Charlotte, NC – Owens head coach Sonny Lewis has been named the 2021-22 NJCAA Division III Volleyball Coach of the Year, presented by the Marines.

In his twentieth season at the helm of the Owens Volleyball program, Lewis led the Express to their third consecutive NJCAA Division III Championship, a 29-7 record, and Mid-Atlantic A District Championship.

Despite COVID-19 taking away the 2020 season a year ago, Owens earned the preseason No. 1 team and looked to go for a three-peat.

Owens entered the national tournament in Rochester, MN, as the No. 2 overall seed. In their quarterfinals, they defeated Finger Lakes (NY) in straight sets before facing off with No. 3 seed Minnesota State in the semifinals. After a 3-1 win over the Spartans, the stage was set for No. 1 Rock Valley to face off with the No. 2 Express. The two squads faced off early in the season on September 3, Rock Valley knocking off top-ranked Owens and keeping the No. 1 ranking for the remainder of the season. This set up a rematch between the nation's top two teams. In a five-set thriller, Owens came back from being down 2-1 to win the championship and reclaimed their spot on top of NJCAA Division III Volleyball. This championship was Lewis' third career NJCAA Volleyball title.

Lewis took home the Heidi Hutchinson Coach of the Tournament Award at the 2021-22 NJCAA DIII Volleyball Championship and had three student-athletes receive tournament honors: freshman outside hitter Maddie White took home Most Valuable Player; freshman outside hitter Sydnie Meinke, all-Tournament team; freshman setter Jessica Dohn, all-Tournament team.

White and freshman outside hitter McKenna Babcock took home first-team all-America honors. 

Coach Lewis is currently third among active coaches in wins across all three divisions, with 740 during his twenty seasons.