Saint Patrick alum Daniel Cabrera ’09 led the Olivet Nazarene Women’s Volleyball team to a CCAC Regular Season and Conference Tournament Championship in his first year as Head Coach, earning the Tigers a bid to play in the Opening Round of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Women’s Volleyball Tournament this past weekend.
Cabrera was named the 2021 CCAC Coach of the Year, leading his team to a 20-2 record this season. In addition, Olivet earned CCAC Assistant Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, and three All-Conference player honors. Cabrera, who was hired after former Head Coach Brenda Williams retired after 23 years last season, is also the Head Coach of the Men’s Volleyball team who played their inaugural season this past fall and will play their first official season in the 2021-22 school year.
A four-year Volleyball player at Saint Patrick High School, Cabrera went on to play in college at Hannibal-LaGrange University where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in History and graduated with Academic Honors. While at Saint Patrick, Cabrera led the Shamrocks to their first appearance in the IHSA State Men’s Volleyball Tournament in 2009 and was ranked 46th in the National High School rankings according to ESPN.
After college, Cabrera played professionally for a year for the Great Lakes Lightning of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) under former Lewis University Head Coach Dave Deuser. He served as Head Coach at Resurrection High School and Jones College Prep prior to being hired as Assistant Men’s and Women’s Volleyball Coach at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri where he later became Head Coach of the Women’s Volleyball Team before assuming his current head coaching role at Olivet.
Cabrera says he owes much of his success to the teachers and coaches at Saint Patrick, who helped build the foundation for where he is today, particularly Head Volleyball Coach, Joel Anderson, someone he says he continues to look up to. “Coach Anderson is the reason I started playing volleyball,” Cabrera said. “He is a good, caring person who will always be a role model and big mentor to me.”
Although the Tiger’s season ended in three sets to #15 University of Providence (Montana) on Saturday night, Cabrera is proud of what his team accomplished this season and the opportunity to help encourage Women’s Volleyball and contribute to the success of Olivet Athletics.
Congratulations, Coach!
