Sara Puppala
Head Coach, 17 Elite Cyclones
Sara grew up in the Los Angeles area and was introduced to volleyball at age 10. She was recruited to play at a number of universities, but decided to play at Emerson College in Boston, MA to pursue academics. Before graduating from Emerson in 2011, she was the starting Libero all four years, ranked in the NCAA’s top 30 during both her Freshman and Sophomore years, and won both tournament and all-conference awards throughout her tenure. She still hold the program’s records for career-high digs, career-high aces, and digs and aces per set.
She has been coaching since 2008 in Southern California and New England, teaching basic fundaments to 8-year-olds new to the game to college players hoping to finish their career at a lifetime high. Sara was an assistant coach at Emerson College for four seasons. During her tenure, she took over off-season trainings and practices where the team rebuilt fundamental and made conference history in 2019 by being the youngest team to compete in the championships, making their first NCAA bid since 2010.
In addition to coaching, Sara lives in Westfield with her husband, young daughter, and dog. During the day, she works as a book designer for Running Press and freelance graphic designer.
