Tori Mellinger is entering her second season as an assistant coach for the Red Wolves. She helped the team to a 28-2 record, a perfect 16-0 mark in SBC play, a conference tournament championship, and its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1999 and fifth overall in program history.
Her main responsibilities include coaching the team's outside hitters and handling the day-to-day operations of the office and travel. Additionally, she assists in recruiting and scouting. A-State's outside hitters combined for 1,029 of the team's 1,483 kills and also hit a .259 clip.
Additionally, Mellinger helped Carlisa May earn Honorable Mention All-American honors from the AVCA and a bundle of other awards including SBC Freshman of the Year, First-Team All-SBC, AVCA Southwest Region Freshman of the Year, and Sun Belt Conference Tournament MVP. The assistant coach also oversaw the play of Darby Graff and coached her to Second-Team All-SBC honors and AVCA Southwest All-Region Honorable Mention accolades. Graff led the league with a .355 hitting percentage.
Mellinger became an assistant coach for Arkansas State after spending the 2014 season as a volunteer coach for the Texas A&M volleyball squad. She played collegiately for the Aggies from 2009-12 and graduated in May 2013 with a degree in Sports Management with a minor in communications and coaching.
After graduation, Mellinger played a professional season for SCU Emlichheim in Emlichheim, Germany before starting her coaching career. She most recently served under Laurie Corbelli’s staff that coached Texas A&M to a 21-9 overall record and 13-5 mark in the SEC along with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies lost to No. 22 Arizona State 3-1 in the first round.
As a player, Mellinger finished her career at Texas A&M with 1,480 digs, the second most in school history and most in the rally-scoring era. She led the team with 14 double-doubles and tallied double-digit kills in 17 matches in her senior season. She helped lead the team to a 25-6 record, including a 16-4 mark in SEC play, and appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. She made the Delaware Invitationall All-Tournament team and was named Texas A&M’s Most Inspirational Player.
Mellinger moved to outside hitter before her junior season and averaged 2.91 digs per set along with 1.83 kills per set as she helped the team to a 23-8 record and appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. She was the team’s libero her first two seasons on campus and set a school record with 329 digs in conference matches and had 467 digs for the season, fourth most in school history. Her career high in digs came against Missouri when she recorded 34, which was the most in the rally-scoring era for the Aggies. For her efforts she won Texas A&M’s Best Defensive Player award.
Mellinger appeared in every match as a true freshman and made an immediate impact on the team’s back row defense. She led the Aggies with 354 digs and surpassed the 20-dig mark twice. Texas A&M finished with a 20-11 record and made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament as she averaged 3.75 digs per set during the tournament run.
A 5’10 outside hitter/libero, Mellinger prepped at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, Texas and was a four-time all-district selection. She was named the 9-5A District Most Valuable Player after leading the league in kills and placing second in digs. She played club volleyball for Skyline Juniors.
She is the daughter of David and Jill Mellinger and has three siblings. She was a two-time Champs/Texas A&M scholar athlete and was the volleyball team’s representative on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
