After six years as head coach, Leigh Ann Swartz has shaped the Mount Union volleyball team into one of the top programs in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Her 145-49 record ranks her among the nation’s top 25 active Division III coaches in career winning percentage.

Under Swartz, the Purple Raiders have reached at least the semifinals of the OAC Tournament in each of her six years as coach. Last season, the Raiders captured its first ever OAC title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time since Swartz took over the program in 2006.

Swartz was named OAC Coach-of-the-Year in 2006 and led the Raiders to a school-record 30 wins in 2007. She has coached four All-Americans, six First Team All-OAC selections, and four Academic All-District selections while at Mount Union.

Swartz came to Mount Union from Miami (Ohio) University, where she spent two seasons as an assistant coach. Before that, she was an assistant recruiting coordinator and student coach at DePauw (Ind.) University. She also served as a women's basketball coaching intern at Denison University.

A 2004 graduate of DePauw with undergraduate degrees in communications and kinesiology, Swartz also earned her master’s in sports studies from Miami (OH) in 2005. She was a three-year volleyball letterwinner at DePauw and a varsity letterwinner in volleyball and basketball at Saint Mary’s (Ind.) College.

Swartz, a native of Newark, Ohio, and graduate of Newark Catholic High School, and her husband Aaron Swartz are recently married.

Melissa Mahnke is in her second year as an assistant volleyball coach at Mount Union. 

Mahnke is familiar with the Purple Raiders as she recently completed a playing career as the only two-time All-American in school history.  She finished as the school's all-time kills leader with 1,604 and this past season led Mount Union to its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth and NCAA Tournament victory.  In 2008, she helped lead a Mount Union squad that posted a school-record 30 victories and the team made the semifinals of the OAC Tournament in each of her four seasons with the team.

A three-year captain, Mahnke was First-Team All-OAC in 2008 and 2009 and Second-Team in 2007. She was honored as a member of the All-Great Lakes Region Team in '09 and received an honorable mention in 2008. On September 2, 2008, she was recognized as the National Player of the Week by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

The North Royalton, Ohio, native was a 2009 Academic All-OAC selection, who graduated from Mount Union in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in middle childhood education.