Portland State University Athletics

BIOGRAPHY
Aquiles Montoya enters his fifth year on the Park Blocks in 2024. The upcoming fall season will be Montoya's third as Associate Head Coach and Director of Recruiting after two years as an assistant coach.

Montoya has brought an influx of talent to the program in his role as Director of Recruiting. He's recruited three straight players who have earned the Big Sky's Top Newcomer award at the end of the season. Makayla Lewis started the streak in 2021, while Madison Friebel and Lauryn Anderson followed as Top Newcomer in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

From a team perspective, the Vikings made the national postseason in back-to-back years, qualifying for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) in 2021 and 2022. The Vikings won their first-round match in 2021, giving the Vikings their first win at a national postseason tournament in Division I program history.
 
FOSTERING SUCCESS
The Vikings have risen back to being one of the premiere programs in the Big Sky Conference during Montoya’s tenure. The Vikings made the Big Sky championship match in 2022, their first appearance since 2013. Additionally, the Vikings went 20-11 in 2021 for their first 20-win since 2017 and only second since 2013.
 
The Vikings have posted winning seasons, both overall and in conference play, in each of Montoya’s last three seasons on the Park Blocks. That included a 16-12 overall record and 9-7 in Big Sky play this past fall. The 2023 season featured three wins over Pac-12 programs, including the first season sweep of Oregon State since 1986. Additionally, the Vikings went 10-3 at home this past fall, the program’s best home record since they went 14-4 in 2013.
 
The Vikings opened the 2022 season 9-1 in Big Sky play, their best record to start a conference season since they went 14-1 at the start of the 2012 Big Sky schedule. The hot conference start followed a non-conference slate in which the Vikings beat Oregon State for the first time since 1990. The Vikings then advanced to the Big Sky championship match for the first time since 2013. They led regular-season champ Northern Colorado, 2-1, in the match, but ultimately fell in five sets.
 
The 2021 season marked a celebration for the Vikings as the program both came out of the COVID-altered 2020-21 season and returned as a Big Sky contender that fall. The good vibes led to a record-breaking season that featured the program’s first national postseason berth since 2010, the program’s first 20-win season since 2017, and its best Big Sky Conference record (12-4) since 2013.
 
The Vikings also recorded their first victory in a national postseason tournament in Division I program history, beating Pacific (Calif.), 3-2, in the first round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championships (NIVC).
 
DEVELOPING STARS
The Vikings’ return to Big Sky contention under Montoya has also led a number of Vikings to individual accolades. Montoya has recruited and led three straight Vikings to Big Sky Top Newcomer honors – Lewis in 2021, Friebel in 2022, Anderson in 2023 – but other Vikings have found success as well.
 
Sophia Meyers was a unanimous All-Big Sky first-team selection in 2023 after becoming the first Viking since Whitney Phillips in 2010 to average over 3.00 kills (3.52) and digs (3.01) per set. Meyers also led the Big Sky and ranked in the top 25 of the nation with 0.47 aces per set, an average that broke the single-season program record that Meyers’ former teammate, Ellie Snook, set at 0.42 per set in 2021.
 
Anderson, meanwhile, received All-Big Sky second-team honors after leading the Big Sky Conference with a .384 hitting percentage. That was another program record for the Vikings this past fall, as Anderson’s mark bettered the old record of .373 that Katy Wilson set in 2017.
 
Six other Vikings have earned All-Big Sky first-team honors during Montoya’s tenure. Lewis earned first-team honors in 2021 and 2022, while Parker Webb joined her on the first team both years. Snook made the first team in 2021, while Friebel earned the honor in 2022.
 
Snook also received three straight Big Sky Libero of the Year awards. Snook led the Big Sky in digs per set during all three years she earned the honor (2020-22), including her last season with the Viks when she became the program’s all-time digs leader and passed the 2,000-dig benchmark in her Portland State career. Snook became just the fourth in Big Sky Conference history to pass the 2k career mark.
 
Other individual records set during Montoya’s tenure include Webb becoming the Vikings’ all-time leader in points (1,794.0), matches played (147) and sets played (537).

As a recruiter, Montoya has been instrumental in bringing Lewis, Friebel, Meyers, Anderson, Delaney Nicoll, Ally Wada, Genevieve Florig, Sydney Rabe and Ashlyn Blotzer to the Vikings. Montoya has signed three complete freshmen classes, as well, including 2023 starting libero Paige Stepaniuk.
 
BACKGROUND AND PERSONAL
Montoya spent the previous three seasons before coming to Portland State as the lead assistant of the Pacific Boxers’ varsity team. He helped the Boxers set program records for wins in back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018. The Boxers went 17-7 overall and 10-6 in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference (NWC) in 2017, then topped that the following year while going 18-8 overall and 11-5 in NWC play.
 
The Boxers placed second in the NWC in 2017 and 2019, and never finished worse than third in any year Montoya was on staff.
 
Besides his role at Pacific, Montoya also served as the technical coordinator at the University of Portland in 2017. While there, Montoya learned under head coach Brent Crouch – the current head coach at Auburn – while overseeing the program’s pre- and post-practice video set up.
 
Montoya served as the head coach for the NCVA Boys Indoor High Performance team in 2017, and was the program’s lead assistant from 2014-16. In four years with the club, Montoya helped lead the team to a 25-7 overall record while numerous players went on to play collegiately.
 
Additionally, Montoya served as the 18s National head coach for the North Pacific Juniors Volleyball Club. He also served as the head assistant coach for the NCVA Girls Beach High Performance club team from 2015-16, and has experience working for the Oregon Juniors Volleyball Academy, Core Volleyball Club, Sand Legs Volleyball Club and Renegades Volleyball Club.
 
As a player, Montoya began his collegiate career at Santa Barbara City College, where he was a two-year starter (2011-12) at middle blocker and was voted MVP of the Western State Conference North Division as a sophomore. Montoya went on to be a two-year letterwinner at Grand Canyon University (2013-14).
 
Montoya also played for various adult teams after college, spending time with Stump Town Volleyball, the Orange County Volleyball Club and the Blizzard Volleyball Club.
 
Montoya and his wife, Alix, reside in Lake Oswego with their children Leighton and Aquiles IV.