The 2013 campaign marks Alija Pittenger's sixth season as the head coach of the Fairfield University volleyball program. Pittenger, a two-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Coach of the Year, has compiled a 94-64 overall record and an impressive 73-17 MAAC record. Pittenger has guided the Stags to three MAAC Regular Season Championships and the 2012 MAAC Tournament Championship.
Pittenger, the 2012 MAAC Coach of the Year, guided the Stags to their first MAAC Championship in more than a decade after they downed Siena College, 3-2, at Alumni Hall. The Stags received the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament which brought them to USC. Fairfield went 22-9 overall and 15-3 in the MAAC to earn the regular season championship as well. She also coached MAAC Setter of the Year Rachel Romansky, and All-MAAC First Teamers, Caitlin Stapleton and Brianna Dixion.
Named the 2011 MAAC Coach of the Year, Pittenger led the Stags to a 20-10 overall record, a 16-2 league mark, and a spot in the MAAC Championship final. Pittenger also coached the 2011 MAAC Setter of the Year, Rachel Romanksy, and the MAAC Rookie of the Year, Caitlin Stapleton.
During her first season at the helm in 2008, she guided the Stags to a 20-13 overall record, a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Regular Season Championship, and an appearance in the MAAC Championship Final. She followed that up by leading the Stags to a MAAC Regular Season Championship and a 19-12 record in 2009.
Pittenger came to Fairfield after spending five seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh. During her stint with the Panthers, she helped guide them to a Big East title and to two-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2006, she coached three Panthers to All-Big East honors in addition to a Big East Libero of the Year award and an AVCA All-America honoree.
Prior to Pitt, she spent 2002 at Southern Indiana, where she helped the Screaming Eagles to a conference title, a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament, and a first round victory. Pittenger also was an undergraduate assistant coach at Michigan, her alma mater, in 2001.
As a collegiate player with the Wolverines, Pittenger was a four-time letterwinner as an outside hitter and setter. She helped Michigan to its first top-25 national ranking in 2000 and to three NCAA Championship Tournaments in 1997, 1999, and 2000. Pittenger finished her senior year as the team leader in digs and was second on the Wolverines in kills.
She graduated from Michigan in December 2001 with a bachelor's degree in movement science.
