Shannon Wyckoff Hunt has played a pivotal role in the seven-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for Washington State volleyball since returning to her alma mater prior to the 2011 season. Hunt, a teammate of Jen Greeny (Stinson) during their playing days at Washington State, was both an opposite hitter and outside hitter as a Cougar and has been a part of 11 NCAA Tournament appearances with the Cougars – four as a player and seven as an assistant coach.
Hunt joined the Cougar volleyball program as a volunteer coach in August 2011 and was promoted to assistant coach in the spring of 2013. She has been instrumental in rebuilding the WSU program back into an NCAA Tournament team as it was when she was a student-athlete.
Washington State’s seven consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances are the most in program history and the most of any team sport in WSU history. The Cougars’ 14 Pac-12 wins in 2022 tied the existing program record for single-season conference wins while Washington State’s third-place finish was its best Pac-12 finish under the Greeny staff and the best since 2002.
The Cougars went five-consecutive seasons (2016-2020) finishing top three in the Pac-12 in opponent hitting percentage including the 2016 season in which they finished 26th in all of Division I after holding teams to just .168 (1575 k-826 e-4454 ta) for the season, the fourth-best mark in WSU volleyball history.
Libero Kate Sommer, the first WSU recruit by the Greeny staff, claimed the school digs record with 1,954 digs in her four-year career from 2012-15. Next-in-line after Sommer was Alexis Dirige who, under the guidance of coach Hunt, surpassed her predecessor as the program’s all-time leader with 2,152 career digs from 2016-19. Dirige owns three of the top four single-season dig totals including a WSU record 569 digs during her sophomore campaign of 2017. Hunt, the first member of the 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs club at WSU, has coached five of the top-10 all-time career digs leaders and 14 all-conference players since returning to Pullman as an assistant coach.
Hunt was an outstanding student and athlete at WSU from 1994 through 1997, helping the Cougars volleyball team to earn four consecutive NCAA Tournament bids with one sweet sixteen finish and the program’s first trip to the NCAA elite eight.
In addition to becoming the first Washington State player to reach 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career, her 3.24 digs/set over her four-year career still ranks as the fifth-best average for a single season in WSU history. On the court, Hunt graduated as the program’s all-time leader in career digs (1,254) in addition to being voted a CoSIDA Academic All-American honoree and a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection for her accomplishments in the classroom.
Hunt competed at Prairie High near Vancouver, Wash., where she was a three-time WIAA state volleyball player of the year-- twice in AA and once in AAA. The first four-time all-league selection in the history of the Greater St. Helens League, Hunt led the Falcons’ volleyball team to three fourth-place finishes in the state tournament. Her senior year, Prairie HS was recognized with AAA Washington State Academic title. On top of all of her high school accolades, Hunt also finished her pre-collegiate career as a five-year starter for the Nike Northwest Juniors Club team.
At Washington State, Hunt started on the left side as a freshman and missed only six matches in the starting lineup, due to injury, during her four-year career. As a sophomore Hunt’s 376 digs led team and 3.72 digs per set and set a school record with 32 digs in a match at South Florida. Hunt was recognized for her academic excellence with Pac-10 All-Academic second team and honorable mention selections as well as being named to the GTE/CoSIDA District VIII Academic All-America Teams three times.
After graduating from WSU in the spring of 1998 with a degree in education, Hunt taught at the elementary level in Vancouver, Wash., and coached volleyball at Heritage High and Hockinson High Schools.
Prior to returning to WSU Hunt taught and coached in the Vancouver, Wash., area for a dozen years. She was the head volleyball coach at Prairie High School in Brush Prairie, Wash., from 2000 through 2003 and earned one state championship tournament berth. She also saw three players advance from prep to collegiate volleyball careers and was later inducted into the Prairie High School Hall of Fame in January of 2015.
Hunt moved to the newly constructed Hockinson High School, also in Brush Prairie, Wash., where she was the head volleyball coach from 2004 through 2010. At Hockinson, Hunt led two Hawks’ volleyball teams to state championship tournaments and had five players play collegiately after their prep volleyball careers.
Shannon now lives in Pullman with her sons Grayson and Austin. Grayson Hunt, a freshman on the men’s basketball team at LC State in Lewiston, Idaho, started in 21 games in his first full season of college hoops.
