Alicia Coppedge enjoys putting together the pieces of a puzzle.
Throughout her life, UTSA Volleyball’s 6-foot-1 senior middle blocker from Houston has been comfortable blazing her own trail and following her own timeline.
Coppedge recently graduated with her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and has carried a rigorous academic load while excelling on the volleyball court. She has led the Roadrunners in blocks each of the last two seasons.
“I’ve always liked solving things,” said Coppedge, who regularly attended math camps while growing up. "I chose mechanical because I like math and, when it comes down to the sciences, I always preferred physics. That’s exactly what mechanical is and I think it’s really interesting. I’m never going to be bored because I’m never going to be doing the same thing.”
Coppedge also gained valuable experience as a high school student that strengthened her career interests.
“I did an externship with Exxon and I found their company to be really interesting,” she said. “Everybody I talked to who worked there moved three or four times throughout the company so they got to do different parts – they got to do upstream, downstream and even look into the marketing sides. I love the idea that I wouldn’t be doing the same thing for the rest of my life.”
Unlike many of her teammates who spent the majority of their youth years playing volleyball, Coppedge is a relative newcomer to the sport.
“I was not your typical ‘I’ve been playing club since I was nine,’ player,” she said. “I started basically in high school. In my junior year, I joined halfway through club season and then COVID started halfway through my senior club season, so I basically only had a total of one year. I didn’t really think I was going to play sports in college. I was playing three or four sports at the time. UTSA reached out to me and I was really happy about it. I thought, ‘I can go to school for my major and play volleyball … why say no?’”
Coppedge’s impact on the Roadrunners’ program has steadily progressed during her time in San Antonio. Last season, she posted a squad-best 102 blocks, was second on the team with 202 kills and charted five matches with double-figure kills. Like any college student-athlete, Coppedge has battled through her share of adversity, but her decision to attend UTSA has been a perfect fit.
“I don’t see anybody here who doesn’t want to win,” she said. “We’re still in the rebuilding phase, but we’re always trying to get there. I am going to graduate perfectly on time, which is actually better than you could have expected for mechanical. I’ve been really focused on graduating and my career and I think everyone has been really helpful in getting me to where I need to be. All of the girls who have come in and out of here have been really nice and I’ve built bonds with each of them.”
Coppedge is currently gaining valuable professional experience interning with Waterman Construction, led by longtime UTSA Athletics supporter Andrew Waterman.
“Andrew Waterman helped me figure out something that would work with my schedule,” Coppedge said. “I only have a couple days out of the week that I can work and it has to be after practice. I have a position – because I’m doing mechanical engineering – where I am able to move around and talk to people who work in different areas. I’ve done a lot of administrative work in different parts of the company.”
For some collegiate student-athletes, the opportunity to participate in an internship might not be a reality. But Coppedge credits UTSA’s third-year head coach Carol Price-Torok for prioritizing not only the development of her student-athletes on the court but in their futures, as well.
“The fact that she’s supporting me doing an internship was really helpful,” Coppedge said. “I’m here for volleyball, yes, but I’m also here to graduate. I feel like she is really helpful with pushing us towards what comes after college also.”
With her bachelor’s degree in hand, Coppedge is beginning her Master’s in Business Administration at UTSA, which has been a strong complement to her internship experience and opens new career possibilities.
“My internship really aligns with the classes that I’m taking,” she said. “A lot of engineers want to get an MBA because it helps you kind of move up. I do want to do engineering work, but I’ve also been leaning more towards project management in the engineering world because that just seems like it fits me the most. I like to figure out how things are going to work. An MBA will be really good because it will help me be able to do the behind the scenes of the engineering work as well as the actual work itself.”
Coppedge aspires to return home to Houston with an interest in working either in the oil and gas industry or for NASA.
“Any type of oil and gas company that would bring me aboard, I would love to work for them,” Coppedge said. “I have also considered recently going to NASA if it’s possible because I know a lot of mechanical engineers go there and I’ve heard that they give really interesting projects.”
For now, Coppedge has one year of eligibility remaining at UTSA, where she will play her senior season. She hopes to continue to help lead the trajectory of the program forward, but also wants to have fun playing. An interaction with an opposing American Athletic Conference coach last season resonated with Coppedge finding her purpose on the court.
“After the game, when we shook their hands, their head coach said, ‘You’re really fun to watch,” Coppedge said. “For me, volleyball is really fun and I want people to look back and say that I was fun to watch and tried really hard. Even if I’m not the best player, I do things that are unconventional.
“I want people to know that if you start later or are different than other people and don’t have as much training, that doesn’t really mean anything because you are physically capable of doing the same exact thing that everybody else does. That’s what I want people to see – the fact that you can do it too.”
Though they may have come together in a non-traditional way, the pieces of Coppedge’s journey seem to have meshed quite nicely.