By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – For the second time in his career, Tennessee Tech assistant volleyball coach Zach Weinberg has earned the opportunity to represent the United States on the world stage, this time serving as the head coach of the USA women's volleyball open team at the 2022 Maccabiah Games in Israel.
"I'm honored, humbled and excited to be named the head coach of the USA women's open team for the Maccabiah games in Israel in July 2022," Weinberg expressed. "The ability to represent my country and my faith in Chile in 2015 and win a gold medal for Team USA was incredible, but the fact that these games are in Israel just adds a whole new level of meaning to the experience. I'm also thrilled to represent Tennessee Tech on a world stage and I'm looking forward to bringing a gold medal back to Cookeville."
Weinberg, who just completed his third year on the Golden Eagle staff, ran with the opportunity to serve as the Maccabi USA's women's youth and open women's beach volleyball teams from April 2015 to January 2016. After hand-selecting athletes from throughout the continental United States, Weinberg guided both teams to gold medals at the 2015 Pan American Maccabi Games (an Olympics equivalent) in Santiago, Chile.
Maccabi USA is a not-for-profit organization that fields athletic teams composed of Jewish athletes. The Maccabiah Games is one of the largest sporting events in the world, with more than 10,000 athletes competing across the globe. Nearly 80 countries worldwide are expected to compete in the 2022 games.
Recently, Weinberg was named as a 2021 Thirty Under 30 Award winner by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Prior to the arrival of Tech head coach Jeannette Waldo and her staff, including Weinberg, the purple and gold had just completed the 2017 season with a 2-14 mark in league play. Since then, Tech has run off improved showings of 5-11 in 2018 and back-to-back 9-7 marks in 2019 and 2020-21.