Makenna Martin Promoted To Assistant Coach
TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona beach volleyball head coach Steve Walker has announced the promotion of volunteer assistant coach Makenna Martin to assistant coach. Martin completed her first season on the coaching staff in 2022 after competing on the beach volleyball team for three seasons.
"In a short amount of time, Makenna really showed that she is more than ready for this opportunity, and we could not be happier that she is expanding her role with us," Walker said. "She had a great mentor in Coach Friesen and I am confident she will utilize all of her unyielding work ethic and talent to help us reach our lofty goals as a program. Her experience not only as a high-level student-athlete will benefit all of our current and incoming players, but her understanding of what it means to be a part of the Bear Down culture will be invaluable for us."
Martin takes over for assistant coach Emily Friesen, who left the program to pursue other opportunities with her family after five seasons on staff with the Wildcats. Martin spent the 2022 season as a volunteer assistant coach for the Wildcats, helping the team finish 18th in the final AVCA poll and a 19-12 record. Prior to that, she was a member of the Arizona indoor volleyball and beach volleyball programs as a student-athlete, playing four seasons with the indoor program and three seasons with the beach volleyball program.
"First, I have to thank Coach Walker and Emily Friesen for this amazing opportunity to continue to represent my alma mater, the University of Arizona," Martin said. "I am grateful and excited to get back in the sand as a coach and continue working with the special student-athletes that make up this amazing program."
She was a member of the beach volleyball program in 2018, 2020 and 2021 while playing indoor volleyball during the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons. She was a two-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll recipient and led the indoor team in digs as a sophomore and junior and ranked 10th in the Pac-12 in digs per set as a junior.
A native of Gilbert, Arizona, she helped Gilbert High School to a 45-2 record and third place finish in the state indoor tournament while earning all-state honors individually as a junior and senior.
Martin comes from an athletic family background, with three members playing Division I volleyball – her mother played at Texas Tech, her brother played at Long Beach State and her aunt played at UTEP. Her grandfather, Charley Beall, played football at Arizona State while her uncle, Jim Beall, played at Southeastern Oklahoma and another uncle, Charles Beall, played at Oklahoma State.