Feb. 14, 2008
Orlando, Fla. (www.UCFAthletics.com) - UCF head women's volleyball coach Todd Dagenais announced the addition of Sam Shweisky to his first-year coaching staff on Thursday. Shweisky comes to UCF after serving the previous two seasons as an assistant coach with the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
"UCF volleyball is very fortunate to have Sam join our program," said Dagenais, who took over the UCF volleyball program Jan. 8. "In addition to his superior talent in the training environment, I view him as one of the most intelligent assistant coaches in the game today. His `think-outside-the-box' approach will come in handy as we strive to reach all of the lofty goals that we have established as a program.
"Sam has earned the right to be given an immense amount of responsibility right out of the gate, and we will be counting on him to be a critical contributor in all facets of our program."
While an assistant with UNLV, the Rebels enjoyed their most successful season in program history in 2007. The team had a program-best 24-6 overall record along with its first Mountain West Conference championship. With the MWC title came the school's first trip the 2007 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament as well as the program's first national ranking in the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll. Including the Rebels 20-10 record in 2006, Shweisky was a part of UNLV's only back-to-back 20-win campaigns.
"I want to thank Todd (Dagenais) and the rest of the UCF Athletics Association staff for the opportunity to join the UCF athletics family," said Shweisky. "The energy and passion of the UCFAA can be felt across the campus. Big things are in the near future for UCF volleyball and I am excited to be on board."
Shweisky also served as an assistant coach for the USA Open women's team that won the silver medal at the Pan-American Maccabiah games in Argentina this past December. After the 2006 collegiate season, Shweisky was invited to coach the USA High Performance Select A2 Team at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Prior to UNLV, Shweisky was a graduate assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) University for long-time head coach Carolyn Condit. The RedHawks owned a 27-31 record in his two seasons in Oxford. In 2005, the RedHawks posted an 18-13 overall mark and finished Mid-American Conference play with a 9-7 record.
While in Oxford, he was the head coach from 2004-06 for the Borderline VBC 18-under open girls' club team. Shweisky was also the USA's 18-under girls' team head coach at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, in which his squad won the silver medal. From 2003-04, he held the head coaching position for the NYC Juniors 17-under girls' club team and at Friends Seminary High School for the varsity and junior varsity girls' teams.
Shweisky has served as an assistant for the Hudson Valley boys' scholastic team in the Empire State Games (N.Y.) during the summers of 1997-05. From 2001-02, he was an assistant coach at the University of New Haven.
Prior to and during his coaching, Shweisky played for Miami's men's club team (2004-06) and for Vassar College (1998-01). He has played internationally, as well, with The Hajraa Volleyball Club in Holland (2002-03) and for USA in the Maccabiah Games in 2001, 2005 and 2008.
Shweisky was a four-year letterwinner at Vassar College, where he helped his team to the Division III National Championship as a senior. He finished his collegiate career ranked fourth in single-season digs at Vassar, fifth in single-season digs per game and seventh in all-time digs.
Shweisky is from New York City, N.Y., and earned his bachelor's degree in Hispanic studies and psychology from Vassar in 2001. At Miami, he gained a master's of science degree in sports psychology in 2006.
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