Kirsta Cobb is in her 10th season as associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at Ohio Wesleyan University. She also is in her 12th season as the Battling Bishops' head volleyball coach.
The Bishops won the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament and made their first-ever NCAA Division III playoff appearance in 2024. Ohio Wesleyan tied for second place in the conference standings with a 5-2 record and finished 16-13 overall.
Ohio Wesleyan compiled a 20-8 overall record in 2023, finishing in second place in the NCAC standings with a 6-1 mark.
The Bishops posted an undefeated season during the 2020-21 campaign, winning all 7 matches. That string included a sweep of national power Wittenberg, not only breaking a 36-match losing streak to the Tigers but marking the first time that Ohio Wesleyan defeated Wittenberg more than once in a single season.
In 2019, the Bishops overcame a slow start and compiled a 6-2 record in NCAC play, winning the No. 3 seed in the NCAC tournament. Ohio Wesleyan finished with a record of 12-17.
In 2016, Ohio Wesleyan undertook perhaps its most challenging schedule ever, with the Bishops emerging with a 19-13 record and a third-place finish in the NCAC tournament.
During the 2015 season, Ohio Wesleyan was ranked in the top 25 of the AVCA Division III poll for the first time, peaking at No. 22; had its first AVCA all-region choice since 1996; received its first-ever AVCA All-America selection; and posted records of 7-1 in the NCAC and 26-6 overall, both marking the Bishops’ best since 1998.
In 2014, Cobb led the Bishops to a 17-12 overall record, including a mark of 5-3 in NCAC play. The league record, as well as Ohio Wesleyan’s fourth-place finish in the NCAC tournament, each represented the Bishops’ best showings since the 2006 season.
Cobb came to Ohio Wesleyan after serving 2 seasons as an assistant coach at Xavier University. She helped guide the Musketeers to a 21-11 record, including a 12-4 mark in Big East play, in 2013, and a 21-11 record, with an 11-3 record in Atlantic 10 competition, in 2012.
Prior to taking the Xavier position, Cobb was head coach at Indiana Institute of Technology for 5 seasons. In each of her last 4 seasons, the Warriors compiled 33 or more victories, won the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference championship, and advanced to the NAIA national tournament, finishing in the top 12 in the nation in 2009. Her Indiana Tech teams compiled a 5-year mark of 160-49, won 4 WHAC championships, 3 WHAC tournament titles, and made 4 NAIA tournament appearances. Cobb was named WHAC Coach of the Year 4 times and was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association in its annual Thirty Under 30 Award in 2011.
Cobb is a 2004 graduate of Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne, where she played on the volleyball team for 4 years. She served as team captain and was named IPFW’s Student-Athlete of the Year in 2004. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in visual communication and design. Cobb continued her playing career in 2004-05, playing professionally in Denmark before returning to IPFW, where she would earn her master’s in business administration in 2007.
