2022 NCAA Tournament First Round
2022 SoCon Tournament Championship
2021 Spring NCAA Tournament
2021 Spring SoCon Tournament Championship
2021 Spring SoCon Regular Season Championship
2019 NCAA Tournament First Round
2019 SoCon Tournament Championship
2019 SoCon Regular Season Championship
2018 NCAA Tournament First Round
2018 SoCon Tournament Championship
2016 NCAA Tournament First Round
2016 SoCon Tournament Championship
2010 NCAA Tournament Second Round
2005 NCAA Tournament Second Round
2003 NCAA Tournament First Round
2002 NCAA Tournament First Round
Keylor Chan, an eight-time NCAA Tournament head coach, is entering his 10th season at Samford University and his 27th at the helm of a highly-successful Division I program. In his first nine seasons with the Bulldogs, Chan has led the program to five Southern Conference Tournament titles, two SoCon regular season championships, and five NCAA Tournament appearances. Under Chan’s guidance, Samford has become a dominant force at home, going 60-17 at the Pete Hanna Center over the last five seasons, as well as winning the 2016 and 2020-21 SoCon Tournaments that Samford hosted in the facility.
Following the most recent season in 2024, Gracie Lynn Butler was named first team All-SoCon, while Kaleigh Meritt earned second team All-SoCon honors. In 2023, Butler and Merrit were both named first team All-SoCon, while Meritt was named to the SoCon’s All-Freshman team.
The Bulldogs captured their fifth Southern Conference Tournament Championship in 2022 under Chan, which also marked their third in four seasons. Butler and Kate Wonus were both named to the All-Tournament Team while Kenya McQuirter took home Tournament MVP honors.
Five Bulldogs garnered All-SoCon Recognition in 2022, with Kate Morgan being named the SoCon Libero of the Year and Kenya McQuirter earning All-SoCon First Team honors. Gracie Lynn Butler, Lauren Deaton and Kate Morgan were all named to the All-SoCon Second Team while Greer Golden was selected to the All-Freshman squad. The Bulldogs led the SoCon in hitting percentage (.227), assists per set (12.27), and kills per set (13.69), while their 1.93 service aces per set ranked seventh in Division I in addition to leading the conference. Morgan, McQuirter, and Keshock all took home monthly accolades from the SoCon, with Keshock garnering Setter of the Month for September, McQuirter Offensive Player of the Month for October, and Morgan Defensive Player of the Month for October. Morgan was twice named SoCon Defensive Player of the Week in 2022, while McQuirter and Deaton both were honored as Offensive Player of the Week in the SoCon. On Sept. 18 Deaton became the Samford Volleyball all-time leader in kills with her 1,640th career kill against Murray State. Deaton finished her career with 1,836 kills. The Bulldogs posted an 8-2 record at home, highlighted by victories in their last seven home matches of the regular season. The month of October saw the Bulldogs come to form, rattling off a seven-match win streak from Oct. 1-22 that bolstered them near the top of the SoCon Standings.
Coach Chan’s 2021 team battled through adversity to finish 11-18 in the fall. The Bulldogs posted a mark of 9-7 in SoCon play, earning them the no. 3 seed in the conference tournament. Redshirt-sophomore Kenya McQuirter tallied All-SoCon First Team honors while Lauren Deaton garnered All-SoCon Second Team and Kate Wonus earned All-Freshman Team honors. McQuirter and Deaton both ranked in the top five in the SoCon in kills per set, with McQuirter ranking second at 4.29 and Deaton fifth at 3.37. Sophomore setter Kayla Keshock, who was twice named the SoCon Setter of the Week in the fall of 2021, ranked second in the conference with an average of 10.40 assists per set. McQuirter additionally was named the SoCon Offensive Player of the Week three times. As a team, the Bulldogs led the SoCon in assists per set (12), kills per set (13.20), total service aces (186), and service aces per set (1.82). The Bulldogs 1.82 service aces per set additionally ranked 17th in the nation. The Bulldogs played their best volleyball over the final four weeks of the season, rattling off a seven-match winning streak from Oct. 29 through Nov. 19.
In the 2020-21 season, played in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chan’s teams continued to be a dominant force in the SoCon. The Bulldogs posted a record of 15-4 overall and 13-3 in SoCon play. The team won the SoCon Tournament and regular-season titles, earning a third-straight NCAA Tournament bid. Lauren Deaton earned SoCon Player of the Year and honorable mention All-American honors. Kenya McQuirter was named the SoCon Freshman of the Year, while Corinne Meglic and Sierra Rayzor were named second team All-SoCon.
The 2019 season served as the best year in program history, with Samford rolling to an overall record of 24-6, including a program-record 15-1 mark in SoCon play, en route to winning a SoCon regular season title. The Bulldogs also upset #24 Arizona in Tucson, marking the first win over a top-25 program in Samford volleyball history. Samford defeated Furman and ETSU in five-set thrillers in the Southern Conference Tournament to repeat as SoCon Tournament champions and earn a second-consecutive NCAA Tournament berth, where they took on Louisville. Senior Kelsi Hobbs was named the SoCon Player of the Year and an AVCA All-Region honorable mention, while sophomore Deaton joined her as an All-SoCon First Team selection. Emily Naubert was selected to the SoCon All-Freshman team.
In 2018, the Bulldogs knocked off top-seeded ETSU, 3-1, to win the SoCon Tournament and earn the program’s second NCAA appearances in three years. In the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs traveled to Los Angeles to take on national power USC. The team finished the season with a record of 19-15 overall and 11-5 in SoCon play. Lauren Deaton was named the Rayna Taylor Freshman of the Year, as well as an All-SoCon Second Team selection, while Taylor Anderton and Krista Boesing were both named All-SoCon First Team selections. Anderton was also named to the AVCA All-Region team.
In his first season with the Bulldogs in 2016, Chan immediately provided a positive impact on the squad, as he guided Samford to a thrilling Southern Conference Tournament championship title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, where the Bulldogs squared off against No. 4-ranked Kansas. Samford finished the 2016 campaign with a 21-14 overall record and a 9-7 mark in SoCon play, and ended up ranked 10th in the nation in team kills (1,693) and 14th in team assists (1,570). Erin Bognar, an All-SoCon selection, set the school’s single-season record in kills (553), and Kelsi Hobbs earned SoCon All-Freshman Team honors.
On Feb. 17, 2016, Samford Director of Athletics Martin Newton and Senior Associate AD Michelle Durban announced Chan as the volleyball program’s eighth head coach.
Chan came to Samford after having a substantial and successful 16-year run as the head coach of Big Ten member Northwestern University. Chan’s teams at Northwestern recorded four NCAA Tournament appearances (2002, 2003, 2005, 2010) including the program’s first two tournament wins (2005, 2010). With his experience, he hopes to continue to build on Samford’s winning traditions.
Through the years at Northwestern, Chan not only led his teams to multiple NCAA Tournament appearances but kept his program in the nation’s Top 50 RPI in 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012, and finished in the Top 25 in 2010.
The team success achieved throughout his career was fueled by four All-Americans, nine All-Region players, eight All-Big Ten selections and five Big Ten All-Freshman selections.
Although it has been several years, Chan is no stranger to SoCon volleyball as he served as the head coach at Furman University during the 1999 season before advancing to Northwestern. While at Furman he increased the program’s RPI by 22 points and took the Paladins to the championship match of the SoCon Tournament.
Chan’s commitment to excellence extends well off the court as his players have achieved a 100 percent graduation rate, which includes 111 Academic All-Big Ten players, three Academic All-District honorees and a team GPA of 3.2 or higher over his 16 years with the Wildcats. The squad also received the highest team GPA at Northwestern in 2010, 2013 and 2014.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT CHAN
"In Keylor, Samford has hired one of our profession's best - both in talent and in character. The quality academics at Samford and the experience of Keylor are a perfect fit." –
Mary Wise, Florida head coach.
"Keylor gave me my start as a young, inexperienced coach and I am very excited for him and his family to join the conference. He has done such a great job competing in the Big Ten and Samford is fortunate to get someone with that experience to continue the success of Samford volleyball." –
Michelle Young, Furman head coach.
"I think Keylor did a great job at Northwestern and had a very successful career there. I really enjoyed competing against him and always thought he was very ingenious in his approach to things because it was always a challenge to play against them. I certainly think he's going to be a great addition to the Samford Athletic Department and he'll do a great job with their program." –
Mark Rosen, Michigan head coach.
"Keylor is a consummate professional who gets the best out of his players and always prepares his teams to succeed.” –
Russ Rose, Penn State head coach.
"Keylor is a terrific coach with a tremendous amount of big game experience and a plethora of big wins. He cares about the well-being and development of student-athletes. It was a pleasure working for him and I learned a great deal. I believe he will be very successful at Samford and look forward to following the program." –
Ryan Theis, Marquette head coach.
