Ali Skayhan

Biography

Ali Skayhan enters her third season as the head volleyball coach at USC Upstate during the 2025 season after being introduced as the program's 11th head coach on Dec. 23, 2022. In just three seasons, Coach Ali Skayhan has elevated USC Upstate volleyball into one of the Big South's most consistently rising programs. Under her leadership, the Spartans have delivered back-to-back winning conference seasons, their highest-ever Big South finish, and the largest All-Conference haul in program history. Skayhan guided Upstate to major conference award winners in consecutive years — a first in the program's Division I era — highlighted by setter Kamyla Vega David earning Big South Freshman of the Year (2024) and Setter of the Year (2025). Her emphasis on a student-athlete experience aligns with a strong academic culture, as her teams have captured the AVCA Team Academic Award in all three seasons and maintained one of the league's highest GPAs. Prior to joining USC Upstate, Skayhan spent time as associate head coach at Wofford College and San Francisco. She was a standout setter at Florida Southern, earning AVCA All-American honors twice, and played professionally in Europe for three years, including helping Békéscsabai Röplabda SE to a Hungarian Extraliga Championship in 2015 and earning German Bundesliga 2 MVP honors with Schwarz-Weiß Erfurt in 2016. A native of Portland, Oregon, Skayhan graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Human Movement and Performance from Flor