Charlie Perez enters his second season with the Jaguar volleyball program in 2018.
In his first season with the program, South Alabama led the Sun Belt Conference in blocks per set (2.58), and ranked second in the league in opponent hitting percentage (.164). Perez helped guide the program to a school-best 12 SBC wins and a second-place finish in the SBC East Division. South Alabama’s 17 wins in 2017 were the most the most by a Jaguar team since the 1994 squad finished with 17 victories.
Middle blocker Kelley Hartman was named First-Team All-SBC and received American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Southeast honorable mention after leading the conference in blocks per set (1.29), and finishing second in hitting percentage (.321). Outside hitter Kristina Alabastro earned Second-Team All-SBC accolades in 2017 as well.
Perez came to USA after spending the 2016 season as a volunteer assistant coach at Florida State, where he helped the Seminoles upset Florida in the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Sweet 16 against Stanford.
Perez played five years for the FSU Men’s Club team and started as a middle blocker. He helped the team capture a third-place finish at the 2016 National Collegiate Volleyball Federation Nationals (NCVF) en route to first-team all-tournament honors. Perez served on the club team’s council all five years, in differing roles as president, vice-president and treasurer.
As a student at FSU, Perez also served as a manager of the Seminole women’s volleyball team for three years (2013-16). FSU went 107-25 during Perez’s four years with the program. He earned his bachelor’s degree in geography from FSU in August 2016.
