Sarah Rauen is entering her fourth season as assistant women's volleyball coach at North Dakota State in 2016. Rauen, previously an assistant for three seasons at Green Bay, assists in all areas of the NDSU program with an emphasis on defense and passing skills, recruiting in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and supervising academic progress.
“Sarah’s expertise in coaching defensive players and serve reception will be vital to our program's success,” said NDSU head coach Kari Thompson upon Rauen's hire. “She is a hard-working, intelligent coach and believes in our Bison values. Sarah is dedicated to the success of the student-athlete and knows what it takes to be successful both on the court and in the classroom.”
Thompson and Rauen helped lead the Bison to one of the nation's top improvements in the win column in 2014, earning nine more victories than the previous season with a squad made up primarily of underclassmen. Under Rauen's direction, sophomore libero Emily Milligan was second in The Summit League in 2014 with 530 total digs, ranking fifth in NDSU history for a single season.
At Green Bay, Rauen trained AVCA all-region and honorable mention All-America libero Brittany Groth, who was a two-time All-Horizon League performer and set UWGB’s career record for digs. Groth ranked third nationally in digs per set and the Phoenix were sixth in team digs in 2012.
A former defensive specialist, Rauen was part of Green Bay’s 2003 Horizon League championship team. She set Green Bay’s record for career digs with 1,519 playing from 2003 to 2006 and finished third on the single-season chart with 518 digs her junior year.
Rauen spent the 2007 season on Debbie Kirch’s staff at UWGB as a student assistant and was an assistant coach for a pair of regional championship teams at De Pere High School in 2008 and 2009. She also coached for the Fox Cities Elite volleyball club.
Rauen graduated Magna Cum Laude from Green Bay with a degree in human biology in December 2007. She was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team in 2006.
