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Lenoir-Rhyne University

Lenoir-Rhyne Athletics
625 7th Avenue NE Hickory, NC 28603
Division 2 North Carolina Southeast
Private Small Competitive team

Coaches

Email coach

Shena Hollar

Profile

Entering her 25th year as head coach

Owns 926 all-time wins and has a career winning percentage of .739 at Lenoir-Rhyne

Seven-time South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year

Won 12 regular season SAC Championships and eight SAC Tournament titles

Advanced to 15 NCAA Tournaments including a pair of trips to the NCAA Southeast Super Regionals (2010 and 2011)

Never had a winning percentage below .500 in her first 24 seasons


Record

Year: Overall, SAC, Postseason

at Lenoir-Rhyne

2023: 38-14, 16-8, NCAA Tournament

2022: 38-16, 18-6, NCAA Tournament

2021: 17-16, 13-11

2020: 20-4, 2-0, N/A

2019: 26-19, 9-10

2018: 45-10, 19-1, NCAA Tournament

2017: 46-13, 16-4, NCAA Tournament

2016: 48-13, 20-2, NCAA Tournament

2015: 32-19, 12-10

2014: 40-15, 16-6, NCAA Tournament

2013: 37-16, 11-7, NCAA Tournament

2012: 48-13, 14-4, NCAA Tournament

2011: 45-10, 16-2, NCAA Tournament Super Regional

2010: 53-9, 15-1, NCAA Tournament Super Regional

2009: 38-13, 11-5, NCAA Tournament

2008: 42-14, 12-2, NCAA Tournament

2007: 48-10, 10-4, NCAA Tournament

2006: 52-12-1, 12-2, NCAA Tournament

2005: 35-16-1, 8-6

2004: 38-16, 10-4

2003: 28-15, 9-3

2002: 41-10, 11-3, NCAA Tournament

2001: 32-21, 6-7

2000: 39-16, 13-3

TOTALS: 926-330-2, 283-103, 15 NCAA Tournament appearances


at Newberry

1999: 28-28, 12-2

1998: 17-33, 4-10

TOTALS: 45-61, 16-12


CAREER TOTALS: 971-391-2, 298-115, 15 NCAA Tournament appearances


Program Accolades

Reached nine straight NCAA Tournaments from 2006-2014

Set the program record with 22 straight winning seasons

Set the program mark with 53 wins in 2010

The 20 game winning streak in 2017 is the longest in program history

Bears have tossed 19 of their 21 all-time no-hitters under Hollar and all three of the program's perfect games

Have won 24 NCAA Tournament games under Hollar

Since the start of 2009, the Bears have been nationally ranked for 115 weeks including 30 consecutive weeks

Bears ranked as high as No. 5 nationally during the 2017 season


Awards and Honors

Eight players have gone on to be named All-Americans under Hollar's guidance including Sarah Atkins and Kat Rivers earning First Team All-American honors in 2010

Hollar has coached 144 players to All-Conference accolades and 78 to All-Region honors

In her 24 seasons, Hollar has had nine SAC Pitchers of the Year, seven SAC Tournament MVPs, four SAC Players of the Year and five SAC Freshmen of the Year

Hollar has also had four players selected as Academic All-Americans including Talon LaClair who became the program's first First Team Academic All-American in history in 2020

Sarah Kenley was selected as the D2CCA Regional Player of the Year in 2017

Hollar won her 800th game at LR on March 13, 2019


Previous Coaching Experience

Hollar spent two seasons at Newberry before her time at LR

Led Newberry to a share of SAC Regular Season title in 1999


Personal

Married to husband David and the couple reside in Taylorsville, N.C.

Earned undergraduate degree from Wingate in 1996 and master's degree from Morehead State University in 1997

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Email coach

Emily Kenley

Emily Kenley enters her third season as the Lenoir-Rhyne softball assistant coach after a standout four-year career in the circle for the bears.


As a student-athlete, Kenley was the 2018 South Atlantic Conference Pitcher of the Year and is a two-time all-conference selection. Kenley was also named to the D2CCA first team all-region squad in 2018. During that season, Kenley went 24-5 and posted a 1.81 era in 193.2 innings pitched. The southpaw struck out 125 batters and allowed opponents to hit just .245.


For her career, Kenley went 40-16 in 85 career appearances (74 starts) and threw 382.2 innings. she struck out 258 batters in her career and had 34 complete games and seven shuouts to go along with four career saves.


Kenley was a three-time SAC commissioner’s honor roll selection.

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