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Milewski Announces Staff Updates

7/9/2026 9:52:00 AM

By: Danny Talbert
CARROLLTON, Ga. - University of West Georgia head volleyball coach Adam Milewski announced on Thursday that former Oakland City University men's head volleyball coach Ben Twigger has been added to the 2026 staff as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, and former UWG graduate assistant Rayna Smith has been retained as an assistant coach.

Twigger makes his way to West Georgia from OCU, an NAIA school in Oakland City, Indiana, where he spent the last two seasons as the inaugural head coach of the school's newly established men's volleyball program. Under his direction, OCU posted a stellar 21-10 record in 2025, featuring wins over No. 4 Campbellsville University and No. 10 Benedictine University Mesa. The team also mounted a conference championship push, securing back-to-back tournament victories before falling in the championship match. In his first season as a head coach at OCU (2024), the team went 16-16, highlighted by a win over No. 5 William Penn University. Twigger finished his OCU tenure with a 37-26 record that included three top-ten victories. 

Prior to his time at Oakland City, Twigger served as the head men's volleyball coach at his alma mater, St. Andrews University, an NAIA school located in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Through four seasons as the SAU head coach, Twigger guided his teams to a 64-44 composite record. After a 9-15 record in his first season (2020), his second campaign saw the team post an impressive 21-8 record. Following a 12-11 mark in 2022, he capped off his time at SAU with a 22-10 record in 2023. Twigger also worked in game management and event operations from 2018 through 2024 at SAU. He has also gained coaching experience working with the Evansville United Club since August of 2025.

As a player, Twigger originally attended SAU with the intention of competing for the men's basketball team. That changed when the then SAU head men's volleyball coach convinced Twigger to try volleyball. Taking on the middle blocker position, Twigger fell in love with the game during his first seasons playing the sport. He would go on to earn a bachelor's degree in sports management before completing a master's in business administration at SAU.

"He (Twigger) has a lot of experience coaching both men and women's volleyball. He was most recently a head coach for an NAIA men's program, so he brings a lot of experience training, recruiting, and making sure that the roster is complete. I think they (Twigger and Smith) both complement each other really well, where we're gonna be able to really be able to get a lot of personal attention to the players and make sure that everybody has what they need to be successful," said Milewski.

Prior to serving as one of West Georgia's volleyball graduate assistants during the 2025-26 school year, Smith was in the same position at the University of Louisiana Monroe in 2024-25. In these roles, Smith was instrumental in handling day-to-day operations as well as assisting in recruiting visits. Before ULM, she worked as a student assistant coach at Kean University for three seasons, helping the Cougars secure Eastern College Athletic Conference titles in 2021 and 2022. During this span, Smith also volunteered as an assistant volleyball coach at Frank H. Morrell High School in Newark, New Jersey, and was a volleyball camp instructor at the University of Texas at Austin in July of 2023. She has also been involved in the American Volleyball Coaches Association's (AVCA) Mentorship Program. 

Smith earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science with an associate degree in physical education from Kean University and a master's in sports management from UWG.

"Rayna has been here for a year as a graduate assistant. She really did a great job of keeping everybody motivated and organized," stated Milewski. "She has a lot of passion for the sport and for progressing the program, and so it's gonna be great to have her here full-time and for her to start recruiting and doing all the things that we need here to make sure that the program moves in the right direction."

With the West Georgia season under two months away, stay up-to-date with all things UWG volleyball by following the program's Instagram and X pages @uwgwolvesvb.  
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