Coaching Staff

Volleyball - Head Coach

Email: Jason Smith

Every once in a while, you have to go back to the basics. While that wasn’t exactly what Jason Smith had planned for his first year back at the helm of the Matador Volleyball program, that’s what led Smith and his young charges to a return to the Region I Finals for the first time in two years, and earned Smith the ACCAC Coach of the Year Award. Smith’s emphasis on fundamentally sound volleyball created confidence and chemistry, and gave the Mats success that few expected at the start of the season. It was just another example of the things Smith has learned over his vast coaching career. Smith is in his 2nd stint as the Lady Matadors’ head coach and 4th year overall. His first tour of AWC duty began in 2006, when he infused a strong burst of talent into an already-successful Matadors’ program and returned them to powerhouse status. His ‘06 Lady Mats’ squad won the school’s 7th straight Region I Volleyball title and earned a berth in the District A Finals against top-10 national power Salt Lake Community College. A year later, the 26-win Matadors won their first ACCAC Volleyball regular season title since 2004 and their 8th straight Region I Championship before again falling just short of an NJCAA Tournament berth in the District A Championship against the top team in the nation. On top of that, all three of Smith’s volleyball squads were named NJCAA All-Academic Teams, earning the honor by having a cumulative 3.0 grade point average or higher. In between the two stints in Yuma, Smith spent 2 seasons as the lead assistant for the volleyball team at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, helping lead the Lady Rebs to a 16-win season in 2008. Before arriving at AWC in ’06, Smith was University of Utah Volleyball’s recruiting coordinator and assistant volleyball coach for three years. The Lady Utes won a pair of Mountain West Conference titles during those three year-mainly because Smith’s recruiting classes were some of the best around. Smith came to Utah from NCAA Division II Ferris State, where as an assistant, he helped lead them to 2 20-win seasons and an NCAA Division II Tournament bid. Smith has also been an assistant at Iowa Western CC when they finished 10th in the NJCAA Tournament, and got his coaching start as an assistant and head coach at NAIA school Avila College. Smith’s playing days were spent in Iowa at Graceland University, where he was a 3-time all-region selection. Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in business and economics while at Graceland.

Leo Lozano

Volleyball - Assistant Coach

E-Mail:  Leo Lozano

It hasn’t taken very long for Leo Lozano to make his presence known around the Matador Athletics department-and not just with volleyball. Since being hired in early January of 2011, Lozano has jumped into his new positions with both feet, showing his excitement about the chance to be a full-time assistant volleyball coach for the first time under his former UNLV cohort, AWC Head Volleyball Coach Jason Smith, and his zeal about being charge of the strength and conditioning of his team and a few of the other teams on campus. He’s helped Jason Smith with recruiting and helping to run spring drills, and has also garnered a lot of positive feedback from the other coaches on the things Lozano has done to help the fitness of the squads. That shouldn’t be a total surprise to the athletic departments at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and California State University-Long Beach, since he learned the various methods of strength and conditioning while spending three years (in two different stints) at Long Beach State, and the last two years at UNLV as a strength and conditioning intern & coach. He assisted six different women’s sports teams at Long Beach State, and branched out to the men’s side when he got to UNLV, helping to implement strength & conditioning programs for track & field, women’s soccer, women’s basketball and men’s football; while completely designing and implementing the athletic performance program for the Lady Rebels’ Volleyball team-which drew the respect of then-current Lady Rebels’ assistant coach Jason Smith.
He also spent four years as a Sports Performance Coach at Champions Quest in Los Alamitos, California, and has also spent time as a personal trainer in northern California. He’s a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist with the National Strength & Conditioning Association, as well as a Level 1 Coach with USA Track & Field, a Sports Performance Coach with USA Weightlifting and a certified personal trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine. His playing days were also just as versatile, since Lozano was a star football player and wrestler at Pioneer High School in San Jose, California, played college football at San Jose City College and even pro football for the minor league Inglewood Blackhawks; and was even a member of the Long Beach State Crew Team.
Lozano is excited to have the chance to be a full-time assistant volleyball coach for the first time under his former UNLV cohort Smith, and also excited about being a part of the Matador Athletics family. 

 Jennifer Tagaban

Volleyball - Assistant Coach

E-Mail:  Jennifer Tagaban

Hard not to think of Jennifer Tagaban in relation to Matador Volleyball success. That’s because whether she’s been ready to serve or set on the court as a former player, or ready to give her input as a member of the staff, she’s been a part of a dozen Matador teams that have reached the Region I Championship Game-most of them advancing beyond that. After spending part of her childhood in her hometown of Pomona, California, Tagaban moved to Yuma during elementary school, and quickly took the Yuma-area volleyball scene by storm. She wore the black and gold of Cibola High School well, starting at setter for two years for the Lady Raiders and earning All-Southwest Region honors as a senior. Tagaban graduated in 2002, which is when she signed to play for then-Lady Matadors’ Head Volleyball Coach James Finley. She made the ascension from the Lady Matadors’ bench to Finley’s starting lineup to earning All-ACCAC Honorable Mention honors as a sophomore. Tagaban helped lead the Lady Mats to Region I titles, NJCAA Tournament berths and 7th-place finishes in the nation both years. Tagaban then took her focus away from the playing surface, and after earning her Associate’s degree from AWC, she traveled north and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff in 2006. She returned home to Yuma to find a new head coach at AWC, who gave her her first chance at coaching when she joined AWC Head Volleyball Coach Jason Smith on the bench in 2007. Besides her two years playing at AWC, Tagaban also knows the volleyball floor at ‘The House’ well from her three years of playing club volleyball for Club Salsa under Finley and former Lady Matadors’ Head Volleyball Coach Kerry Messersmith on the same court. In addition to her volleyball duties, Tagaban was recently promoted to Coordinator of Residential Life at AWC.

 Jennifer Lake

Volleyball - Assistant Coach

As Director of Volleyball Operations, Jennifer Lake will assist both the Head Coach and Assistant Coach, along with the team, in many day-to-day office and game day logistics. Her position will take on a range of responsibilities including office administration, promotion of the volleyball program through Facebook and by other means, marketing at the team’s home matches and camps, pre-game meals and coordination of post-game meals and coordination of team travel. Jennifer comes to the Volleyball Program with a wealth of great experience in administrative duties, managerial duties, technology and social networking. She spent over 15 years working for a construction company in Las Vegas, Nevada, starting out as a courier and receptionist, then working her way up to Accounts Receivable Manager, Credit and Collections Manager, and Contract Billings Manager. This career required very detailed oriented tasks, along with great organizational skills, while reporting to upper management, and also directing a small team to perform tasks for the business to grow and flourish. During the construction boom, she was able to be an integral part of doubling the company’s gross profits, while maintaining a very small past due collections. Jennifer also enjoys spending time on various social networking sites, handcrafting gemstone jewelry under the name Jenn’s Gems, creating various websites, keeping up with current news and pop culture, and taking care of her cat, Pebbles, and her fiancé, Jason Smith.