UW-River Falls head volleyball coach Dipen Patel completed his fourth season leading the Falcons in the fall of 2025.
During his tenure at UWRF, Patel has guided the Falcons to a 69-57 overall record, highlighted by three victories over nationally ranked opponents and two appearances in the WIAC Tournament, including a semifinal run in 2023.
Under Patel’s leadership, seven Falcons have earned All-WIAC recognition. In 2023, Sami Hilley garnered AVCA All-Region honors, becoming the program’s first all-region selection since 2012. Audrey Petersen added to the program’s success in 2025 by earning All-WIAC Defensive Team honors, the first Falcon to receive the distinction since 2018.
Patel was named UWRF's 13th head volleyball coach in school history in February of 2022, and brought over nine over nine years of coaching experience, including positions at the Division I, II, and III levels. Before UWRF, 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 first 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.
