DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University women's and men's volleyball head coach Olivia Earls is resigning to pursue an opportunity outside of coaching, the school announced Friday.

Earls was named Averett's women's volleyball head coach in January 2022 and coached the Cougars for three seasons. She also was named the first head coach for Averett's men's volleyball program, which played its inaugural season in spring 2024.

"We'd like to thank Olivia for guiding our women's program for the last three seasons and helping start our first men's volleyball program here at Averett," Director of Athletics Danny Miller said. "The future is bright for Averett volleyball with both programs being in a great position to succeed moving forward."

Averett will begin an immediate search for its next volleyball head coach.

Under Earls, Averett women's volleyball finished as the runner-up in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament in 2022, the Cougars' first year as members of the ODAC. Earls was named ODAC Coach of the Year that season. During her three seasons, she helped produce seven All-ODAC selections, the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) State Defensive Player of the Year, multiple all-state selections, one all-region selection and multiple Academic All-District selections from the College Sports Communicators. Last spring, she served as the men's volleyball program's first head coach as the Cougars began play as Averett's newest athletics program.