Dylan Lasher ’15 is entering his fourth season as the Thiel College men’s volleyball head coach in 2023-24. He is also serving as the interim women’s volleyball head coach in 2023.
The men’s volleyball team qualified for the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championship Tournament in 2022 and 2023. The 2023 team won 16 games and earned the No. 2 seed in the North Division in the championship tournament. Thiel defeated Hiram 3-0 in the tournament quarterfinals before falling 3-1 to Geneva in the semifinals.
Four Tomcats were named to AMCC All-Conference teams in 2023, led by Zac Smith and Jake Dies, who were named to the Second Team. Freshmen James Cromwell-Young and Cameron Long garnered Third Team accolades. Dies was the AMCC Newcomer of the Year in 2022, as well as Second Team pick, while Smith was named to the Third Team.
Twelve Tomcats were named to the 2023 AMCC Academic All-Conference Team, including Peak Performers James Cromwell-Young, Dies, Nick Koorsen, Josh Hovan, Tyler Hussey, Cameron Long, Kaleb Proudfoot and Josh Pugh.
Lasher returned to Thiel after starting an NCAA Division III men’s volleyball program at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill. He recruited 15 student-athletes to compete for the Millikin Big Blue during the program’s inaugural season in 2019-20. The Big Blue won three matches and several players ranked in the top 10 individually in the College Conference of Illinois (CCIW) before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season.
Prior to his time at Millikin, Lasher was the women’s volleyball head coach at Chatham University. Lasher was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Coach of the Year in 2017 after leading the Chatham Cougars to a 17-11 record and their first-ever berth in the PAC Championship Tournament. The Cougars broke more than 20 individual and team records under Lasher’s tutelage.
A four-year member of Thiel’s volleyball team, Lasher served as the Tomcats’ team captain for two seasons while the program was part of the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC). Lasher remains among the best in Thiel history in multiple career statistical categories, including: kills (658), hitting percentage (.209), service ace (74), digs (670) and blocks (135).
Lasher, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Thiel in 2015, leads a men’s volleyball program that won the AMCC title in 2019. He is the third head coach in program history.
The women’s volleyball team played in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championship Tournament title match for the fourth time in program history in 2022. The Tomcats were the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament in 2022 for the first time in program history.
