Turner named Dalton head volleyball coach

Jun. 2—Serena Turner can barely remember a time when she wasn't involved with volleyball.

Turner, who grew up near Ringgold, had a volleyball-playing sister a few years older than her and a dad that coached the sport.

"I was always the little kid running around getting the volleyballs for her team," Turner said. "I was always around the sport."

Turner hopes she can put that life-long volleyball experience to use in her new job. Turner has been named the head volleyball coach at Dalton High School.

"When I saw that Dalton was looking for a volleyball coach, I just jumped on it," Turner said. "I'm super excited to work with the team."

Turner is set to take over the program after former head coach Edis Krnjic left the role.

"I have enjoyed my seven years of coaching volleyball there but it's time to spend more time with my family," said Krnjic, who will continue teaching at Dalton and serving as an assistant coach for the girls soccer team.

Krnjic, a Northwest Whitfield graduate, was head volleyball coach for five seasons after several years as an assistant.

Taking over a program that was 4-24 in the season prior, Krnjic helped build Dalton into a winner. Krnjic's top Dalton squad was the 2020 team, which went 33-18 and finished second in Region 5-6A.

As Turner takes the helm, she wants to continue the program's success while turning out well-rounded people.

"We want to grow, not just as a program, but, for the players themselves, we want them to focus on being good people, then good students and then good players," Turner said.

Dalton will be Turner's first head coaching job in high school, though she's no stranger to the sport or to coaching.

Turner played at Grace Academy in Chattanooga for her first three years of high school before playing her senior season at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School.

She played a year of volleyball at Georgia Northwestern Technical College before finishing a degree at East Carolina University.

Turner has coached for Georgia Adrenaline Volleyball Club, a youth travel club based in Chattanooga, and she was an assistant basketball coach at a high school in North Carolina.

"It's definitely going to be a new challenge," Turner said. "I kind of know the coaching perspective of coaching a high school team, but to be a head coach will be a new challenge for sure."

She's even spent time as a volleyball referee.

"I loved doing that, it was just a different perspective on the sport," Turner said.

As she interviewed for the job at Dalton, Turner knew it would be a good fit.

"They just talked about how great the community is with supporting the school and athletics," she said. "It just seems like a great program not just for volleyball but the whole school altogether."

After a few years living in North Carolina after going to school at East Carolina in Greenville, Turner said she's glad to have a job close to her North Georgia hometown.

"It's not far from where I'm from, so I'm super excited to move down to Dalton and see what the season brings," Turner said.