Youngstown State University

Leona Oani is in her second season as a volunteer assistant volleyball coach on Mark Hardaway’s staff at Youngstown State.

Oani, a Northeast Ohio native, began coaching at the collegiate level for the first time at YSU in 2015. She has coached at the club and high school levels in her young career.

Oani was most recently the head varsity coach at Chagrin Falls High School, and she led the Tigers to a district title and a berth in the regional semifinals in 2014. She was an assistant varsity coach at Streetsboro High School in 2013. Current Penguin Paige Saunders was a senior at Streetsboro that season.

Oani has been a coach for the IGNITE volleyball club in Twinsburg since 2013, and she got her coaching start as the head coach for the C Club Men’s Volleyball Club at Ohio State.

Oani played volleyball as a freshman at Lakeland Community College and led the team with 350 digs as its libero. She is currently studying interior design at the University of Akron. She graduated from Crestwood High School in 2008.