Tatyana Tuialii-Umi is entering her second season at the helm of Tarleton State Beach Volleyball in 2024-25.
Tarleton State announced on July 17, 2023, that Tuialii-Umi was picked to be the head coach of their new beach volleyball program, the 17th intercollegiate sport at Tarleton State University and the third added sport since moving to NCAA Division I in July 2020. Tarleton State Beach Volleyball competes as an affiliate member of Conference USA, with now one season completed.
The Texans went 2-13 in their inaugural campaign, earning their first victory against Nicholls State at the Cowgirl Beach Bash in Lake Charles, Louisiana, 4-1 on Feb. 24, 2024. In Tarleton State’s first beach volleyball conference tournament, the Texans won their inaugural postseason match, as the 8-seed Texans defeated 9-seed Jacksonville State 3-1 in the Conference USA Championship in Youngsville, Louisiana, on April 25, 2024.
Tuialii-Umi had several years of experience in Stephenville with the Tarleton volleyball program, including two years on the coaching staff. She also is a former All-Conference beach volleyball student-athlete herself.
"I love the fact that beach volleyball is gaining more exposure at the collegiate level, and it is exciting that Tarleton is officially a part of it next spring," Tuialii-Umi said at the time of her hiring. "I look forward to building and growing this program in every and any way that I can."
Tuialii-Umi has both coached (2020, 2022-24) and played at Tarleton (2018-19). Tuialii-Umi also played for beach volleyball legend Misty May-Treanor, a three-time Olympic gold medalist for the United States in the sport from 2004-12.
"Taty has a background in beach, paired with a nose for coaching that makes her the perfect choice to start the beach volleyball program," Texan Volleyball head coach Mary Schindler said at the time of Tuialii-Umi’s hiring. "She will be great at player development and teaching solid fundamentals of the game. I am excited to see her thrive as a coach, just as she did as a player."
As a player at Tarleton, Tuialii-Umi was a major part of the 2018 squad that won Tarleton's first NCAA South Central regional championship in school history. She landed 10+ kills in seven different matches including the Texans' final two postseason matches.
She had a career year in her final season with the Texans in 2019. She was named an AVCA Honorable Mention and D2CCA Second Team All-Region player, as well as All-Lone Star Conference First Team. She was a force at the net, landing 412 kills on .228 hitting and had 85 total blocks. She recorded 10-plus kills in 25 different matches, and 15-plus kills in 11 matches.
In her two-year career at Tarleton, Tuialii-Umi landed 637 kills on a .243 hit percentage. She led the Texans to back-to-back NCAA regional tournament appearances over their final two seasons in NCAA Division II, scoring 731 total points in her Tarleton career.
Prior to coming to Tarleton, the Bell, California, native, was a standout for Long Beach Community College and South Gate High School. At Long Beach CC, she was All-Conference First Team in both beach volleyball and indoor volleyball, plus she was the South Coast Conference Pairs champion for beach volleyball.
