PITTSBURGH - Duquesne head volleyball coach Steve Opperman has announced the hiring of Jill Loiars as assistant coach.

"We are excited about the addition of Jill to our volleyball staff," said Opperman. "Jill Is very familiar with our program and the A-10 being a member of the Dayton team from 2012-2015. She knows what it takes to compete and play at a high-level and how to balance the rigors of academics. We look forward to her presence in the gym and her passion for the sport of Volleyball.

She comes to the Bluff after spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Villanova.

In her two seasons with the Wildcats, she helped the team to 36 wins and coached a pair of Big East All-Conference players. In 2017, Loiars coached the Big East leader in service aces, two of the league's top 10 players in kills and the just one of four players to average over 10.5 assists per set.

No stranger to the Atlantic 10 Conference, Loiars played collegiately at Dayton. She was a key contributor for a Flyers team which won Atlantic 10 titles and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2012, 2014 and 2015. She averaged 2.62 kills per set as a senior in 2015 while totaling 288 kills, 81 blocks and 55 digs. Loiars also ranked second on the Dayton team in kills as both a sophomore (258) and a junior (355). Dayton tallied a three-set sweep in the final of the Atlantic 10 Championship and Loiars contributed a team-best 10 kills to earn All-Tournament Team honors.

She was also named the winner of Dayton's R.U.D.Y.S. award as the most improved female athlete for the 2015-16 academic year. Loiars was a two-time selection to the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll and was a member of the university's leadership council as both a junior and a senior.

Loiars graduated from Dayton in 2016 with a degree in communications.

A native of Winter Springs, Fla., she played her scholastic volleyball at Oviedo High School and also played for the Orlando Volleyball Academy.