Matt Sauvage does not like the limelight or the accolades. In the eyes of the veteran head coach, Greenbrier East volleyball is only about the girls on his team.
Thursday night, however, Sauvage’s players begged to differ with him. In the eyes of the Lady Spartans, the night was all about their head coach.
With a 2-0 win in the opening match against PikeView, Greenbrier East gave Sauvage his 500th career win.
Senior Nevaeh Wooding with a kill to win the match for @GEHS_Spartans 2-0 over PikeView. It is career win No. 500 for Spartans head 🏐 coach Matt Sauvage.#wvprepvb pic.twitter.com/JDMfs1kTKd
— Rusty Udy (@rusman1981) October 14, 2021
“This program, we built it. I say we because it’s not me. The 500th win is what people are focused on, but it has been a lot of work. It has been other coaches and it’s been hundreds of players throughout the years,” Sauvage said.
“I appreciate the relationships that I have developed with these girls. I look up in the stands and there are former players up there. To me, it is more about the relationships that I have built and will continue to build.”
Current seniors Lauren Smith and Nevaeh Wooding explained what is has been like playing for their coach during their high school careers.
“As a freshman, I just saw Matt as a coach. The he became more like a father figure to me,” Smith said. “I still see him as a coach, but I can go to him with anything. I talk to him all the time and he has helped me grow my faith. He is more like a dad than a coach.”
“He is super supportive in everything we do, and he gets us where we need to be. He is really like our No. 1 fan,” Wooding said.
When Sauvage took over as head coach 16 years ago, 500 wins seemed hard to fathom. At first, in reality, one win seemed like a huge milestone.
“My first game ever as a head coach was over at the Woodrow Wilson tournament against Hedgesville. They were really good that year and we went down 17-0 in the first set,” Sauvage recalled, laughing. “I was wondering, what did I get myself into. We ended up coming back and we may have split with them, I can’t really remember, but from then on I was OK.”
Having no true background in volleyball, outside of intramural play in college, Sauvage had to build his knowledge of the game from the ground up.
“Mitch Jacobs, who was the Marshall University head coach for many years, would come down and do some camps for us. I was like a sponge absorbing things and using them,” Sauvage said. “Then over the years I feel like I have learned the game pretty well and it now seems like I am helping others which is fun. I enjoy that side of it.”
“I guess it was a challenge at first and something different that I could jump into,” Sauvage went on to say. “Then I fell in love with it. Now volleyball is my No. 1 sport. It was weird how it worked out, but the Lord knows what He is doing.”
Successful programs do not happen by accident. Sauvage expected the same level of hard work and dedication from his team that he put into becoming a better head coach.
“We have had two losing seasons in 16 years and the memories are just as good for those seasons. I require a lot here,” Sauvage said. “It’s hard to be in a Sauvage gym. I am not going to lie. It’s not easy sometimes, but we come out as family. To me that is what it is about. It’s about getting these ladies to be great young ladies for the society that they are going into.”
Coming from a coaching background where success did not come easy, it seemed fitting that Sauvage’s milestone win happened this season.
Leading a team that many thought would struggle due to graduation losses and transfers, the 2021 Lady Spartans have also defied the odds.
“This team is not fancy sometimes, but it seems like they are still able to get the job done with what they do.” Sauvage said. “That is kinda what Greenbrier East volleyball is all about. We are going to work. Sometimes it may not be pretty, or we may not even like it, but we will get the job done”
“This is so special. I never knew I would be part of a program like this,” Smith said. “Matt’s knowledge of the game is crazy. He teaches us everything we need to know, and he teaches us about life.” He is a great coach, but he is a better person, and he is leading us all in the right direction.”
Sauvage has earned enormous respect throughout the state of West Virginia. That respect also comes from a source that some may find odd.
“When we play East, we always know it is going to be a battle. It is a well-known rivalry in southern West Virginia,” Woodrow Wilson head volleyball coach Bre Rhodes said. “Everyone knows that East and Beckley don’t get along, but Matt and I do. Matt is a great coach, and his team is always solid. He has been a great mentor and friend. Congrats on 500 wins!!!”
