Jeremiah Burden will begin his second season as the graduate assistant coach for the Pepperdine women's volleyball team in 2026.
In 2025, he helped the Waves to a 21-8 record. Over the final 17 matches of the campaign, Pepperdine was a blistering 15-2. Burden was part of a staff that assisted in a trio of Waves (Ella Piskorz, Chloe Pravednikov, Tristen Raymond) earn All-WCC First Team honors, with Raymond also collecting All-Freshmen Team honors. Libero/defensive specialist Laine Briggs also garnered All-WCC Honorable mention. Piskorz led the WCC in blocks per set (1.42, first), while Irelynd Lorenzen finished third in the league in blocks per set (1.19). Briggs was also near the top of the leaderboard in several statistical categories in the West Coast Conference, including digs per set (3.69, 3rd), total digs (391, fourth), and service aces per set (0.48, first). Raymond wasn't far behind at 0.38 service aces per set, good for fifth in the WCC. Pepperdine's 21 overall wins were the most since 2021 (22), and the Waves' 15 conference wins marked the seventh time in eight seasons, since 2018, that Peppedine has tallied at least 14 WCC victories.
Burden comes to Malibu after serving as a student assistant coach of the Juniata College (Pa.) women's volleyball team for four seasons — all while competing on the Juniata men's volleyball team. As a member of the women's volleyball team's coaching staff, he helped the Eagles win three consecutive NCAA Division III national titles. In that stretch, the Eagles boasted a 97-match win streak and became the first Division III team to record back-to-back undefeated seasons. The Eagles won the Landmark Conference title in all four seasons with Burden on staff, and went a combined 104-1 in conference play. Individually, he helped develop two AVCA Players of the Year, 14 Division III All-Americans and 19 all-conference players.
As a player, Burden was a four-year letterwinner on the Eagles' men's volleyball team. He was the Eagles' starting libero for three years and served as a team captain, all while the Eagles were a top-10 team in Division III in all four years. During his time on the roster, Burden made the CVC All-Tournament team and earned a spot on Team USA's Division III All-Star Team, which did a tour of Brazil in 2023.
Burden also served as a coach for the Ultimate Volleyball Club, a team based in Frankfort, Ill., from 2018-2024.
In the classroom, Burden was the 2025 NCAA Division III Elite 90 recipient, which goes to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at the final site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships. A data science major, Burden gave a presentation titled "Does Serve Speed Matter? A Data-Informed Serving Mindset" at the 2024 AVCA Coaches' Convention. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a perfect 4.0 GPA while double-majoring in data science and management in 2025.
