Lisa Westlake joined the UC Riverside Volleyball Program as an assistant coach in February 2013 following a stint as the Eastern Washington Interim Head Coach during 2012.
Following 2-26 records in her first two seasons (13,14), Westlake helped lead the Highlanders to the third most wins in the program's Big West membership with a 10-19 record. The five conference wins in 2015 were the most since UCR joined the Big West in 2002.
The 2016 season saw the Highlanders post their best neutral site record (5-3) under Patton-Coleman, and one of her first recruits, Maddie Hubbell, become the program's all-time digs leader. Hubbell was named All-Conference Honorable Mention, and Mickayla Sherman was selected to the All-Freshman Team.
She was an assistant at EWU for four years prior, serving as the recruiting coordinator and community service liaison for EWU volleyball, and handling all travel logistics for the squad. She was responsible for in-game coaching of the servers and middle hitters, as well as the overall team blocking efforts.
Under her guidance, the Eagles boasted the best blocking average in the Big Sky in 2009, and were second-best in the league in 2010. Eastern ranked among the top 75 nationally in blocking for three-consecutive years, while its 2.56 blocks per set average in 2009 was 30th among all Division I teams.
Prior to arriving at Eastern, Westlake served as director of volleyball operations at Gonzaga for the 2007 season, and was a volunteer assistant coach with the Bulldogs the year before.
In her time at Gonzaga, Westlake was involved in all aspects of the program. She helped the team improve from a 9-20 finish in 2006 to a 17-13 record the following year, which was the program’s first winning mark since 1994.
The well-traveled Westlake has worked in three different continents in her last three jobs. Prior to her time at Gonzaga, she was the head coach at Alconbury High School in Cambridgeshire, England, where she led the AHS squad to a European title. She also served as an assistant coach at Kinnick High School in Yokosuka, Japan.
Westlake also held the role of head coach at Santa Catalina High School (Monterey, CA) and California Maritime Academy. In addition, she was the junior volleyball club director at Cal Maritime, and has coached several club teams in California.
She was a scholarship athlete at Oregon and was instrumental in helping her team to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1984. As a setter, Westlake received second-team all-conference honors in 1983 and first-team all-conference honors in 1984. She holds the Oregon all-time career record for assists per set (10.95) and service aces per set (0.71), and still ranks among the top ten in school history for career assists (1,401). Westlake followed her collegiate career by playing professional volleyball both indoors and on the beach.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in recreation from Oregon in 1986, she attained a master’s in management with an emphasis in international management from Troy State University in 2002.
