Wittenberg Men’s Volleyball welcomed new leadership midway through the 2025 season as Jamie Peterson took the reins as interim head coach, becoming the first female head coach in the 10-year history of the program and one of a select few women in collegiate men’s volleyball head coaching positions nationally.

Vice President and Director of Athletics and Recreation Brian Agler named Peterson to the position after Nathan Matthews ‘19, who had served as the program’s head coach since 2021, resigned to take an assistant position with the University of Alabama’s women’s volleyball program. Peterson returned to Wittenberg after spending the 2022 and 2023 seasons on the sidelines at Pam Evans Smith Arena as an assistant coach with the Tigers’ women’s volleyball program.

Peterson was a three-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, Midwest Region Player of the Year, and NCAA Division 1 All-American as a student-athlete at the University of Dayton from 2016 and 2021. She went on to play professional women’s volleyball for Athletes Unlimited in 2022 and 2023 while also helping Wittenberg Women’s Volleyball to back-to-back North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament titles.

In her first season as an assistant for Wittenberg Women's Volleyball, the Tigers were ranked nationally throughout the season en route to winning the NCAC regular season and tournament championships. Wittenberg finished with an overall record of 23-5 after bowing out of the NCAA Division III Tournament with a first-round loss to eventual national runner-up Hope. The following year, Wittenberg overcame a slow start to pick up the 2023 NCAC Tournament title in dramatic fashion. The Tigers scored the final six points of the match against top-seed and host DePauw to pull the upset and advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament, where the Tigers lost to Trinity, 3-1.

A native of West Liberty, Ohio, Peterson earned bachelor’s degrees in sport management and business administration from the University of Dayton. She resides in Springfield with her husband, Zach Sprinkle, a firefighter and emergency medical technician for the City of Springfield, and their six-year-old son, Carter.