Riley Jarrett, an energetic and passionate young coach who has spent her entire volleyball career in the region, is the 11th head coach of the Youngstown State University volleyball program. YSU Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Ron Strollo announced Jarrett's hiring on April 9, 2024.
A native of Lorain, Ohio, and a winner of the AVCA’s Thirty-Under-30 Award, Jarrett helped the Penguins achieve their best season in more than a decade in just her second year leading the program.
At Youngstown State
In 2025, YSU won a school-record 11 Horizon League matches, improved its win total by eight compared with 2024, and advanced to the semifinals of the Horizon League Volleyball Championship. YSU had the second-largest win improvement in the Horizon League, and only 23 teams in the country improved their win total by more heading into the NCAA Tournament. The Penguins had their highest seed ever at the conference tournament, significantly overachieving according to the Horizon League preseason poll, which pegged YSU to finish 10th.
In addition to breaking the school record for Horizon League victories and winning percentage during the regular season, Youngstown State secured its first winning season since 2014 with a 17-14 record. The Penguins were especially strong at home and tied the program record with 10 wins, matching the 1999 team. Against Horizon League opponents on Rosselli Court, YSU handed Northern Kentucky its only loss of the conference slate and did not drop a set in six of its home league wins.
The Penguins had their best offense since 25-point rally scoring was instituted in 2008. YSU set a new program record in the current era with 1,555 kills, and they also set records with 13.07 kills per set overall and 13.58 kills per set in Horizon League play. YSU posted a .247 attack percentage, which was the second-best mark in program history regardless of format, and it was 29 percentage points better than any other season in rally scoring. YSU improved to .255 in Horizon League play, shattering the previous record of .214 set in 2022. YSU’s 1,453 assists were its most in the 25-point rally era and the fourth-highest total in program history.
Individually, Abbie Householder finished perhaps the most-decorated career by an outside hitter in Youngstown State volleyball history. She was named the Horizon League Player of the Year and the Offensive Player of the Year, becoming the third Penguin to earn a conference player-of-the-year honor (Paula Gurshing - 2002, Jill Raslevich - 1995). Householder became the first Penguin to be named National Player of the Week by the AVCA during the final week of YSU’s regular season. She set the program’s record for career kills during a 29-kill effort in the victory over Green Bay in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Volleyball Championship and finished with 1,427 in her career.
Householder made a huge leap in two seasons under Jarrett, posting 942 kills and 710 digs. Householder’s 562.5 points as a senior were nearly equal to than her 581.5 combined over her first two seasons. Entering the NCAA Tournament, Householder was the only active Division I player with at least 1,400 career kills and 1,200 career digs.
In addition to Householder’s achievements, Gabriela Machin had a career year in 2025 with 387 kills and 443.0 points, which were more than her first two seasons combined. She joined Householder on the All-Horizon League First Team, and her .339 attack percentage was the best by a Penguin since the shift from sideout scoring to rally scoring in 2001. At the end of conference tournament play, Machin was one of seven players in the country who averaged at least 3.2 kills per set while also hitting at least .330.
Jarrett’s first full recruiting class made major contributions in 2025, and Kameron Blizniak and Layne Graffice were named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team. Blizniak’s 1,116 assists were the most ever by a Penguin in the 25-point rally scoring era, the 10th best mark regardless of format and the second-highest total ever by a YSU freshman. She started all 31 matches, and Graffice played in 29 matches while finishing the season with 278 kills and 270 digs as a six-rotation outside hitter.
In Jarrett’s first season at Youngstown State, the Penguins showed potential for the future with several notable performances at both the team and individual levels.
YSU won four of its final six non-conference matches in 2024, which included its first sweep of Kent State in 43 years. The Penguins then beat Mercyhurst 3-0 four days later to record back-to-back home sweeps for the first time since 2000. YSU’s defense keyed the two wins as both opponents posted a negative attack percentage, and the Penguins displayed gritty defense throughout the campaign.
Youngstown State registered 17.28 digs per set, which ranked second in the Horizon League and 16th in the country in 2024. The Penguins improved their digs average by 2.05 per set compared with 2023, and they had their second-highest average since 25-point rally-scoring began in 2008. YSU had 96 digs, the most in a match in nearly two years, against LIU in Jarrett’s first victory leading the Penguins. Youngstown State then began November by winning six straight sets against Oakland at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center to celebrate Senior Weekend.
Individually, Householder took a big leap forward in her development and was named to the All-Horizon League Second Team. Householder ranked second in the conference in both kills and points per set in 2024, and she was the only player in the conference to rank among the top 12 in both kills and digs per set. Her 440 kills were the fourth-most in program history, and she was the fifth Penguin to reach 500 points in a single season.
Householder was also named to the Horizon League All-Academic Team, and she was an Academic All-District Selection along with Maria Insana, Isabel Schaefabuer and Nyia Setla. Setla, who followed Jarrett to YSU from West Liberty, averaged 4.20 digs per set in her lone season as a Penguin, which was the fourth-best mark in the rally-scoring format.
Before YSU: West Liberty and Penn State-Behrend
Jarrett came to Youngstown after spending the previous four seasons leading West Liberty to its highest prominence at the Division II level as its head coach from 2020-23. She left the school in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia with the highest career winning percentage of any coach in program history. The Hilltoppers won more than 64% of their matches with Jarrett at the helm, and they won 65 contests over the last three seasons. Her tenure at WLU ended with the Hilltoppers making their first two appearances in program history at the NCAA Division II Tournament, and the team appeared in all nine sets of regional rankings over the last three seasons.
In 2023, West Liberty went 23-10 to secure its third straight 20-win season under Jarrett's leadership and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history. The 23 victories tied for the fourth-most in program history, and the Hilltoppers won nine out of 11 matches heading into the semifinals of the Mountain East Conference Tournament.
Jarrett's 2022 squad took a step forward as the team made the first postseason appearance in program history at the Atlantic Regional of the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Hilltoppers went 10-6 in MEC play for the second straight season, and they reached double-digits in conference victories in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history. That streak extended to three in 2023 as WLU was 10-4 against conference opponents.
WLU went 21-13 in 2021 and tied for second in the North Division of the MEC. The Hilltoppers began their trend of being among the top teams in the Atlantic Region as they were ranked as high as ninth during the season, and they surpassed that ranking in both 2022 and 2023. That 2021 fall campaign came after WLU was 7-4 during the spring in Jarrett's first season that was shifted due to the pandemic.
Individually, Jarrett coached the only two NCAA Division II All-Americans in West Liberty history. Nyia Setla was named an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American in 2023 and a Third-Team All-American by the D2CCA in 2022. Madison Clayton was an Honorable Mention All-American by both organizations in 2021. Setla was named the Mountain East Conference Libero of the Year in each of the last two seasons. Jarrett's recruiting efforts were notable as West Liberty had a freshman honored on the all-conference freshman team each season.
Jarrett's first two years of her coaching career were at West Liberty in a graduate assistant role under Kayla Mull. In Jarrett's initial season on the hilltop with Mull, West Liberty went 24-10 and received a regional ranking for the first time in program history and finished second in the Mountain East Conference standings.
Between her stops at West Liberty, Jarrett spent seven months as the lead assistant coach for the women's and men's volleyball programs at Penn State-Behrend. The men's team was off to an 11-6 start when the season ended early in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was hired at PSU-Behrend in February 2020, and she took the head coaching opportunity at West Liberty that September when Mull stepped down.
Playing Career and Personal
Jarrett was a four-year starter and a two-time all-conference honoree as a setter at Division III Mount Union University in Alliance, Ohio. She ended her career for the Purple Raiders ranking among the program's top 10 in career hitting percentage, career assists, and career assists per set. During her senior season, she registered 917 assists, posted two triple-doubles, and was named All-Ohio Athletic Conference First Team and AVCA Great Lakes All-Region Honorable Mention. While she was an undergraduate student, she served as the Head Volleyball Coach for the 15-year-old Junior Olympic Team at the Tri-State Volleyball Academy.
Jarrett graduated from Mount Union in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in sports business with a double minor in business administration and psychology. She earned her Master's of Education in sports leadership and coaching from West Liberty in 2020.
Jarrett’s husband, Joel, is also a Youngstown State employee. He first served as a coordinator in the office of undergraduate admissions for a year before joining the athletic department as an assistant director of compliance. The Jarretts have a son named Luke.
