Steve Rindfleisch enters his third season with the University of North Dakota volleyball program in 2021 after beginning in his assistant coaching post in July of 2019.
Jeremiah Tiffin announced he San Diego, Calif., native as his first hire at UND on July 2, 2019 after spending the previous five years at Valley City State University, helping turn the Vikings' program into a conference tournament contender.
"When I began the search for an Assistant Coach, I wanted someone that had ties to the area and had experienced success at their previous stop, and Steve has both of those qualities," said Tiffin. "He's had previous success as a coach and as a Division I volleyball player, and he has a young family, so I know he'll be able to relate to our players and with members of our community on campus and Grand Forks."
In his first season at North Dakota, Rindfleisch oversaw the UND defense that averaged over 15 digs per set and almost 2.00 blocks per set with a 1.96 blocks per set clip. He spearheaded former outside hitter Darian Chwialkowski’s transition to libero halfway through the season, giving the sophomore an average of 5.16 digs per set in the final 12 matches of the season.
The transition for Chwialkowski was a flawless one as the West Fargo, N.D., product led The Summit League in digs per set during the COVID-delayed 2020 season, averaging 5.48 digs per set, the second-best single season average in program history.
Rindfleisch began his coaching career in 2014 as the Valley City State’s top assistant. Working alongside Head Coach Adam Longmore, Rindfleisch helped VCSU finish .500 or better in the last three seasons. The program had not previously finished with an even record since 2006.
Valley City also reached the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) Volleyball Tournament Semifinals in three of his five years with the program. In his final season, he was named the NSAA’s Assistant Coach of the Year, as well as the North Central Region’s Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).
The San Diego, Calif., native helped mentor Clarissa Olson, who finished her career as a two-time AVCA Honorable Mention All-American and three-time AVCA All-Region honoree. Along with six all-conference awards in the last five seasons, the Vikings also collected hardware academically as 15 student-athletes earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete Awards.
Rindfleisch played volleyball collegiately at Brigham Young University as a right side hitter and setter. He was a member of the Cougars 2013 squad that earned an NCAA Tournament bid, defeating Penn State in the semifinals before falling to UC Irvine in the national championship.
