April Elsbernd

April Elsbernd is joining Iowa Select this year as our PINS/Middles coach!

April is currently in her 12th season with the University of Dubuque Spartans.

In 2019, Elsbernd helped lead UD to their second straight NCAA Tournament Appearance. The Spartans finished the regular season 5-3 in conference action, earning the third season in the conference tournament. The Spartans took down Buena Vista at home in a 3-2 thriller before heading down the road to defeat rival Loras, 3-2 in their home gym to advance to the finals. After back-to-back five-set thrillers, UD dropped the first set at Wartburg before taking the next three sets for the 3-1 win and Conference Tournament Championships. Elsbernd and the Spartans would fall in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament to the top-seeded St. Thomas Tommies.

In 2018, Elsbernd led the Spartans to the NCAA Tournament by winning the American Rivers Conference Tournament and earning the conference automatic bid. They finished the season with a 24-9 record overall and 6-2 in conference play. Elsbernd and the coaching staff were selected A-R-C Coaching Staff of the Year by her fellow coaches.

University of Dubuque Volleyball student-athletes have earned 67 IIAC/A-R-C All-Academic individual honors, accounted for ten straight American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Academic Team awards, 13 All-Conference selections, two Freshman of the Year winners, and one MVP during her ten seasons at the helm of the program.

During the 2017 season, the Spartans secured a 3rd place finish in the Iowa Conference and a quarterfinal victory in the IIAC tournament behind Honorable Mention All-American, Karrah Davis. They finished the season with the most wins since 1995 (28-7), and began the season with a 12-0 match winning streak.

Prior to coaching at the University of Dubuque, Elsbernd spent one season as head coach at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, Iowa; and three seasons as an assistant at Cornell College.

She attended and played collegiate volleyball at Coe College from 1999-2002 and graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, Public Relations and Speech Communications.  She was a four-year letterwinner and earned Academic All-Iowa Conference honors in 2001 and 2002.

Elsbernd has experience coaching at numerous volleyball camps and clinics, and has been involved with the USAV Iowa Region High Performance program since 2011; learning from and interacting with USA Volleyball coaches and USA Olympic Athletes.

In addition to her role as the head volleyball coach at UD, she is an adjunct instructor for the Health, Wellness and Sport department and the First-Year Experience department. She has also had the opportunity to travel abroad (Italy, London, Paris, and Costa Rica) with a number of undergraduate courses.

Elsbernd graduated with a Master of Science degree in Sport Administration from the UW - La Crosse in 2007 and is currently working on her Ed.D in Educational Leadership from National Louis University.