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Boren will enter his seventh season as the head coach of the Gallaudet University volleyball program in 2011. In six seasons, Boren has accumulated a 145-80 career record with the Bison and led them to three NCAA tournament appearances.
Last season, Boren guided the Bison to its first-ever North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) championship in the first year in the conference. Gallaudet earned an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament where they went up against No. 5 ranked Christopher Newport University in the first round and lost 3-0. Four players earned all-conference honors including Paige Johnson, Jessica Israel, Ann Whited and Mari Klassen. Johnson was named the 2010 NEAC South Division Player of the Year and took home conference tournament MVP honors.
Boren led teams have earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award for five years straight.
In 2009, Boren coached the Bison to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) South Region championship as the Buff and Blue posted a 27-14 record and finished as runners-up in the Capital Athletic Conference championship. Three senior players in Shana Lehmann, Justine Jeter and Amanda Krieger earned all-conference honors for the Bison to increase the total to 14 in Boren's tenure. He has also coached two CAC Players of the Year in Charity Sanders (2005) and Tamijo Foronda (2006).
Boren led Gallaudet to back-to-back CAC championships and NCAA tournament appearances during his first two seasons in 2005 and '06. The conference championships were later vacated. The 2006 team advanced to the Sweet 16 round as the Bison won their first two NCAA tournament games and finished with a 30-10 record.
Prior to coaching the GU volleyball program, Boren spent 12 years coaching at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, including nine years as head coach where he won 217 games and four national championships. Boren graduated from Gallaudet with a bachelor's degree in 1996 and received his master's degree from McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) in 1999.
In the past year Boren has received two distinctive awards from two of his Alma Maters. He was selected to be inducted into the Texas School for the Deaf Alumni Association Hall of Fame and receive the 2010 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award presented by the Gallaudet University Alumni Association.
Boren was selected to the Texas School for the Deaf Alumni Association's Hall of Fame for its sports category. He played four sports the Texas School for the Deaf including football, baseball, basketball and tennis and was on three national championship teams between 1988 and 1989. Boren was the 1989 Class Salutatorian before he attended Gallaudet University as a student.
The Outstanding Young Alumnus Award is presented to a Gallaudet alumnus who has graduated from or left the University within the past 15 years. It is awarded by a vote of the GUAA Board to an individual who has performed an impressive service to the University and/or the Deaf Community, or for bringing favorable recognition to the University through some notable achievement.
Boren also has a strong international coaching and playing experience as he recently led the United States of America Deaf Volleyball team to the silver medal in the 2009 Deaflympics held in Taipei. He is also a competitive handball player as he participated in three Deaflympics as a player in 1993, '97 and 2001 as he won a bronze medal with the last two teams. In 2005, he coached the USA Deaf Handball team to a silver medal in Australia. In 2008, Boren led the 2008 US National Team to a bronze medal in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the Deaf World Volleyball Championships. He was also the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Elite Deaf Girls' Volleyball Summer Camp, a prestigious volleyball development program that is currently entering its 11th year.
Boren expects his players to do as well off the court as they do on the court. "Student-athletes should live their dreams everyday. To accomplish this, I encourage student-athletes to develop a strong sense of confidence and to believe in themselves. This establishes the foundation which empowers them to develop a goal attainment plan and achieve their dreams."
Boren and his wife Touria Ouahid Boren, a GU Athletics Hall of Fame member, have two sons, Keanu and Denali, and reside in University Park, Md.
Lehmann returns for his second season as an assistant coach with the Gallaudet University volleyball team. Last year, the Bison won the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) in their first year in the conference and made an appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Prior to joining the Gallaudet staff Lehmann spent over 15 years coaching volleyball at the Maryland School for the Deaf. He helped MSD win 10 consecutive ESDAA volleyball championships and winning seasons. He was the head coach of the girls’ junior varsity team from 2006-08. Lehmann along with head coach Lorraine Stoltz helped to create the volleyball program at MSD back in 1990. Lehmann coached from 1990-94 and then 1999-2009 at MSD.
As a student-athlete at Gallaudet, Lehmann played three years as an outside and middle hitter for the Bison men’s volleyball team. GU won three consecutive Potomac Intercollegiate Conference championships from 1974-76 and finished fourth in the NAIA championship in ’74 and won the 1976 East Regional championship.
He was named to the 1977 U.S. Deaf Men’s Volleyball team and traveled to Romania to participate in the World Games for the Deaf, now known as the Deaflympics. He was selected to the U.S. team in 1981 (West Germany) and 1985 (Los Angeles, Calif.). He has been a member of the U.S. Volleyball Association from 1976-2000. He served as an assistant coach on the 1997 U.S. Deaf Men’s Volleyball team and most recently served as an assistant coach for the 2009 U.S. Deaf Women’s Volleyball team that earned a silver medal at the 2009 Deaflympics in Taipei.
The Iowa native attended the Iowa School for the Deaf where he graduated in 1971. While at ISD he played football, basketball and track. He then attended Gallaudet where he played two years on the men’s basketball team and then switched to men’s volleyball.
Lehmann and his wife Adora have one daughter (Shana) and one son (Scott), both former Gallaudet student-athletes, and reside in Frederick, Md. Lehmann has worked for the United States Postal Service for 27 years.
Lujan, a native of New Mexico, visits Galladuet’s campus for the first time. She got her start in the deaf community through a volleyball coaching position at the New Mexico School for the Deaf in 2005. Most recently she served as the head coach of their Middle School and junior varsity teams. She also served as assistant coach for the varsity program under the direction of Athletic Director and varsity Head Coach Stacy Nowak. Lujan specializes in the setter, defensive specialist and the libero positions. She is now entering her 7th season of coaching volleyball and looks forward to gaining experience at the University level and working with and learning from the prestigious Gallaudet coaching staff. Currently, Lujan works as a Sign Language Interpreter and during her free time loves to hike, camp, and spend time with her family.
Racila begins her first season as an assistant coach with the Gallaudet University volleyball program following an accomplished playing career at the College of Charleston and Florida Gulf Coast University. She is eager to contribute to the Bison's success and share her volleyball knowledge with the defending NEAC champions.
Racila is a current member of the US National Deaf Women’s Volleyball team.
At Florida Gulf Coast University, Racila was a two-year member of the Eagles’ program where she recorded 2.51 kills/set as an outside hitter/opposite and led her team to a regular-season championship in 2009. She also earned Atlantic Sun Academic Honors as well as the Hillmyer-Tremont Foundation Athletic Academic Honors. She graduated with her master’s in public administration in 2011.
Racila began her collegiate career at the College of Charleston as an outside hitter, earning two back-to-back conference championships as well two back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. After three years, she graduated with her bachelor’s in political science in 2009.
She currently resides in Washington, D.C., where she is working for Rare, an international environmental non-profit, in Arlington, Va., on a program management fellowship.
