Tara Beilsmith Named Volleyball Assistant Coach

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri Volleyball has announced its next assistant coach for the 2025 season, the program announced Thursday morning. 
 
Head Coach Julie Yankus has hired former Redhawk standout Tara Beilsmith to join her staff in the Fall. Beilsmith, who played for the Redhawks from 2019-2023, was previously a volunteer assistant coach at Lindenwood during the 2024 season. 
 
Coach Yankus had this to say about the hiring of Beilsmith, “I’m thrilled to bring Tara back to SEMO. Her knowledge of the sport and her passion for SEMO Volleyball make her a perfect fit. Tara will do a great job leading our defense and coaching our passers, as well as continuing to help us recruit in the St. Louis area. Tara’s accomplishments as a player and a coach have already made her highly respected within the program. She already achieved so much during her time as a student-athlete at SEMO and I know we will be adding a lot more to her resume during her time here as a coach.”
 
Beilsmith most recently helped lead the Lions to their first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title in just her first season with the program. The Lions finished 23-11 with a 14-4 mark in OVC play and captured the tournament title over Morehead State (3-0). 
 
On the club side, Tara spent the last two years coaching for St. Louis-area  ‘High Performance Volleyball Club’. She coached the 13 Royal team during the 23-24 and has spent the 2024-25 season coaching the 15 Royal team. 
 

She is a three-time OVC champion, winning twice as a player (2019 & 2021) and once as a coach (2024). She finished with one regular season title as a player during the 2021 campaign. 
 

As a player, Beilsmith played all five seasons at Southeast Missouri where she was a two-time OVC Defensive Player of the Year selection (2022 & 23). She was a two-time All-OVC First Team Selection and a three-time Second Team selection in her career. 
 
Over her time at Southeast Missouri, Beilsmith compiled 3,034 digs over 548 sets which marks her as the Ohio Valley Conference’s all-time leader in career digs.  In addition, she ranks third all-time in NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball history for career digs. 
 
During the 2023 campaign, Beilsmith added her name to the NCAA record books with 797 digs in a single season. The number marked her fourth all-time in single-season history for NCAA Volleyball. She averaged 6.38 digs-per-set in 2023, ranking her 13^th all-time in NCAA history. 
 
In addition to the 2023 campaign, Beilsmith recorded 773 digs over 131 sets during the 2022 season which ranks her 10^th all-time in the NCAA record book for a single season. 
 
The daughter of Dan and Patty Beilsmith, Tara is a native of Weldon Spring, Missouri and graduated from Southeast Missouri with a degree in Cybersecurity. She most recently completed her Master’s Degree of Business Administration in General Management at Southeast as well.