Kevin Ulmer, head coach of the Bemidji State University women’s volleyball team for the past nine seasons, has died after a lengthy battle with cancer, the school announced Wednesday morning. He was 41.
Bemidji State University women’s volleyball coach dies of cancer at age 41
“We are heartbroken to lose our colleague, our coach, and our friend Kevin Ulmer,” Bemidji State Director of Athletics Britt Lauritsen said in a statement.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 18, 2024 at 7:21PM
Ulmer died Tuesday afternoon surrounded by his family, the announcement read.
“We are heartbroken to lose our colleague, our coach, and our friend Kevin Ulmer,” Bemidji State Director of Athletics Britt Lauritsen said in a statement.
Friday’s match at University of Minnesota Crookston has been canceled, the school said.
Ulmer came to Bemidji State in 2016 after serving as the head volleyball coach at Bethel University in Indiana for four seasons and earlier as an assistant coach at Georgetown College in Kentucky.
He graduated from Northwestern College in Iowa in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health education and earned his master’s degree in biomechanics and exercise physiology at the University of Kentucky.
Since taking over the program in 2016, 30 of his players have earned Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference All-Academic Team honors.
He also coached two All-NSIC selections, Jessica Yost and Rylie Bjerklie, in one of the toughest volleyball conferences in NCAA Div. II.
Ulmer’s survivors include his wife, Kate Ulmer, and three daughters. Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.
The Elks relied on their power run game to drain the clock and keep the ball out of the Cardinals’ hands.
