Cal Wickens, coach and director of the Rochester Volleyball Club for more than two decades, is back for his sixth season as head coach of the Golden Flyers' women's volleyball team.
Wickens took over prior to the 2003 season and promptly guided the Golden Flyers to the Empire 8 Conference ttile as well as their fourth straight trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Even more noteworthy, perhaps, was the Golden Flyers' ascent to the conference championship in 2006. Nazareth posted a 5-2 E8 dual meet record in '06 and was seeded third for the winner-take-all conference tournament. Nazareth won a wild, five-game semifinal match over second seeded Ithaca and then fought equally hard in a three-game sweep of top-seeded RIT to win the title and coveted automatic berth to the NCAAs.
Nazareth gained yet another NCAA Tournament berth in 2007 by gaining an at-large selection after finishing third in the regular-season conference standings.
Nazareth scored post-season wins over Montclair State and Cortland before being eliminated in the New York Region finals by E8 rival Stevens.
Wickens' five-year record of 104-79 does not include an Empire 8 Coach of the Year honor for 2006.
A native of Santa Monica, Calif., Wickens started the Rochester Volleyball Club in 1979. The club includes the Volley FX girls' team and the Pace Bootlegger boys' team. The boys' team won the 18-and-under AAU National Championship in 1990 and has been national runner-up six other times. The team also captured the USA Men's National Championship in 2000.
Wickens also has coached at numerous camps and clinics and served for 10 years as try-out coach for the USA High Performance/Youth National Team.
Wickens has an Associate in Occupational Studies degree from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.
Wickens, in 2005, also helped launch the Nazareth men's volleyball program, which has a four-year record of 81-36 ad in 2008 ascended to No. 1 in the national rankings. In 2008, Nazareth finished 28-7 overall and reached the quarterfinals of the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Tournament. In '07, Wickens was recognized as the NECVA West co-Coach of the Year.
