SARATOGA -- West Valley volleyball has announced a new head coach ahead of the 2026-27 campaign, as a familiar face in the 3C2A adds a stop at West Valley to an already-impressive resume. Kevin Kramer, a longtime dean, athletic director and coach in the state of California, joins West Valley to run both the indoor and beach volleyball programs.

"We are beyond thrilled to name Kevin Kramer as the next coach of Viking volley," said Associate Vice Chancellor of Intercollegiate Athletics John Vlahos. "Time and time again, Kevin has proven himself to be one of the top coaches in the country, and his Gavilan teams were the standard which we sought to surpass."

Kramer served as the Dean and Athletic Director at American River College in Sacramento during the 2025-26 school year, and also had the position at Las Positas College in Livermore and Chabot College in Hayward. Kramer also works as the boys' program director at NorCal Volleyball, one of the premier prep volleyball organizations in the state. 

"I think I identify with the California Community College athlete," said Kramer. "Everybody's here for a reason, right? Whether it's financially, academically, athletically or maybe they just weren't ready to move away from home, whatever it might be, but it was my experience. I didn't really know what to do or where to go, so I ended up in that world. But I've also found that it's a place where there's the most growth that happens with these athletes. A chance to fulfill their dreams and meet the expectation they have always had for themselves, that maybe they just haven't had the chance to do yet. It's a second chance in a lot of ways, and I find inspiration in working with people who are driven to reach their levels of success."

All of this comes after a stellar tenure at Gavilan College, where Kramer filled the same role as the leader of both the indoor and beach programs. Over a 12-year span, Kramer guided the Rams to six Coast Conference Championships, 10-straight postseason appearances and two trips to the state tournament.

Under Kramer, the Rams' brightest season came in 2018, when after an 18-win season, the Rams went 30-2, including going undefeated in conference play. The Rams lost just one match in the regular season and only 11 total sets in 28 regular season matches. After the season, Kramer was named the Northern California Community College Volleyball Coach of the Year and the 2017 AVCA Two-Year College Southwest Coach of the Year.

Still, he says he jumped at the opportunity when it came to fruition at West Valley.

"It's a really cool experience," said Kramer, "when you have a bunch of young people that are driven to do something, and to be able to help them reach goals that maybe they think are just out of reach. For us, hearing and meeting coaches at West Valley, hearing the story a little bit about what's happening down there, it seems like a place where there's a lot of really, really good things happening, a lot of support, so I'm just excited to be part of that community to help add to that culture."

But his legacy in the 3C2A goes beyond just that. Kramer, who served as president of the 3C2A Volleyball Coaches' Association, helped bring beach volleyball to the state of California as a sanctioned sport. Continuing that magical 2018 indoor campaign, Kramer's beach side reached the Final Four.

"When I was at Gavilan," said Kramer, "there was some talk about beach [volleyball] becoming a thing. We started a club team at Gavilan, West Valley had a small group of girls that were playing at that point. Cabrillo was playing. So we did a little bit of club stuff, but then there became this push. And so with the help of my Dean at the time, [Vlahos] at West Valley... we wrote the legislation, got everything up and running, and pushed this thing to become a sport, because we knew the NCAA was going to go, and we felt that it was a great opportunity for us to maybe even beat them to the punch and start competing before them. We just knew it was going to provide opportunities for young women in our association that can move them forward, to give them scholarship opportunities, allow them to play at the four-year level. And it was just an awesome experience to get them out there, to get them this opportunity, to see these high school programs now all over the state popping up. It's been really, really cool to see the growth of the sport."

Kramer's hiring follows the tenures of Sam Crosson, who coached three full seasons on the hardwood and two on the sand, and Mapuhola Sekona, who served as the interim coach during the 2026 beach season.

"In a highly-competitive pool of candidates," said Vlahos, "Kevin stood out above all others. His success as a coach and an administrator provide a unique perspective that will bring tremendous value to our athletic department. He is the right fit at the right time to carry on the long tradition of West Valley College volleyball. I am excited to see the heights in which he will take us.""

"The South Bay volleyball community is super strong," said Kramer. "You see a lot of great players come out of the South Bay. There's no doubt that everybody knows that West Valley is a hotbed for volleyball. 
You go to the beach courts, there's people at those beach courts all the time. There's tournaments there. And people know West Valley because of volleyball. 
So I think what I'm excited to do is to raise the stakes a little bit and build on what the coaches before me have done. To use their success, and vault us forward. I think it should be one of the premier volleyball programs in the state, year and year out, and I know the community wants that. I know the players want that, and I sure as heck do, too."