Andrew Sato will enter his second year as an assistant coach at Cal in 2025, working mainly with the setters. This is his second stint on the Golden Bears’ staff, having also acted as a volunteer assistant coach in 2017.
Under Sato’s tutelage in 2024, starting setter Annalea Maeder earned the season’s first ACC Setter of the Week award; following Maeder’s season-ending injury, Sato helped new starting setter Natalie Lau to the best assists-per-set average (9.61) by a Cal player since 2016, as well as the ACC’s fifth-highest overall assists total (942) and fourth-highest conference play assists total (653). Lau also posted the ACC’s best three-set (45 assists at Syracuse) and five-set (64 assists at Saint Mary’s) single-match performances that season, with the former also tying for the most assists in a three-set match by any ACC player since 2018.
During his three-year tenure at Cal State Fullerton (2021-23), Sato helped oversee the development of four All-Big West Honorable Mention players, as well as two All-Big West Freshman Team selections. Prior to his time with the Titans, Sato spent the 2020-21 season as an assistant with the UTSA Roadrunners after two years as volunteer assistant for powerhouse Nebraska. During those two seasons, the Huskers posted a combined 57-12 record, reaching the NCAA title match in 2018 and the Regional Final in 2019.
His decorated career at Long Beach State saw him collect 979 total digs, which stands to this day as a Long Beach State program record. Sato helped lead the 49ers to two straight Final Fours (2016-17), earning First Team All-America status in 2017 after an Honorable Mention nod the previous year; his other career accolades include four All-MPSF honors (2013 – All-Freshman; 2014 – Honorable Mention; 2016 – Honorable Mention; 2017 – Second-Team). As a senior, he also received the Erik Shoji Award, which is given to the top libero in Division I-II each year.
Sato’s playing career at Agoura High School included First Team All-California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) honors as a junior and three All-Marmonte League selections, as well as All-Area recognition by the Daily Bulletin and the Ventura County Star. In celebration of his skill, Volleyball Magazine listed him on its Fab 50 and Top 24 Underclassmen to Watch lists.
He played six years for the Santa Monica Beach Club, leading his team to consecutive runner-up finishes in the 18-Open division of the Boys’ Junior National Championships (2010-11), earning All-Tournament status in the latter campaign. Sato also took to the court as a two-year member of the U.S. Youth National Team and played in both the World Championships and the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) Championship, later acting as an alternate for the Junior National Team and training with the Senior National Team.
A native of Calabasas, Calif., Sato graduated from Long Beach State with a degree in sport psychology. His father Gary is currently an assistant coach for USC men’s volleyball and has been on the staff of four U.S. Men’s Olympic teams, including two medal-winning squads that also included Sato’s uncle Eric as a player (1988, 1992). His aunt Liane also played on two Olympic volleyball teams, earning a bronze medal in 1992.
