Kristen Dean is in her 5th year of coaching and in her fourth season with the Wave VBC, having assisted a recent 11th place finish in 17 Open at the 2011 Junior Olympics. She has excelled as a player at both the club and Division I volleyball levels. She played club volleyball for Delta Valley, earning 3 Junior Olympic medals and winning the Volleyball Festival at the 18s level while on a 17s team. Kristen then attended the University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA) where she played libero and defensive specialist for the Tigers (2002-2004). She received All-Big West Academic Team honors and earned Pacific’s Best Passer award. After graduating in 2005 summa cum laude, Kristen then earned her Master’s degree in Speech & Hearing Science from the University of Arizona in 2008, earning the Outstanding Graduate Student award.

She is presently practicing as a speech-language pathologist at Scripps Encinitas. When not coaching, Kristen loves going to the beach with her husband, Brennan, and running after their puppy, Wallie.