ORANGEBURG, SC—South Carolina State head women's volleyball coach Melissa Paige announced the addition of Chymaine Guinyard as the new assistant coach to the Lady Bulldog staff.
Guinyard comes to SC State from Fort Valley State where she served as the head women's volleyball coach. During her tenure at FVSU, her team finished third in the South Division and clinched a berth to the SIAC tournament in the first appearance since 2008.
The Lady Panthers finished third in the SIAC Championship tournament, with several players earning All-SIAC honors, among them Antonique Coleman (First Team), and Dakotah Holmes (Freshman of the Year) who ranked 12th in nation amongst Division II players per set in blocks, earning Fort Valley State's first Division II Conference Commissioners Association Volleyball All-South Region Second Team accolades.
Under Guinyard's leadership numerous players received Setter of the Week and Newcomer of the Week honors, including Sarah Rosario, who finished 13th in the nation amongst Division II players in aces per set.
Guinyard also served as the head coach at Claflin University for four seasons. During her tenure with the Lady Panthers, Guinyard posted two winning campaigns, including a 15-10 mark with an 11-5 mark in the CIAA for the 2021 season. In addition, her Claflin team produced the CIAA Defensive Player of the Year, Trinity Fierce, along with numerous additional student-athletes receiving weekly honors as Offensive Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week, Setter of the Week and Rookie of the Week. She also had players to earn for postseason conference honors and ranked among the NCAA Division II national individual statistical leaders in several categories (Aces Per Set, Digs Per Set, and Blocks Per Set). Before taking over as head coach of the Lady Panther team, Guinyard served as assistant coach for the 2017 and 2018 seasons and Interim head coach for 2019.
Guinyard began her coaching as the head volleyball coach at Calhoun County High School in St. Matthews, S.C. In her lone season, Guinyard guided her team to the Class 2A playoffs. In addition, she had a player featured as the WLTX Player of the Week while another was named to the Class 2A All-Region Team.
Guinyard has spent several seasons coaching club volleyball in South Carolina. In 2012 and 2013, she coached the Branchville Juniors Club Volleyball Team in Branchville, S.C., and she also served as a coach of the Orangeburg Lady Cubs Club Volleyball Team in Orangeburg. Guinyard has experience with being a lead for the APPLE Training Institute/NCAA Sport Science Collaborative. In August 2020, she was chosen to participate in the TruNorth Sports Coach Development Academy. In January 2021, she was chosen to be a part of the Inaugural Reach & Teach: Big 12 Volleyball Diversity Mentoring Program.
A May graduate of the WeCoach Class #50 NCAA Women's Coaches Academy. Guinyard was selected as a coach for the USA Volleyball High Performance camp in June 2022. In February 2024, she served as the Liaison for CIAA Student-Athlete Empowerment Program. She is IMPACT certified through the Palmetto Volleyball Association and is a member of USA Volleyball and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).
A native of Orangeburg, S.C., Guinyard played four years for the Lady Panthers. She was a member of the 2014 team which captured the school's first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) championship and the school's first-ever automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship. Guinyard received her Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Claflin in 2016.
