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Karen McNulty enters her 18th year as head coach of the UMass Lowell volleyball program, guiding the River Hawks to a 344-268 overall record (.562) through the past 17 seasons.
The 2009 and 2002 Northeast-10 Conference Coach of the Year, McNulty inherited the volleyball program in 1994 following a two-year head coaching stint at Northeastern. After posting a 29-39 record in her first two seasons with the River Hawks, she has guided UML to a 271-188 clip (.590), including eight 20-win seasons and the program's first six NCAA Tournament appearances (2000, 2002-05, 2009).
A culmination of all her work, the River Hawks captured the program's first ever NE-10 Tournament Championship in 2009. In addition to posting a 22-10 record, McNulty was crowned as the conference's Coach of the Year while taking the program to its sixth NCAA Tournament.
McNulty also led the River Hawks to second place in the NE-10 regular season in four of the last nine years. The 2003 season was especially sweet for McNulty and the River Hawks, who had graduated 70 percent of its offense and defense with the 2002 squad (25-11), but posted a 20-10 record and earned their third NCAA Tournament berth in four years.
At Northeastern, McNulty posted a 29-29 two-year clip which included a 16-10 showing in 1992. That year, the Huskies advanced to the North Atlantic Conference (now America East) Tournament.
A four-year player at Boston College (Class of '85), McNulty served as team captain as a senior and was the recipient of the BC Varsity Club Outstanding Senior Award. Upon graduation, McNulty served as head coach of the girls' team at her alma mater, Billerica High School, where she led the Indians to the Division I North Sectional finals and Merrimack Valley Conference title twice. In 1991, she was voted the Merrimack Valley Conference Coach of the Year.
McNulty continues to give back to her sport. She served the 2005 season as the national chair for the NCAA Division II Volleyball Committee, the governing body that makes administrative decisions for the NCAA Tournament. She was also the committee chair for the NCAA Northeast Region for four years, and had previously served on the AVCA national rankings committee.
McNulty has been a United States Volleyball Association (USVBA) player since 1986. A native of Billerica, MA, McNulty resides in Lowell, MA.
