Since his arrival on North Broad Street in 2011, Bakeer Ganesharatnam has turned Temple volleyball into a high-level program at the top of the American Athletic Conference. Over Ganesharatnam's tenure, Temple has continually surpassed expectations and has now proven itself as a top team in a strong conference.

In 10 seasons, he's compiled an overall record of 166-120, including a conference mark of 93-74.

In addition to Ganesharatnam's work on the court, he's also actively involved in collegiate volleyball operations. He's represented Temple on the AVCA All-Region All-American Committee since 2018 and is entering his third year as a voter for the AVCA Division I Coaches Top-25 Poll.

Most recently, Ganesharatnam was named the AVCA North Region Coach of the Year in 2021, while also being named the Co-Coach of the Year in the American. He guided the Owls to an 11-6 overall record as the team advanced all the way to the AAC title game. Temple needed a late-season run to even make the AAC Tournament, after losing All-Conference player Peyton Boyd at the onset of the conference season. The Owls closed out the season with back-to-back wins over Cincinnati, an NCAA Sweet Sixteen team a year ago, and then topped the AAC West Division Champion, Houston, in the Tournament Semifinals.

The Owls finished the 2021 season with a sky-high RPI of 26, the highest in Ganesharatnam's career. In addition to his own honors, Temple freshman sensation Falanika Danielson was named an AVCA All-Region honorable mention selection and was also named the AAC Libero of the Year. Temple also had three All-Conference nods and a pair of All-Tournament selections.

Ganesharatnam led Temple back to the national postseason in 2017, captaining the Owls to historic performance. That 2017 squad was the first Temple team to qualify to a national postseason tournament in 15 years. The Owls finished 20-10, advancing to the second round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. Temple also finished second in The American, going 15-5 in conference play.

Individually, the Owls placed four on the All-Conference team, including Temple's first ever unanimous first-team American player, Izzy Rapacz. Senior Kyra Coundourides, junior Iva Deak, and redshirt freshman Dana Westfield also appeared on the American Athletic Conference teams. Temple racked up a program-record 11 American Weekly Honor Roll selections, while junior Mia Heirakuji was named Defensive Player of the Week, and Rapacz earned both Offensive and Defensive POTW nods during the season.

In 2016, Ganesharatnam led his team to their third-straight 20-win season, including the 100th win of his career. The 2016 Owls finished 22-8 overall with a 15-5 record in American Athletic Conference play. For the third-straight season, Ganesharatnam's team defeated every opponent in The American, at least once during the year, including road wins over SMU and Cincinnati. The Owls also captured the 2016 Philadelphia Big 5 title.

Individually, the 2016 Temple team had three All-Conference selections in senior Kirsten Overton and juniors Izzy Rapacz and Irem Asci. During the season, seven Owls combined to win 11 weekly awards from the conference, including American Offensive Player of the Week (Izzy Rapacz), and American Defensive Player of the Week (Mia Heirakuji).

Ganesharatnam's 2015 squad recorded a 24-8 overall record, including a 15-5 mark in the American Athletic Conference. The Owls finished alone in second in the conference, having defeated each conference opponent at least once during the season, while also recording seven-straight wins to close the season. The 2015 squad tied the 2014 team for wins, the program's best record since 2002.

Ganesharatnam's stellar 2015 campaign was built off of success the team had during a record-setting 2014 season. The Owls finished 24-8 overall, tying for second place in the American Athletic Conference, and compiling the program's best record in 12 years. The Owls had a number of big wins in 2014, including knocking off conference champion and NCAA team, UCF.

As far as individual accolades, Temple earned a conference and program record five All-Conference sections in 2014. Sydlik was named to the first team, while sophomore Tyler Davis, senior Jennifer Iacobini, Overton, and freshman Dara Peric earned second-team honors. Temple also boasted the American Athletic Conference Setter of the Year in Sydlik and the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in Peric. Sydlik later went on to earn the program's first All-Region mention since 2002.

In 2013, Temple finished at 18-12 overall to mark its second-straight season with a winning percentage of .600 or better. After being picked to finish seventh in the newly-created American Athletic Conference, the Owls bettered that by one and placed sixth with a record of 9-9. Ganesharatnam's senior right side hitter, Gabriella Matautia, was a standout all season long and earned American Athletic Conference First Team honors.

The Owls had a seven-match win streak early in the 2013 season, and later won five straight matches early in the conference season to establish themselves in the league. Temple won the George Mason Patriot Invitational in early September, and finished the non-conference season at 9-3.

Ganesharatnam’s 2012 squad finished at 19-11 overall and advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament after not earning a spot in the tournament since 2009. The improvement from an 8-20 season in 2011 to a 19-11 season in 2012 ranked as the seventh-best differential among all NCAA Division I volleyball teams. Perhaps most impressive was the similarity in personnel between the teams of 2011 and 2012, as five of seven starters returned.

Chelsea Tupuola was named the A-10 Libero of the Year, while Matautia earned A-10 First Team honors. The team was largely underestimated prior to the season, getting picked to finish 11th of 12 teams in the conference. The Owls proved that placement to be undeserved, as they went on to finish fifth in the league.

Among other highlights in a strong season, the Owls recorded 17.90 digs per set to rank 15th among all NCAA Division I teams, and Temple won its first-ever Big 5 Tournament in the event's four-year history, defeating Penn and La Salle and taking Villanova to five sets.

The success of 2012 followed a more moderate but important step in Ganesharatnam’s first season. The 2011 Owls finished at 8-20 overall, a marked improvement over the season before his arrival. The team served up 78 aces in A-10 matches to lead all teams, and then-sophomore Elyse Burkert led all players individually with 18 aces. As a team, Temple ranked third in the league for conference matches in digs with 15.76 digs per set. Then-freshman setter Tiffany Connatser was named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team after her debut season under Ganesharatnam.

Proving that he is as committed to his student-athletes' success in the classroom as he is to their success on the court, the team's grade-point-average has improved significantly since Ganesharatnam’s arrival. In the fall of 2010, the semester GPA for the team was 3.02. Ganesharatnam took over the reins in the spring of 2011, and by the end of his first fall semester, the team posted a GPA of 3.14. During the second season of competition under Ganes, the Owls posted a GPA of 3.32, and in the spring of 2013 it jumped all the way up to 3.45, showing more than a four-tenths' improvement in two years. In 2014, the Owls had the highest GPA of any American Athletic Conference squad.

Prior to his arrival at Temple in January, 2011, Ganesharatnam spent five years as an assistant coach at West Virginia University. He served for three seasons as a full-time assistant with the Mountaineers after two prior years as a graduate assistant coach. As an assistant, Ganesharatnam served as the recruiting coordinator and worked with the players on skill development, as well as dealt with scheduling responsibilities.

One year after Ganesharatnam’s transition to full-time assistant, the 2009 Mountaineers finished with their best overall record in five years, 17-13, and won six Big East games which ranked as the most since 1998. In 2010 the team finished 15-15 and took the title at its own WVU Classic early in the season with a perfect 4-0 record.

Before his stint at WVU, Ganesharatnam served as an assistant coach at Cedar Valley College in Grand Prairie, Texas, for one season. He helped the Suns reach their co-conference championship in the 2005-06 season. His duties included assisting the head coach with all aspects of the program, including recruiting, practice and competition preparation, summer camps and travel arrangements, as well as alumni outreach and fundraising.

In addition to his duties as an assistant coach at CVC, Ganesharatnam also served as the head coach of the 17’s ACE Elite Team at Arlington Courts in Dallas, Texas.

He completed his bachelor’s degree in political science with minors in economics and German from Queens College in 2005. He played four years of volleyball there while pursuing his degree. While having a standout career at Queens, he was also a four-year letterwinner and helped the Knights to two conference championships.

Ganesharatnam was born in Sri Lanka, but moved to Germany when he was five. He has been playing volleyball since he was nine. In Germany, he competed on a very successful club team from 1990 to 2000, VFL Sindelfingen, winning the regional championship and the state championship many times. Ganesharatnam and his team also made numerous appearances at the national championship.

Ganesharatnam received his master’s degree in athletic coaching education in 2007 from WVU.

Ganesharatnam, his wife Jennifer, and their two children, reside in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia.

NO	NAME	YR	POS	HT	HOMETOWN	HIGH SCHOOL	PREVIOUS SCHOOL
1	Irem Asci	Jr.	OH	5' 11''	Ankara, Turkey	Collage Ayseabla	UNC Charlotte
2	Janine Simmons	Jr.	MB	6' 1''	Centreville, Va.	Centreville
3	Mia Heirakuji	So.	DS/L	5' 5''	Kailua, Hawaii	Kamehameha
4	Iva Deak	So.	MB	6' 1''	Zagreb, Croatia	IV Gimnazija Zagre	Iowa Western
5	Dara Peric	Jr.	OH	6' 0''	Belgrade, Serbia	HS of Tourism
7	Kyra Coundourides	Jr.	S	5' 10''	Brunswick, Ohio	Walsh Jesuit	Virginia Tech
8	Carla Guennewig	So.	MB	6' 2''	Muenster, Germany	Pascal Gymnasium Muenster
10	Hannah Vandegrift	So.	S	6' 0''	Leesburg, Va.	Loudoun County
11	Kirsten Overton	Sr.	MB	6' 1''	Royersford, Pa.	Spring-Ford
12	Caroline Grattan	Sr.	OH/RS	6' 1''	Pittsburgh, Pa.	Mt. Lebanon
14	Dana Westfield	Fr.	OH	6' 1''	Champaign, Ill.	Champaign Central
15	Tyler Davis	Sr.	OH	6' 0''	Palm Desert, Calif.	Xavier College Prep
16	Izabella Rapacz	Jr.	OH/RS	6' 2''	Glenview, Ill.	Glenbrook South

Coaching Staff
Image	Name	Title	Email	Phone Number
	Bakeer Ganesharatnam	Head Coach	bganes@temple.edu	215-204-0476
	Akiko Hatakeyama	Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator	akiko.h@temple.edu	215-204-6289
	Ren Cefra	Assistant Coach	renwick.cefra@temple.edu	215-204-6289
	Yuko Sano	Volunteer Assistant Coach

Support Staff
Image	Name	Title	Email	Phone Number
	Helen Clay Gallagher	Associate Athletic Trainer (VB, WROW)	helen.gallagher@temple.edu	215-204-9323

Temple University Athletics

2016 Women's Volleyball Roster

Irem Asci

Janine Simmons

Mia Heirakuji

Iva Deak

Dara Peric

Kyra Coundourides

Carla Guennewig

Hannah Vandegrift

Kirsten Overton

Caroline Grattan

Dana Westfield

Tyler Davis

Izabella Rapacz

Bakeer Ganesharatnam

Akiko Hatakeyama

Ren Cefra

Yuko Sano

Helen Clay Gallagher