Newberry College Athletics

Ross Kessler concluded his sixth season as the head coach for the Newberry volleyball team. 

In 2022, Kessler coached the volleyball team back to the South Atlantic Conference Tournament since the Spring '21 season. Kessler also coached a member of the All-SAC Freshman team in Samantha Shaffer, who led the Wolves in points and kills, along with a SAC Statistical Champion in Avery Webb, who led the SAC having 52 service aces. Webb was also the fourth Wolf who surprassed 2,000 career assists in program history. 

In the Fall of 2021 season, Kessler coached two All-SAC performers in Natasha Bannister (first team) and Zoe Dinkins (third team) with Bannister also receiving D2CCA DII All-Region, AVCA DII All-Region, and Honorable Mention AVCA DII All-American honors. The 2021 fall campaign also saw several school records be broken under Kessler’s leadership, including career total blocks and block assists (Dinkins), kills and points per set in a season (Bannister), digs per set in a season (Amanda Berecz), hitting percentage in a match (Bannister), and solo blocks in a match (Dinkins). The Wolves started off the season strong, winning three of four matches at the Rollins Invitational while also having three players make the all-tournament team (Bannister, Berecz, and Avery Webb). Late in the season, he would lead the Wolves to a statement victory as they swept the No. 1 ranked team in the region at the time, Tusculum, 3-0 on Nov. 3. 

In 2021, Newberry returned to the court after a 468-day absence due to COVID-19. The Wolves were on the road for their season-opener and they defeated Anderson 3-2. Kessler led the Wolves to a 3-1 win over Wingate on March 6, Newberry's second win over Wingate in program history. The Wolves finished the season with a 4-5 conference record and were the seventh-seed in the conference tournament. Three players earned all-conference honors under Kessler's coaching in 2021. Bannister won first team honors, Dinkins was a second team winner and Taylor Hall was on the all-freshman team.  

In 2019, Kessler’s Wolves swept conference-foes Virginia-Wise and Lincoln Memorial before the close of the season. In their Sept. 20 matchup against Lincoln-Memorial, Newberry racked up a season-high 60 kills on the way to their first conference victory of the season. 

Under Kessler's guidance, the Wolves posted an 8-19 record with a record of 3-17 in conference action in his first season as head coach. Newberry started the season off by going 3-1 at the Volley in the Mountains tournament held by Montreat College and then posting a 2-1 record at the Francis Marion Invitational. 

With Kessler's emphasis on the defensive side of the ball, he was able to help, then sophomore, Dinkins break the school record for total blocks in a game with 13 against Anderson. Dinkins would go on to set the school record for most blocks in a single season with 138. Kessler kept Dinkins on track throughout the season, coaching her to the All-SAC Honorable Mention team. She led the conference in blocks per set with 1.37. Kessler has helped her go on to finish her career as the all-time leader in blocks in school history with 416. 

He spent the 2016 season at Troy coordinating the Trojans' defense while also training the setters, helping six players surpass 120 digs and two players attain 95 blocks. He held the same role at Georgia Southern the previous year, where Eagles' libero Alex Beecher ranked 10th nationally and led the Sun Belt Conference in digs per set while setting a school record for total digs. 

Kessler spent 2014-2017 in the Division I ranks as an assistant coach. In 2017 he helped Arkansas State to a 21-win season as Offensive Coordinator, overseeing setter and attacker training and development. A former setter, Kessler also worked extensively with the Red Wolves' setters in the areas of footwork and peripheral vision. 

Kessler began his collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant with Kentucky in 2014, where he worked primarily with middles and setters. The Wildcats advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 28-6 and had four players named all-Southeastern Conference. 

As a student at Butler, Kessler was the starting setter for the school’s club volleyball program for four seasons. He spent three seasons as the starting setter at Louisville, Kentucky’s Trinity High School, where he led the team to three straight state titles. 

Kessler graduated from Butler in 2009 with a degree in Economics. He received a Master of Business Administration in 2012 from Bellarmine.