TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona beach volleyball head coach Steve Walker announced Tuesday the hiring of Kyra Iannone, an indoor and beach volleyball coach from British Columbia, Canada, as his assistant coach.
Iannone brings a wealth of beach volleyball experience, serving time coaching both the Team British Columbia and Team Canada Beach Volleyball. Kyra, who hails from White Rock, British Columbia, coached Wildcat Sara Pantovic prior to her arrival at Arizona

Before her position as assistant coach at UA, Iannone acted as a Special Education and Physical Education teacher in the Surrey School District and also served as the Head Coach of the Douglas College Women's Volleyball Team.
"I'm very excited to get started," said Ionne. "Beach volleyball is my wheelhouse, it's where I love to be. There are very few full-time coaching opportunities in Canada so I've had to balance my coaching with other professional responsibilities, so it will be exciting to have one job and focus on one job full time, instead of three, and see what I can do with it. I had never really considered moving to the states, but I'm very grateful for my players and some parents telling me to reach out to Steve about this opening, and I'm very grateful to Steve for the opportunity."

Iannone is a well experience coached as she has attended World Championships, Canada Summer Games, Western Canada Games, and BC Summer Games as a head coach. Just recently she was in Switzerland coaching UCLA's Nicole and Megan McNamara to a bronze medal at the FIVB world championships.

Coach Iannone's addition to the team should prove to be very beneficial for the program. "We are truly excited about bringing on someone with Krya's understanding of how the game of beach volleyball is played at the highest of levels," said Walker. "Ionne has a proven record in player development, something that she will bring to the Wildcats from day 1. Kyra has worked with and coached national team caliber athletes in the sand and will undoubtedly bring a wealth of experience and expertise with her that I am eager to add to our program," said Walker.

Joining the program in its second season as an NCAA sport – fifth season overall,  Ionnes' coaching accolades and ability to work well with players will bring even more value to the team.  "I am confident she has the ability to not only work well with our already established/elite players, but will also be able to develop our younger players who are very much in their formative years," said Walker.

She will get her first taste of action next week on Oct. 7, when the Wildcats head up north to take on GCU in an offseason scrimmage.

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