haver recently finished up the 2022 season which saw the Rams record an 38-9 overall record finishing the season as the undisputed Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Champions winning both the regular-season title (19-1 AAC) and conference tournament.
The Rams had notable moments on the national stage as well hosting an 2022 NAIA Women's Volleyball Championship Opening Round match and finishing as the national runner-up at the 2022 NCCAA DI Women's Volleyball Championship. The Rams achieved several important milestones during the season including finishing the year ranked No. 22 in the 2022 NAIA Women's Volleyball Coaches Top 25 Poll and having junior right-side Kira Rymer named the AAC, NCCAA, and AVCA Northeast Region Player of the Year. Rymer also became Rams first-ever NAIA All-American garnering first-team honors.
The 2021 season proved to be Haver's program's breakout season as she led the Rams to a 34-9 overall record and an 18-2 record in the AAC. During the 2021 regular season, unprecedented success propelled the Rams to their first AAC Regular-Season Championship and first-ever bid to the NAIA National Volleyball Championship. After falling in the opening round of the NAIA tournament, the Rams would more than make up for it by seizing their first NCCAA National Championship title just a few weeks later. While at the NCCAA National Championship, the Rams went undefeated in both pool play and tournament play, only losing one set the entire event.
Twice during the 2021 season, Haver's team received votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll while consistently staying in the top two in the NCAA's Top Ten Poll throughout the season.
While a multitude of individual accolades poured in for the Rams in 2021, several awards stood out for CIU. At the conference level, sophomore setter Kamelia De Jesus was named the 2021 AAC Setter of the Year, Cintia Lorena was chosen as the AAC Freshman of the Year, while Haver was named the AAC Coach of the Year. On a national scale, sophomore Kira Rymer was recognized for being one of the most consistent players in the country as she was named an NAIA All-American Honorable Mention and Haver was named NCCAA Division I National Coach of the Year.
During a COVID-19 riddled 2020 season, CIU finished the fall portion of their schedule with their first-ever winning conference record at 12-6. The Rams also finished the regular season ranked as the number 4 team in the country in the NCCAA and made their first-ever trip to the NCCAA Division I National Championship in Minnesota. However, most notably, Coach Haver picked up her program's signature win on November 6, 2020, as the Rams knocked off Reinhardt University (Ga.). Three year, reigning AAC champion Reinhardt had previously won 66 consecutive regular-season matches; however, the Rams ended the sixth-longest NAIA regular-season win streak, dispatching the Eagles 3 sets to 1.
CIU ended the 2020 season with an impressive 21-12 record in just their third season of collegiate competition.
Haver started the Rams volleyball program in 2018 and quickly established its prowess on both the court and the classroom. CIU volleyball consistently has one the highest team GPA's in the CIU Athletic Department and routinely picks up NCCAA and NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athlete honors as well as being named an NCCAA Scholar-Team three times and AVCA All-Academic Team twice during Haver's five year tenure.
Coach Haver has been the head coach for the USMC Volleyball Leadership Academy in South Carolina, since 2016. This is an annual event where student-athletes learn valuable leadership information from the Marines while increasing their volleyball skills and abilities.
Haver has also made an impact off the court in her short time with the Rams. She established a partnership with L'Arcada Camp in Spain, where she and her team run a large volleyball camp in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains. The experience allows Haver and her players to teach American Volleyball, help enhance English skills, and introduce the good news of Jesus. Additionally she enjoys taking her team on yearly mission trips to Costa Rica, where they run clinics throughout the country and participate in ministry opportunities working with abandoned women, orphans, and widows.
Before entering the collegiate coaching ranks, Haver taught deaf children for over a decade and was a prominent high school and club coach, building highly successful volleyball and track and field programs in the state.
Haver grew up in Stow, Ohio, and earned her Bachelor's Degree from Kent State University and her Master's Degree in Deaf Education and Intervention from the University of North Florida.
