Alex Luna

Head beach volleyball coach Moritz Moritz announced Aug. 24 that Alex Luna will join the coaching staff ahead of the start of the 2023-24 school year. Luna comes to Columbia after starting the beach volleyball program at Stephen F. Austin State University and serving as head coach for five seasons. He also actively coaches for the USA Beach National Team Development Program (NTDP) and at the pro level with AVP.

“We’re excited to bring Alex on board with our team, this is a uniquely special opportunity to bring someone with his level of experience and knowledge to our program,” Moritz said. “He is a great developer of talent and I have tremendous respect for his work getting the Stephen F. Austin program off the ground and the culture he built. I have no doubt he will be an asset to both our student-athletes and our coaching staff as we prepare for the season ahead.”

In Luna’s five seasons with SFA, he totaled 34 wins while also guiding the program through three conference affiliate transitions. Luna was twice recognized as a 30 Under 30 Award winner by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Along with the team’s success on the sand, the Ladyjacks also achieved the highest departmental GPA and earned national academic awards.

Prior to his time at SFA, Luna worked for three seasons as the assistant beach and indoor volleyball coach at San Jose State University. During his tenure, the Spartans captured the beach program’s first ranked victory in 2017 when they defeated 18th-ranked California, and found themselves receiving votes in the AVCA Top 20 Coaches Poll for the first time in program history. With the indoor team, Luna worked as an offensive coordinator and was responsible for training the team’s middle blockers and setters. His players included two-time All-Mountain West middle blocker Nandyala Gama and All-Mountain West setter Breann Robinson in 2017 and in 2018, middle blocker Thaliana Grajeda earned All-Mountain West Honorable Mention honors.

With the USA Beach NTDP, Luna most recently worked as an assistant coach with the U19 and U17 Boys program and previously was head coach for the U19 Women and assistant for the U17 Women. Along with coaching responsibilities, he currently serves as a Junior National Team Development Scout.

An active player, he regularly competes on all surfaces (beach, grass, indoor), and currently plays outdoor on the AVP Grass Tour and in AVP Beach qualifiers, as well as in the VLA, a professional indoor league where he plays libero and a setter.

Luna graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas where he earned degrees in Psychology and Marketing while competing as a two-sport athlete (volleyball, baseball), also serving as an undergraduate assistant coach for the women’s volleyball team.