Former national champion Jenny Griffith has served as the CUI head coach of the beach volleyball program since 2020. The program has enjoyed its most successful seasons under her leadership and she recently secured career win No. 100 at Concordia during the team's National Runner-Up finish in the 2025 AVCA Small College Championships.
Griffith and the Golden Eagles set a school record by winning 26 games during the 2025 campaign and her teams have averaged 23 victories over the course of the last four seasons. She enters 2026 with an overall record of 102-55 in six seasons and her teams have a combined 66 percent winning percentage during that span.
CUI racked up 24 victories in 2024 and went a perfect 10-0 at home that year. That storybook campaign concluded with a memorable trip to the AVCA Small College Championships in Florida, where the Golden Eagles finished National Runner-up. The previous two years, CUI finished in third place (2023) and fourth place (2022) among the best schools in the country at that same tournament.
CUI beach volleyball players are known for shining in the classroom and making a difference in the campus commuity. Senior Veronica Wood was honored as a recipient of the Eagle Award at the 2022 CUI Senior Legacy Banquet. Olivia Highstreet also served multiple years as a student leader for the team and overall SAAC President (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) at the school.
In her first year leading the program, Griffith guided the Green and Gold to an impressive 10-1 record before the COVID-19 pandemic halted all collegiate athletics. While helping CUI navigate the pandemic during the unorthodox 2020-21 school year, she was able to arrange matches against multiple NCAA Division I programs including nationally-ranked teams such Cal, Pepperdine and LMU.
Griffith was born and raised in Southern California where she attended Newport Harbor High School, where she became the High School National Player of the Year and received a full scholarship to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). During her four years at UCLA, the Lady Bruins lost only four matches in four seasons, made two Final Four appearances, and won two National Championships.
After graduating from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in history, Jenny went on to become a USA National Team member for the USA Olympic team. After her indoor career, Jenny played Professional Beach Volleyball on the WPVA tour and received “Rookie of the Year” honors in 1995.
Jenny has 30 years of coaching experience at the club, high school, and collegiate levels, most recently coaching at Concordia University, Pacifica Christian High School, Vanguard University and Estancia High School. Jenny is married to Brian Griffith, her husband of 25 years, and has three beautiful children; Abigail, Joshua, and Emma, their angel in heaven.
