Ariel Apolinario was named Lamar University's head volleyball coach in January 2024. A coaching veteran with nearly 15 years of experience, Apolinario brings a wealth of knowledge from both the collegiate and club ranks.
One of the sport's rising coaching talents, Apolinario arrived in Beaumont after spending four seasons as head coach at Navarro College, where he transformed the Bulldogs into an NJCAA powerhouse.
In his second season at Lamar, Apolinario guided the Cardinals to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2008-09. LU finished fifth in the Southland Conference with a 17-15 overall record and secured consecutive Southland Conference Tournament appearances for the first time since 2010-11.
The Cardinals recorded a 10-match winning streak, tied for the fifth-longest in program history, and posted consecutive home winning seasons with records of .500 or better for the first time since 2018-19. Lamar's 17 victories were its most since 2008.
Under Apolinario's direction, Maja Malinowska earned first-team All-Southland Conference honors, while Taisha Rhone was named to the second team. Four Cardinals also earned Southland Conference Player of the Week honors: Malinowska (Offensive Player of the Week, twice), Alexa Gonzalez (Setter of the Week) and Gabby Baker (Defensive Player of the Week).
Malinowska led the Southland Conference in kills and points, while Baker paced the league in digs and ranked fourth nationally in NCAA Division I. Baker also tied Lamar's single-season digs record, which had stood since 2007.
Apolinario's first season in Beaumont was equally historic. He led the Cardinals to their first winning season since 2009, engineering a turnaround from a two-win campaign in 2023 to a 15-14 record in 2024. The improvement earned Lamar its first Southland Conference Tournament berth since 2011 and represented the third-largest single-season turnaround in the country. Malinowska earned second-team All-Southland Conference honors after finishing sixth in the league in kills and seventh in points.
Apolinario brought 14 years of collegiate coaching experience to Lamar, including stops in the Ohio Valley Conference, Mid-American Conference, Conference USA and Mountain West Conference.
At Navarro, he compiled a 99-31 (.762) record, guided the Bulldogs to two NJCAA National Championship Tournament appearances (the 2020 tournament was canceled because of COVID-19), a Final Four appearance and a Region XIV regular-season title.
A former Region XIV Coach of the Year, Apolinario coached 27 student-athletes who advanced to the next level, 21 all-conference selections, four All-Americans, a freshman of the year, a libero of the year, a newcomer of the year and a player of the year. He also coached three NJCAA or Region XIV all-tournament selections.
Navarro excelled in the classroom as well, producing 11 Academic All-Region honorees and earning three USMC/AVCA Team Academic Awards.
Before taking over at Navarro, Apolinario spent two seasons at UNLV as recruiting coordinator and defensive coordinator while working with the middle blockers and outside hitters. During his first season, the Rebels posted the nation's top turnaround with a 14-win improvement.
UNLV advanced to two NIVC tournaments, including a Final Four appearance, and Apolinario's 2020 recruiting class earned PrepVolleyball.com Honorable Mention recognition among the nation's top 100 classes.
Prior to UNLV, Apolinario spent two seasons at Rice, where he helped guide the Owls to an NIVC appearance, the program's first postseason berth since 2009. Rice's 2017 recruiting class was recognized by PrepVolleyball.com as the "Highest Honorable Mention" class among the nation's top 55.
During his tenure with the Owls, Apolinario helped coach 10 all-conference selections, four all-region performers, two AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans and a player selected to try out for the U.S. National Team.
Apolinario was recognized as an AVCA Thirty Under 30 Award recipient in 2017, honoring the sport's top up-and-coming coaches.
He began his collegiate coaching career in 2010 at Union University, where he served under Keely Toomey and helped the program capture a conference regular-season championship. After serving as recruiting coordinator at Union, Apolinario moved to the Division I ranks as an assistant coach at Austin Peay before spending two seasons at Ohio University.
While with the Bobcats, he helped build a top-25 program that posted a perfect 16-0 conference record and captured both the MAC regular-season and tournament championships before advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
Ohio's success included eight all-conference selections, four all-region honorees, two AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans, a conference player of the year, defensive player of the year and setter of the year.
Throughout his coaching career, Apolinario has helped develop 55 all-conference selections, 10 all-region performers, seven All-Americans, three conference freshmen of the year, three USA Volleyball National Team tryout selections, two conference players of the year and conference libero, setter and defensive player of the year award winners. Academically, his teams have produced 31 academic all-conference honorees, 11 academic all-region selections, 10 AVCA All-Academic teams and one Academic All-American.
In addition to his collegiate experience, Apolinario has spent more than a decade coaching at the club level with the Northeast Tennessee Volleyball Club, Memphis Juniors Volleyball Association, Willowbrook Volleyball Club and Drive Nation.
A standout player in his own right, Apolinario earned all-conference honors at Newman University, where he ranked second nationally in blocks per set, among the top 10 in hitting percentage and among the top 20 in kills per set. He later transferred to King University, where he was a two-time all-conference selection and finished his career as the school's all-time leader in kills per set (3.81), points per set (4.94), attack percentage (.401) and aces per set (.45).
