UNCW named Jennifer McCall, Gardner-Webb University’s associate head coach, as its new volleyball coach, ending a two-month search. McCall officially takes over on March 1.

The Seahawk volleyball players found out about the hiring through a press released posted on the school’s athletic website.

McCall, who also briefly served as an associate head coach at Iowa State, takes over as the program’s third coach in four years. The Seahawks posted a 13-40 mark over the last two seasons under former coach Amy Gardner.

Gardner-Webb posted a 7-24 record with McCall as the associate head coach. In the three years McCall served as an assistant at Iowa State, the Cyclones improved their record from winning two games to four to 10.

Kept in the dark about the hiring process, the volleyball players are eager to meet their new leader.

“I don’t what our expectations are, I just hope it’s someone who stays here for many, many years to come,” junior Samantha Moser said. “(We want) someone who’s excited and ready to go. If she’s excited, then we’ll be excited.”

Between coaches, the Seahawks created their own enthusiasm. With the direction of assistant coach Amy Schreiber, they worked their way through conditioning and drills.

“Lately we’ve been working hard really hard in the weight room and conditioning and now we’re excited that we have a coach,” sophomore Felicity Ribalkin said.

While waiting for the coaching position to shake out, the squad tried to make the best of the situation.

“In a positive aspect, as a team we’ve kind of had to come together, get closer together,” Moser said. “We have an assistant and strength coaches, but for leadership we’ve had to look at the team. We never knew the fate of the program or where we knew where we were heading, it was important that we stayed together and have a positive attitude.

“We didn’t have someone come in here and we were slacking off for several months because we didn’t have a head coach. We came together,” said Moser.