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Wayne State University Athletics

Hailey Rucinski

Hailey Rucinski

UPDATED April 14, 2026

The 2025 campaign was Hailey (Richardson) Rucinski's seventh season as part of the Wayne State University volleyball program and fourth full-time season.  She was promoted to Associate Head Coach in February of 2025 after serving six years on the volleyball coaching staff, including the last three as a full-time assistant.  Rucinski had served as the ticket and merchandise supervisor for three months starting in April of 2022 until obtaining her full-time coaching position.  In total, she has been a part of the volleyball coaching staff since 2019.

As part of her duties as Associate Head Coach, Rucinski handles program recruiting and oversees day-to-day program operations.

In 2025, the Warriors finished 24-6 overall, while winning the GLIAC Regular Season Championship (13-3 ledger) for the first time in 44 years.  She also helped guide WSU to its first-ever GLIAC Tournament title.  Rucinski and the Warriors' 24 victories was most by a Green and Gold squad since 1997 (29).  Wayne State clinched a home quarterfinals match in the conference tournament for the second time since the 2010 season.  With all that success, Rucinski led WSU to another NCAA Tournament berth via the automatic qualifier.

Rucinski in 2025 coached a quartet of All-GLIAC performers, including Kayla Dulgar and Kayla Giroux on the First Team, Leigha Baldwin on the Second Team, and Katerina Stout as Honorable Mention.  Rucinski mentored Dulgar on her way to Setter of the Year, assisting in Giroux being named Offensive Player of the Year and Overall Player of the Year in the GLIAC, and helping Stout to a Freshman of the Year honor.  Rucinski worked under Head Coach Tim Koth once again, who became the conference's Coach of the Year for the season.  In addition, Giroux was a First Team All-American, while Dulgar was Third Team All-American.

The fall of 2024 was her sixth year on Tim Koth's staff, and third in a full-time capacity.  In her first year on the coaching staff in 2019, Rucinski helped the Warriors win 17 matches and advance to the GLIAC semifinals.  In 2021, WSU played in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history, but the first time since 1994.  The Warriors won 20 matches, which is the most victories since 1998.  The Green & Gold swept Saginaw Valley State in a GLIAC Quarterfinal contest on Nov. 17th, the first home playoff game since 2010 for WSU.

In 2022, Wayne State won 19 matches, including a 12-6 GLIAC mark, and had the AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year in Kayla Giroux, who also earned Honorable Mention All-Region recognition.

WSU had two all-conference performers in 2023 as sophomore Kayla Giroux was First Team All-GLIAC, and freshman setter Kayla Dulgar was named Honorable Mention All-GLIAC.

In 2024, WSU clinched a home court GLIAC Tournament game and had four All-GLIAC selections in First Team recipient (Kayla Giroux), Second Team honorees (Kayla Dulgar and Molly Miller) and Honorable Mention selection (Kendyl Andrews).

Rucinski completed her playing career in 2018 and was a three-time All-GLIAC honoree.  In program history, she ranks third in total attacks (3,661), seventh in attacks per set (8.82), eighth in both kills (1,171) and digs (1,176), and 10th in aces (135).  She received five GLIAC Player of the Week awards during her career.  In addition, Rucinski was a three-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team selection.

She graduated from Wayne State in 2019 with a degree in Kinesiology.