| Pa’ulasi Matavao enters his fourth season as the head women’s
volleyball coach at MSU Billings, marking the longest tenure of any
coach in the program’s history. His 33 total career wins are just five
behind Tricia Nielsen’s school-best 38, and "Coach P" (as he’s known to
everyone in Billings) is confident that the squad he has assembled for
2003 will help him surpass Nielsen early this season.
Matavao, who was
raised in Tafuna, American Samoa, was a member of the 1999 Samoa
National Basketball Team that won Samoa’s first gold medal at the South
Pacific Games in Guam. That success followed a career at Brigham Young
University-Hawaii during wich Matavao was a two-time All-America
selection. While playing basketball for the Seasiders, Matavao also
spent three years working and studying under Wilfred Navalta, one of the
nation’s top volleyball coaches. After he received his bachelor’s degree
at BYU-Hawaii, Matavao was hired to be an assistant basketball coach for
the Seasiders.
Having spent two years playing semi-professional beach volleyball
after college, Matavao’s first love remained volleyball. A tall,
powerfull hitter, Matavao was invited to represent Samoa in the Summer
Olympic Games in Australia. He returned to the sport as a coach in 2000
when he was chosen to rebuild the Yellowjacket volleyball program. After
inheriting a team that had won only eight conference games in the
previous two seasons, Matavao led MSU Billings to a 5-9 PacWest mark and
a 9-20 overall record in his first season. In his second year at the
helm, Matavao led the Jackets to a 15-15 overall record. It was just the
second time in the program’s history that the Yellowjackets had finished
with at least a .500 record.
On March 24, 2003, Matavao and Wendi, his wife of 11 years, became
parents for the first time. They were blessed with a baby boy they named
Lototoa. Lototoa, or Toa for short, was born in Matavao’s native land of
American Samoa. The name Lototoa has deep meanings to Matavao and his
wife. Lototoa means "Brave Heart" or "Brave Soul." |
