Jesse Zabal came to Loyola prior to the 2017 season. She coached her final season with the program in 2024, with a 155-118 record through eighth seasons.
Zabal's seventh season saw the program reach new heights, as the Wolf Pack put together a 26-7 overall record, the best winning percentage in a season in program history. While the Pack dropped its SSAC semifinal match, the team earned an at-large bid to make the field of the NAIA National Championship tournament for the first time since 2002. The team also featured three First-Team All-Conference winners for the fourth year in a row.
Loyola matched its 2021 win total in 2022, finishing the year at 23-12 and 14-4 in SSAC play. The 14 conference wins were the most for any Loyola volleyball team in its history. The Wolf Pack, which featured three First-Team All-Conference players, finished the season at the SSAC Championship semifinals.
In her fifth season with the Wolf Pack, the SSAC Coach of the Year Zabal led the team to a 23-10 overall record while capturing the 2021 SSAC Regular Season Championship, the first title for the program since joining the conference prior to the 2010 season. The team finished as runners-up in at the conference tournament.
In addition to winning Coach of the Year, Zabal's 2021 team also included the SSAC Player of the Year, Simone Tyson, and Co-Freshman of the Year, Simone Moreau. Tyson, Moreau, and Emily Sheperis all received First-Team All-Conference honors, the second-straight year the Wolf Pack claimed three players on the First Team.
Her fourth year saw the volleyball season stretched out between two semesters, though the Wolf Pack, with a 17-11 overall record, finished the 2020-21 campaign third in the regular season SSAC standings and runners-up at the conference tournament. Loyola landed three players on the SSAC's First-Team All-Conference for the first time since the team joined the conference: Brittany Cooper, Emily Sheperis, and SSAC Defensive Player of the Year Helene Masone.
In her third season as head coach of the Wolf Pack in 2019, Zabal guided the team to a 19-19 overall record. The Pack got off to a 4-1 start in SSAC play, eventually finishing 9-4 for the best conference record since 2011 while going undefeated against SSAC South Division opponents. For the second-straight season, Zabal landed two of her players on the All-Conference Teams, with Malea Howie earning First-Team and Champagne Cunningham earning Second-Team honors, with Brittany Cooper and Gracie Bailey being named to the SSAC All-Freshman Team.
In 2018, she led the Pack to 17 wins, advancing past pool play at the 2018 SSAC Championship following a 3-1 victory over William Carey. She coached two student-athletes to All-Conference selections as Tylar Beckham was named First-Team All-SSAC and Maddie Huekels was placed on the Second Team.
In 2017, Zabal helped guide Loyola to 18 wins in her first season, the most for the program since 2012. Seven members of Zabal's inaugural roster earned SSAC postseason honors, led by Tylar Beckham's selection to the All-SSAC First Team.
Zabal arrived in New Orleans after spending four years as a head coach in the Alliance Volleyball Club in Franklin, Tennessee. Zabal led Alliance to a 31-7 overall record over the past two years, including two tournament titles. Since 2012, Zabal had 67 student-athletes commit to play college volleyball and secured 22 more commitments through 2019.
Before taking the reins at Alliance, Zabal was an assistant coach at her alma mater Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee. In her three seasons at Maryville, she helped the Fighting Scots to two Great South Athletic Conference Titles (2009, 2011) and two appearances in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. Zabal's teams featured two GSAC Player of the Year recipients, 12 All-Conference selections, and an impressive 22 All-Academic Team members. Acting as both a second assistant and a top assistant throughout her time at Maryville, Zabal helped lead the Fighting Scots to a 76-26 overall record, highlighted by a 29-win season in 2009-10.
Maryville head coach Kandis Schram both worked with and coached Zabal at Maryville and credited Jesse as being an integral part of the Fighting Scots success over the years.
"Jesse is a remarkable young woman," Schram commented. "She was always a student of the game who strived to not only do her best but to elevate the play of those she played with. Regardless if it was running an offense, breaking down the defensive scheme or working on team building activities, Jesse was an integral part of our success."
As a player, Zabal was a standout for the Fighting Scots, helping lead the team to a 104-38 overall record throughout her four seasons. Maryville won four GSAC Tournament Championships during her tenure and qualified for the NCAA DIII National Tournament twice. Zabal was a two-time GSAC All-Academic Team selection at Maryville and she finished her career with 424 total kills in 326 sets played.
Zabal graduated from Maryville with a B.A. in Child Development and Learning in 2008 before receiving a master's degree in Human Development and Counseling from Vanderbilt University in May 2015.
