Pepperdine’s Sicoli Named AVCA Assistant Coach of the Year

Courtesy: Pepperdine Athletics

MALIBU, Calif. – The American Volleyball Coaches Association announced Marcio Sicoli as the AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year on Monday morning.  This is the first time the AVCA has honored an assistant coach with the award.

This is Sicoli’s first honor as an assistant for the Waves.  It was also announced prior to the 2018 campaign that he would be elevated to the head of the Pepperdine beach volleyball program following the completion of the season, as Pepperdine legend Nina Matthies announced her retirement.

“This is a great honor for Marcio and recognizes his standing as one of the top collegiate coaches in beach volleyball,” said Director of Athletics Steve Potts.  “While already known as one of the top beach volleyball coaches in the world, we are so pleased that Marcio will follow Nina Matthies as the head coach of our program.”

Sicoli finished his seventh season with the Waves in 2018 and has helped the team to a berth in every single national championship since the sports inception in 2012.  The past three seasons, he has helped lead the Waves to three-consecutive West Coast Conference Championship titles and appearances in the NCAA Tournament with a runner-up finish in 2017, a 4th-place finish in 2018 and a 5th-place finish in 2016.

This season, the Waves posted a 25-5 overall record, including an untarnished 8-0 record when playing at Zuma Beach and a 21-5 record against nationally ranked opponents.  The team had one pair earn AVCA All-American honorable mention acclaim as Deahna Kraft and Corinne Quiggle earned the honors for their successes at the No. 1 position.  Three other pairs also garnered VolleyMob All-American acclaim as Skylar Caputo and Alexis Filippone garnered first team honors from the No. 4 position and Madalyn Roh and Brook Bauer and Heidi Dyer and Gigi Hernandez were honored with second team status from the No. 2 and 3 positions respectively.  The Waves also took home all West Coast Conference top honors as Quiggle, Kraft and Bauer were named WCC Player, Defender and Freshman of the Year respectively.