WATERTOWN, Wis. -- Maranatha graduate Julie Allweil ('09) has been tabbed to lead the Maranatha Men's Volleyball Program as head coach for the 2026 Season. 

The Watertown, Wisconsin native assumes the position immediately and is already at work preparing for the 2026 season, which officially begins in January of 2026. Allweil becomes the fifth head coach for the program and will be the successor of Coach Shawn Spencer, who led the program for the previous three seasons.

Allweil played as an outside hitter for Maranatha's Women's Volleyball team in 2009, compiling almost 100 kills that season as Maranatha finished with an NCCAA record of 7-3. That NCCAA season ended with a disappointing 3-1 loss in the NCCAA Midwest Region Championship to Lincoln Christian, who would go on to represent the Midwest Region with a runner-up finish at NCCAA Nationals. Allweil currently fills an assistant coach role for Maranatha Women's Soccer but has been coaching volleyball as early as 2005. Her volleyball experiences include coaching at the club level and coaching overseas on mission trips with coaches Marsha Jackson (Germany, 2007) Regina DeLozier (Guam, 2009), Lindsay Lawson (Cayman Islands, 2025) and with various members of the women's volleyball squad for a summer ministry team in the States in 2012. 

Allweil pulls from her 20 years of coaching experience and can't wait to get things going ahead of the upcoming campaign.

"All of those coaching opportunities [listed above] stemmed from my time and connection with Maranatha," Allweil said. "I'm excited to be given the opportunity to give back and fill the role of head coach, and I am grateful for the excellent volleyball coaches that I can call on. 

"My hope for the season is that the team will experience success. Winning doesn't define success but I want them to find it in the smaller tasks that lead to a win. My expectation for the season is that we truly compete in every set of volleyball that we play. I know Sabercat Nation will continue to rally around and support us. Our first home event is the Alumni Scrimmage on January 24th... in which we plan to defeat the old folks."

"I'm super excited to have Julie stepping in as men's volleyball coach," said Maranatha's Director of Athletics, Paul Brown. "I have already seen her love and compassion and care for our student athletes. She brings a heart and passion to help our student athletes get better as well as getting them to compete and play hard. With Julie stepping in this will help give us a fresh new start and begin with some fundamentals of the game of volleyball. Starting at the foundation of the game and then helping us grow our program in a right direction. We would love to maintain men's volleyball as an NCAA varsity sport and this new hire will help us attain that goal."

For more on the Maranatha Men's Volleyball Team, go here.