COACHES
Dipen Patel was hired as the UW-River Falls head volleyball coach in February of 2022.
Patel brings over nine years of coaching experience, including positions at Division I, II, and III levels. Most recently, Patel was the lead assistant coach at fellow WIAC member University of Wisconsin-La Crosse since 2019, where he helped guide the Eagles to a pair of WIAC Tournament appearances while receiving the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Thirty Under 30 Award. During his time in La Crosse, Patel also was the V-Hawk Extreme Volleyball head club coach and led the 2021 team to a 32-15 record and 1st place finish at the Chicago Jr. National Tournament.
Before his time at UW-La Crosse, Patel had coaching stints at the high school and club level, including positions at San Francisco State University, Eastern Illinois University, and USA Volleyball.
At Eastern Illinois as a graduate assistant coach, he was responsible for scouting, developing game strategies, and assisting in recruiting. Patel was the head girls' volleyball coach at Mattoon (Ill.) High School in 2018, leading the team to a 28-9 varsity record and winning three tournament titles while advancing to the regional championship. He was also the head coach of Club 217 with a 32-12 record and top-30 finish at the AAU National Championships.
Patel began his coaching career at his high school alma mater in 2011. He served as head volleyball coach, administrative assistant and camp director at Pacific Rim Volleyball Academy in Pleasant Hill, Calif., from 2012-17. Other coaching experience includes Albany (Calif.) High School (varsity head coach) and College Park (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) High School (varsity assistant and head coach). Patel led the No. 2-ranked team in the country to back-to-back National Championships in USA Volleyball's Open Division in 2014 and 2015.
A California native, Patel graduated from San Francisco State in 2017 before earning a master's degree in Kinesiology and Sports Studies at Eastern Illinois in 2019.
Beth Raebel joined the UW-River Falls volleyball program as an assistant coach in 2019 after serving as a head coach at Burnsville High School in Burnsville, Minn. She started as the junior varsity coach at Burnsville in 2012 and is a 2018 recipient of the AVCA Top 30 Under 30 Award.
In the 2022 season, Beth helped guide the Falcons to a 22-12 season, making it to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, and beating its first nationally ranked opponent in 6 years. Prior to UWRF, Beth was the Hammerhead Volleyball Director of Coaching and was the 2018 NCR 16's Coach of the Year. She has coached club volleyball since 2012 throughout Iowa and Minnesota. Prior to her time at Burnsville High School, Raebel had coaching stints at her alma maters, Pipestone High School (MN) and Dordt College (IA).
A two-year member of the Dordt College volleyball team, Raebel earned a bachelor's degree from Dordt and a master's from Minnesota State, Mankato. She is a Pipestone Area High School alumna and helped lead the volleyball team to a pair of Minnesota State Tournaments.
Beth and her husband, Derek, have two sons, David (4) and Gabe (1).