Some sports teams have an unforgettable history when it comes to connecting a coach with an organization. It’s built on the culture, the way the team plays together under the coach’s leadership and, of course, the stories of their success.

For the past ten years of the St. George’s volleyball team, Coach Sami Hartsoe was that coach.

Coach Hartsoe began her coaching career with club volleyball while she was collegiate volleyball player at Christian Brothers University. When she wasn’t on the court for the Buccaneers, was working with players in skill development at the Memphis Volleyball Academy from 2011 to 2017.

“When you start coaching, you have more energy,” Coach Hartsoe said. “I was right out of college ultimately and it was like that was my life. Volleyball is my life. It’s part of my identity.”

During that time, the St. George’s volleyball program was already a strong program under Coach Emmy McClain.

Coach McClain led the Gryphons volleyball team as head coach from 2012 to 2016, and in her final year, Coach Hartsoe was welcomed to St. George’s as McClain’s assistant coach.

She took over the program the following year.

“Emmy [McClain] and I align on a lot of our coaching principles and ultimately the [reason] behind why we coach,” Coach Hartsoe said. “I knew that the program that she had already been building for so many years was incredible, so it was easy for me to say yes and continue my coaching here.”

In her first season as head coach, one of her main challenges was the shift from club to school volleyball.

“[I had] to learn that it’s not just about picking and choosing from different schools like you do with club [volleyball],” Coach Hartsoe said. “It’s taking what you have and making it great.”

She led her team to the state quarter-finals in 2017, marking a strong starting point for her young St. George’s coaching career.
In her early years leading the Gryphons volleyball team, she put the majority of her focus towards the stat books.

“The first year it was truly about ‘we need to win’ with the other stuff on the back burner,” Coach Hartsoe said.

Between 2010 and 2013, the volleyball team captured two state championships and a runner-up, and Coach Hartsoe wanted to put the Gryphons back on the rise to state.

As the first few years passed, she adapted her philosophy and created a schedule that focused on pushing her players, team bonding and skill development to maximize each season.

The breakthrough came in 2019, when the Gryphons won the state championship—Hartsoe’s first and the program’s first since 2013.
Fittingly, the team’s motto was “Rise.”

In 2021, her coaching story shifted again when her sister, Coach Natalee Gruse began sharing the court with her. The sisters had never coached together until Coach Gruse joined Coach Hartsoe as an assistant coach in 2021.

“Sami is a very technical coach in a great way, and she actually taught me quite a few things about just different skills in the volleyball world,” Coach Gruse said. “I also think Sam is someone who leads with grace, and she coaches with grace, and she wants the connections between the students and her as a coach.”

In 2023, the sisters led the Gryphons toward state.

This team was commanded by a strong group of senior players with an all-in approach that Coach Hartsoe remains proud of to this day.

Headlined by Ava Burns ‘24 and Reese Regner ‘24, both Daily Memphian All-Metro Team nominees, the Gryphons advanced through a strong postseason run that included a semifinal win over Middle Tennessee Christian High School.

Gryphnation traveled to Murfreesboro with fan buses and filled MTCHS Varsity Gym, bringing an energetic atmosphere into the state championship match. Despite the environment, St. George’s fell to Providence Christian Academy and finished as state runner-up.

After the season, Burns signed to continue her volleyball career at Hendrix University and Regner committed to Mississippi College.

Although this team was headed by the Class of 2024, the Class of 2026 had a significant role in the 2023 state run and those moments stand out as one of their favorite memories.

“Being able to go to state and compete together, because it was something we had talked about for so long … was so much fun,” senior captain Mary May Luton said. “The game that got us into the state championship was my favorite volleyball game I’ve ever played. It was five sets, [and] it was so intense. My favorite moment was once we won and [knew] we were making it to the state championship.”

Following the 2023 season, the team shifted with the Class of 2026 taking the lead as juniors, since they made up a significant portion of the starting roster and served as role models for their teammates.

“I think the cool thing about coaching [at] this level is each year you get a new group of kids and their goals change,” Coach Gruse said.

Part of what challenges coaches yearly is adjusting to the players when the roster changes. It’s on the coaches to tailor their coaching to the players on their team each year.

“The hard part of every year is the timeframe you have to learn the athletes you have, who they are, what their values are, and how to connect to each player,” Coach Hartsoe said.

Coach Hartsoe pushed herself and her committed players to answer one question each year:

“How do we continue to become a family while also developing our skills?”

It takes focus and energy from each of them to build that family environment, matched with hype and support from those off the court, to create that lively atmosphere that’s been displayed in every gym the Gryphons step into.

“If you could connect to each player on that deeper level, the team part becomes easier because they believe in the mission and they believe in you,” Coach Hartsoe said.

As represented in their 2023 team motto “All In,” Coach Hartsoe pushed her players to be all-in– not just on the court to win games and improve their skills, but being all-in to develop a strong team culture every day of the season.

“I respected that she cared a lot about community, and one of her biggest focuses was [that] we’re not going to be able to move forward in skills if we don’t focus on the culture,” senior Lila McClain said.

The impact that bringing the team together has can not be understated and McClain’s varsity teammate since 8th grade, Luton, felt that Coach Hartsoe’s leadership emphasized community.

“She just taught us the importance of a community and just being involved … [and] how it’s important to support teammates on and off the court,” Luton said.

Supporting each other through activities on and off the gym floor allows the volleyball team to create the liveliness seen in each competition.

“Finding ways to come together during the hard moments outside of the gym is how you get better and how you create that lively environment,” Coach Hartsoe said. “Once we create that unity outside of the gym, it’s easier in the gym to truly support your teammates.”

When looking in the rearview at her coaching career at St. George’s, one of Coach Hartsoe’s standout memories with her team was the winning conclusion to the 2019 season.

“Winning the state championship, you can never forget that,” Coach Hartsoe said. “That was a great team effort from the girls because they believed it from day one and that was fun to see.”

On top of the on-court success, all of the moments that the team shared, no matter how wacky, are clear favorite memories across the team.

Team bonding activities like goat yoga, skits amongst the players and team Just Dance sessions on their trips are only just a few ways that Coach Hartsoe loved bringing the team together to not only grow as teammates in the gym but teammates in life.

“We have families, and so there [are] four different families. Every player, JV and varsity, split into a family and we did competitions, lip sync battles [and] skits, … I think [it] really helped to build a culture that was inclusive and encouraging.”
Those inner-team families strengthened the connection between each player and built the team into one family.

“It has been my family… it is where I’ve learned, post-college, how to be part of a family that isn’t my own,” Coach Hartsoe said. “It has been a place where I’ve learned how to lose, I’ve learned how to win, I have learned how to become a better person, a better coach.”

Her role will be claimed by Coach Sean Burdette, marking the beginning of a new chapter for the NetGryphs.

When the 2026-2027 school year begins, many of her players will still refer to Mrs. Hartsoe as “Coach” when they see her on the Middle and Upper School Campus, as she continues her role as the Assistant Director of Admissions.

“I’ll always be ‘Coach Sami’,” Coach Hartsoe said. “But I’m going to miss seeing them, working through the hard times and the joys and just getting to be there for them as much as I can.”