| Mountain West Conference Championships |
| 2018, 2019 |
| NCVF National Championships |
| 2019, 2022 |
Over three decades devoted to Grand Canyon University, and Kristine Naber has made everything she’s been a part of better during that time as the longest-tenured coach on the entire campus. Naber may only be entering her 9th full year as the head coach of Grand Canyon University Club Women’s Volleyball, and her 8th full year as the head of volleyball operations for the club sports department, but her name has been synonymous with volleyball at one level or another on the GCU campus since 1987.
Since taking over the club women’s volleyball program in the spring of 2017, Naber took a squad organized by four student leaders and helped multiply their roster numbers to over 100. She also led them to unprecedented heights. In the spring of 2018, the Lopes swept all six of their playoff opponents en route to the Mountain West Conference Tournament Championship. The 2019 Lopes topped that by not only winning the MWVC Championship for a second straight season, but then headed to Colorado to capture the National Club Volleyball Federation National Championship in the Lopes’ first-ever journey there. Three years later, Naber showed how undaunted the program was from having to scale back during the COVID-19 pandemic by storming through the NCVF ranks en route to another national championship.
Before coming to the club side, Naber spent 21 years at the helm of the Lopes’ Women’s Volleyball program, navigating them from NCAA Division II to independent status back to Division II, and ultimately, leading them to their first three seasons on the NCAA Division I level as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Naber’s 329 career wins during her 21 years is still the most in the history of the program, and the 25-win season she led the ’99 Lopes to is still the high-water mark for wins for the squad.
As a player, Naber also made history, becoming the first Lopes’ Volleyball player to be named an NAIA All-American. The former Lopes’ setter is still #1 in the GCU record books for most games played in a single season, and among the top 10 Lopes’ players in career assists and digs.
Before starting her storied GCU coaching career, Naber also coached Agua Fria High School in Avondale to three state tournament berths during her four years as their varsity head coach.
Naber earned her degree in Physical Education for secondary teachers from GCU in 1991. The lights of her life are her three children: Nick, Shelby and Tatum.
