June 27, 2006

BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech Athletics Department, along with head volleyball coach Chris Riley, announced Tuesday the hiring of Shelbylynn McBride as the top assistant coach for the Hokie volleyball program.

McBride comes to Virginia Tech after spending one year as an assistant at Towson University under Riley, where she helped lead the Tigers to a 28-7 record in 2005.

McBride worked as an assistant at UMBC in 2004. The Retrievers went 13-18 overall and 4-10 in the America East and finished seventh in the league that year. She briefly took over as interim head coach before being hired at Towson.

McBride played both basketball and volleyball as an undergraduate for the George Mason Patriots before finishing her final year of volleyball eligibility as a graduate student at Georgia State University.

At Georgia State, she led the Panthers to the 2003 Atlantic Sun Conference championship game and led the team with 3.46 kills per game. The Panthers ended the season 27-8 overall and 9-1 in the conference.

McBride tallied 688 career kills in three seasons at George Mason. She was the Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year in 1999 and was the only freshman to earn second-team All-CAA honors that year. She also lettered in basketball, scoring 719 career points.

McBride coached at Georgia State for eight months as a graduate assistant following her final year of eligibility, and also served as an assistant coach for the Metro Volleyball Club in Fairfax, Va. between November 2001 and May 2002.

McBride is a native of Valrico, Fla.