WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – On Friday, July 19, Salem College Director of Athletics Trish Hughes announced that Bouaketh Chanthavisouk was selected as the program's volleyball coach.
"We are thrilled to have Bouaketh joining the Salem College volleyball program," said Hughes. "She has a proven track record of success both on the court and in the classroom and has a commitment to student-athlete welfare. I know that she will be a tremendous asset to our program."
Chanthavisouk, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant at The College of Wooster, takes over a Salem squad that finished with 10 wins in USA South Conference action a season ago. She helped Wooster win 47 matches during her tenure as the program's defensive coordinator, where she worked primarily with middle attackers, blocking, defense and serve-receive development.
During the last three seasons, Chanthavisouk has had three All-Conference selections to the North Coast Athletic Conference team as well as a CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-Conference First Team selection, which came in 2016.
"I would like to thank President Sandra J. Doran, Director of Athletics Trish Hughes and the search committee for their hard work and giving me the opportunity to lead this program," said Chanthavisouk. "I am confident that I can provide stability and nurture a culture of growth and achievement."
In addition to her role at Wooster, Chanthavisouk also served as an assistant coach for the Vitenam BIP-USA delegation in 2018. Her team earned second place at the Binh Dien Cup. She was also the head coach for the Costa Rica unit in 2017 for the Beyond Sports Tours.
Prior to Wooster, Chanthavisouk was an assistant coach at Gannon University for six seasons. While there she was named as the 2015 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II National Assistant Coach-of-the-Year. During her stint in Erie, Pa., she helped guide the Lady Knights to an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in each season.
Gannon University won at least 20 matches in every season with Chanthavisouk on the bench, including the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship in 2012. Academically, Gannon earned four AVCA Team Academic Awards and a pair of CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District First Team honors.
On the court at Gannon, Chanthavisouk worked directly with nine PSAC First Team selections, eight All-Atlantic Region selections, two PSAC Freshmen of the Year and one PSAC West Player the Year. Among the individuals that made the biggest impact at Gannon during Chanthavisouk's six-year tenure was Hannah Kren, who garnered AVCA All-American honorable mention twice and Daktronics All-American on one occasion.
Chanthavisouk spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Rochester Institute of Technology, two years as the head coach at the State University of New York at Geneseo and three years as an assistant at Saint John Fisher College.
As a student-athlete, Chanthavisouk was selected to the National Junior College Athletic Association all-region third-team and the all-Western New York Athletic Conference first-team in 1998.
Chanthavisouk, who earned a bachelor's degree in English from St. John Fisher, also served in both the U.S. Army Reserve and the New York Army National Guard.