Lee Maes - Volleyball Coach - University of Colorado Athletics

Arkansas

Sep 12 (Fri)

6 PM

Lee Maes

Title:
Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
Email:
lee.maes@colorado.edu

Lee Maes joined the CU Volleyball program as an assistant in January of 2016. He is also the recruiting coordinator. Maes was promoted to associate head coach following his first season with the Buffs. In his time at CU, Colorado owns a record of 141-126 (.528) with three trips to the NCAA Tournament. The 2025 campaign will be his 10th season with the Buffs.

During the 2022 campaign, Maes' seventh year with the program, the Buffs went 20-11, earning 20 victories in a single season for the first time since 2017. It marked the 12th time since the program began in 1988 where the team recorded 20 wins or more in a season. The team also made their 19th NCAA appearance. It was the squad's third NCAA run since Maes joined the program.

The sixth season was headlined by breaking the volleyball school record with an undefeated 9-0 start. The hot start to the season helped the team to improve its home nonconference record to 24-2.

The Buffs witnessed Brynna DeLuzio break a single-season school record as she averaged 4.67 digs per set. The team finished with a 15-14 record overall.

The fifth season was different than any before with COVID canceling the fall season and pushing it to a conference only season in the spring. The team went 8-3 at home but were winless on the road in nine tries. The Buffs also dealt with a school record eight-straight matches against ranked opponents.

The Buffs saw good success against ranked opponents at home, taking down both No.11-ranked Utah at home in five sets and No.12 UCLA in four sets at home.

The fourth season saw the Buffs upset a top-five opponent for the first time in the Mahoney-era, sweeping No.5-ranked Illinois to begin the season 5-0. The team had a rocky start in conference play, but finished the final 10 matches even with two top-25 victories at UCLA and against Cal.

The team saw Meegan Hart named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week following the Illinois victory along with Jill Schneggenburger being named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week. Freshman Sterling Parker also finished a Pac-12 All-Freshman selection and was named a volleyballmag.com Freshman All-America honorable mention.

The third season saw the Buffs return to the NCAA Tournament in just the second time in three years. CU recorded an 18-14 overall record and an even 10-10 Pac-12 mark to finish tied for sixth with Utah and Washington.

Colorado begun with a 8-3 non-conference record with the team missing All-American Naghede Abu for the first 10 matches. Abu and Alexa Smith showed out to defeat CSU in the final non-conference match, with Smith recording her 1,000th career kill for the Buffs.

CU began Pac-12 action with a 2-6 record, but turned it around after an injury forced Colorado to run a 5-1 offense with freshman setter Jenna Ewert. The Buffs picked up key wins against No.21 Washington, No.16 Oregon and secured an NCAA berth with a sweep of UCLA in Los Angeles.

The Buffs’ success led to Smith and Abu being named First Team All-Pac-12, First Team AVCA All-Regional, and Abu being named Third team All-America while Smith was an honorable mention. Additionally, Ewert and Anyse Smith were named Pac-12 All-Freshman.

Following the 2018 season, Maes and staff recruited eight players to the Buffs, cumulating in the 10th-ranked volleyball class by PrepVolleyball.com.

In 2017, Maes helped Colorado return to the NCAA Tournament and advance to the sweet 16 round for the first time in 20 years. The Buffs recorded a 24-10 overall record, which was the third best win total for CU since becoming a varsity program. Colorado also earned a 12-8 mark in Pac-12 play, the most conference wins since becoming members of the league. CU finished tied for fifth in the Pac-12 standings.

The Buffs started the season off with a 10-1 record in non-conference action, which included wins at Illinois (3-2) and No. 22 Colorado State (3-2). The win at CSU was the first for CU since 1995. During the Pac-12 slate, CU recorded four wins against ranked opponents, which included a season sweep of Oregon, which was ranked 12^th and 15^th, respectively when the Buffs faced the Ducks. CU also picked up its first ever win against No. 19 Southern California, and defeated No. 11 Washington, both 3-0 in Boulder.

After finishing the regular season with a 22-9 record, the Buffs earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. CU swept its competition, first downing James Madison before knocking out the host, No. 17 Baylor, for CU’s first-ever true road match in the NCAA Tournament. The Buffs eventually fell to No. 5 Nebraska, the 2017 NCAA Champion, to finish the season. CU was ranked 19^th in the final AVCA Coaches Poll of the season.

In addition to the team’s success, several Buffs had outstanding individual seasons. Junior outside hitter Alexa Smith became CU’s first AVCA Second Team All-American and was also named to the AVCA All-Pacific South Region and All-Pac-12 Teams.

Freshman setter Brynna DeLuzio had one of the best freshman seasons for a Buff, earning AVCA All-America honorable mention honors in addition to the VolleyballMag.Com All-Freshman Team and PrepVolleyball.Com All-Freshman Second Team. DeLuzio was the first Buff to earn the AVCA Pacific South Region Freshman of the Year award and was also selected to the AVCA all-region honorable mention team. She was a Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honoree and earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors.

Three other Buffs earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention status: junior Naghede Abu, senior Joslyn Hayes and junior Frankie Shebby.

During the 2016 season, Maes helped the Buffs to a 14-16 overall record, as well as a 6-14 mark in Pac-12 play. CU finished its non-conference slate with an 8-2 record, which included several huge wins. The Buffs recorded back-to-back wins against ranked opponents for the first time in school history when they took down No. 13 Penn State and No. 17 Illinois at the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge. CU also earned its first win against Colorado State since 2002, defeating the Rams 3-1.

During the Pac-12 schedule, the Buffs knocked off three more ranked opponents, one at home and two on the road. CU recorded a 3-1 win over No. 12 UCLA at Coors Events Center and knocked off No. 13 Washington State (3-2) in Pullman, Wash., which was the Cougars first home loss of the season. CU took down No. 17 Utah (3-2) in the final contest of the season in Salt Lake City.

The Buffs were ranked in the AVCA Poll for five weeks and reached as high as 16th. After they fell out of the poll, they were still receiving votes for another five weeks.

Several individual Buffs earned recognition during the season, most notably Gabby Simpson who was named to the AVCA All-Pacific South honorable mention team after she was selected to the All-Pac-12 honorable mention team. Simpson was joined on the all-conference team by Abu and Smith.

Maes came to Colorado with over 25 years of experience, 19 at the NCAA Division I level, and has coached some of the top programs in the country.

An assistant at Louisville for three seasons (2012-14), Maes helped guide the Cardinals to a 68-27 record. In 2013, UL was the American Athletic Conference Champion and qualified for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2012 after winning the Big East Championship. During his tenure at UL, Maes coached three AVCA All-Americans as well as one conference player of the year and a freshman of the year.

Maes left UL in 2015 to pursue a master’s degree in liberal studies at Wesleyan University where he also served as an assistant for the women’s volleyball team.

Prior to his time at Louisville, Maes was the head coach at Virginia (2008-11). During that time, he and his staff landed the Cavaliers’ first-ever nationally ranked class, as the recruiting class of 2009 was tabbed the 15th best incoming freshman class in the nation. The following year’s class was named the ninth best in the nation.

At UVa, Maes saw Simone Asque earn back-to-back ACC Player of the Week honors and garner All-ACC recognition. The Cavaliers notched the program's first ever win over a top 25 team with a victory over No. 25 Florida State in 2010. The Cavs achieved numerous All-Academic selections during Maes’ tenure, the highest team grade point average and attained a perfect Academic Progress Rate. He recruited and coached the ACC and East Region Freshman of the Year. He also served on the AVCA Division I All-American Committee and was Chair of the AVCA East Region Selection Committee.

Prior to leading the Cavaliers' program, he served as an assistant at Nebraska for three years. During that time, the Cornhuskers compiled a 95-5 record, won the NCAA Championship in 2006, reached the NCAA Championship match in 2005 and the NCAA Regional finals in 2007. UNL was the Big 12 Conference Champion each of those three years and produced 13 AVCA All-Americans, two national players of the year and a Honda-Broderick Award winner. In addition to two top-15 ranked recruiting classes at Virginia, Maes was integral in helping recruit back-to-back classes that were rated among the top-five in the nation in his final two seasons at UNL.

The program also excelled academically. A total of six players were named Academic All-Americans and one received the NCAA's prestigious Top-Eight Award.

Before his stint at UNL, Maes was a member of the University of California women's volleyball staff from 1998-2005. He served as the associate head coach from 2003-05 and was an assistant coach from 1998-2003. The Golden Bears reached the NCAA Tournament each of his last three seasons, a first for California since the late 1980s. He was a part of the 2003 Sweet Sixteen team that finished eighth in the nation after making the second round in 2002. The 2004 squad finished the season ranked No. 17 in the nation after making it to the NCAA Second Round. He was involved in all aspects of the program, including on-court training and opponent scouting, and recruited a total of 11 All-Pac-10 Conference performers.

Maes also brings an extensive background at the national team level. He led the USA Girls' Junior National A2 Team to a gold medal at both the 2007 European Global Challenge and the 2006 High Performance Championships. In 2004-05, Maes served as an assistant coach for the Women's National Team that earned gold at the 2004 U.S. Open Championships and continued in that capacity coaching in the prestigious 2005 Montreux Volleymasters. He helped lead the Youth National team to a gold medal at the 1998 NORCECA Championships and continued coaching the squad at the 1999 World Championships in Madeira Island, Portugal.

In addition to his work at the national and collegiate levels, Maes directed the Golden Bear girls club volleyball team (Oakland, Calif.) from 1997-2004. As coach of the Forefront 18-1's team, he developed and sent more than 50 prospects on to the collegiate level. In 2003, his Golden Bear team won the 18-Open bronze medal at the Junior Olympic Championships. Maes also had a coaching stint with the Nike Ichiban club (Long Beach, Calif.) from 1993-97, where he helped train and develop Olympians, Misty May-Treanor and Heather Bown. During that time period, the Nike Ichiban 18's team won an unprecedented five consecutive Open medals at the Junior Olympic Championships, highlighted by winning the 18-Open National Title in 1996. Maes had also worked with the Laguna Beach and Sunshine Volleyball Clubs.

Maes graduated from Long Beach State in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and geography. He is a member of USA Volleyball and the American Volleyball Coaches Association.