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August 15, 2018
New Nicholls State University volleyball coach Jay Van Vark has hired a member of the Nicholls family and an upstart young coach to round out his staff before his inaugural season with the team.
Van Vark announced this week that he’s hired Kaci Eaton and Taylor Loyd to his staff for the 2018 season, which begins on Aug. 24 at the North Texas Invitational, the beginning of a long non-conference grind for a Colonels team that’s hopeful for a successful rebuild.
The new coaches should be able to assist in the process.
Eaton was an outside hitter from 2014-16 for Nicholls. She will serve as the Colonels’ volunteer assistant coach for 2018. She was the 2014 Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year and one of the top players in the recent history of the Nicholls’ volleyball progra.
She amassed 940 kills, 227 digs and 94 blocks in her career and her 3.32 kills per set ranks third in Nicholls volleyball history since the NCAA changed scoring to rally-serve format.
Loyd is new to the Nicholls family, but she’s not new to volleyball prowess. She was a defensive specialist at the University of Denver and with Nicholls, she will be a graduate assistant. A native of Centennial, Colorado, she was a huge part of Denver’s volleyball program — a team which won the Summit League and reached the NCAA Tournament all four seasons she was on the team.
The two incoming coaches round out Van Vark’s coaching staff at four — the same number outgoing coach Tommy Harold had last year.
Earlier this offseason, Van Vark announced that Chelsi Carter would be his lead assistant coach — the first official hire he’d made since being hired to Nicholls.
Like Eaton and Loyd, Carter was a volleyball standout in her playing career. She was a standout for both Samford and UAB in her career.
Van Vark said her hire marked a good day for the Colonels, adding that the young coach will bring a spirit to the team that’s been lacking in recent years.
“Chelsi beings an unparalleled energy and experience to our staff,” Van Vark said. “Her infectious love for the game has helped her create a detailed technical approach to coaching while always inspiring joy and youthful expressions throughout the game. I am very excited for her to help shape our team.”
Carter was a successful player during her career in the college ranks.
With Samford, she was part of a Lady Bulldogs team dude that excelled. The team won the 2011 and 2014 SoCon Tournament Championships, earning bids into the NCAA Tournament each year. Carter wrapped up her senior year in 2014 by being named to the All-SoCon Tournament Team and the SoCon Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Carter also was the SoCon’s Second-Team All-Conference player at libero — just a season after being named the 2013 SoCOn Libero of the Year.
After her playing career wrapped up in indoor volleyball, Carter took her talents to the beach — literally.
She signed a scholarship to play beach Volleyball with the University of Alabama-Birmingham. While partnered with Sara Rishell, Carter was part of UAB’s top beach volleyball pairing. The team finished with 15 wins, which is third-most in program history.
After finishing at UAB, Carter moved into coaching. She was UAB’s volunteer assistant indoor volleyball coach and the assistant beach volleyball coach in the 2016-17 season. After that year, she took her talents to the Great North, working as the assistant volleyball coach at South Dakota’s School of Mines and Technology in 2017-18.
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COLONELS HOPE TO REBUILD
The coaching staff under Van Vark will be helping him rebuild a volleyball team that’s in need of a little jolt.
The Colonels struggled mightily last year, finishing just 4-25. In 16 of their losses, the Colonels failed to win a set.
But Van Vark thinks conditions are ripe for a fast turnaround.
He lands in Thibodaux loaded with experience with USA Volleyball and he has experience with four Division I programs in the country, including Grand Canyon University, Ohio State University, San Diego State and UC-Santa Barbara.
Van Vark said he thinks there is talent in Louisiana and the surrounding areas, adding that the staff he’s built will now recruit tirelessly to find gems who can turn the program into a contender.
Nicholls’ 2018 roster will feature five freshmen and several transfer players — new flavor which will start the program on its way from the bottom and upward.
The team begins its journey on Aug. 24 at the North Texas Invitational. After that, they’ll play in the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Volleyball Classic at ULL.
The team begins Southland Conference play on Sept. 20 at Texas A&M – Corpus Christi.
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