On Friday, August 19th, Alcorn Athletic Director Derek Horne announced that Chelsey Lucas-Nicholas would be the new volleyball coach of the Lady Braves. With experience on both the collegiate and local level, Lucas-Nicholas plans to lead the Lady Braves into a winning season.“I am very excited to be here as the coach of the Lady Braves’ Volleyball team. It is my destiny to coach young ladies, and to instill in them a drive to do better both on and off the court,” stated Lucas-Nicholas.
As a former member of the Grambling State University volleyball team, Lucas-Nicholas was named the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Defensive Player of the Year in 2006. In the same year she was named to the All-SWAC First Team and she led the Conference with 396 digs.
Lucas-Nicholas stated, “Being a volleyball coach will allow me to show young ladies that with the right mind set and drive you can conquer the world. If you say you are a Brave, then you must act like you are a Brave. You must show discipline, structure and be a good role model. My goal is to develop players to become the best that they can be and help them get to the next level of competition.”
After graduating from Terrebonne High School in Houma, LA, Lucas-Nicholas received her Bachelors degree as well as a Masters of Education degree from Grambling State University. Later she founded the Louisiana Southern Swing Volleyball Club and she knew her path would lead to coaching on the collegiate level. Under her guidance, the Louisiana Southern Swing won various volleyball tournaments throughout the Southern region.
“After receiving my Bachelors degree, I was set to be a physical therapist, but God had other plans. Every route that I took led me back to coaching volleyball,” says Lucas-Nicholas. Coming in as a new coach she feels as though she has to prove herself and by proving herself she has a plan to build up the Lady Braves Volleyball team to a level that the University has not seen before.
According to Lucas-Nicholas, “As the coach of the Lady Braves I plan to help the young ladies find their personality, help them find and develop themselves as players, show them how to train and make sacrifices for what they want and show them that dedicating 100% not 50% will get them to the next level. Being just okay is not good enough, you must not be satisfied with being okay. You must be great.”
Dedication, sacrifice and training is what she wants each member to commit to, so that they can have more exposure to the volleyball team, as well as Alcorn State University.
2016 LADY BRAVES’ VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE
9/16/16
4:30 PM
SWAC
LORMAN, MS
DAVEY L. WHITNEY COMPLEX
9/20/16
5:30 PM
LORMAN, MS
DAVEY L. WHITNEY COMPLEX
9/23/16
4:30 PM
SWAC
LORMAN, MS
DAVEY L. WHITNEY COMPLEX
9/30/16
3 PM
SWAC
GRAMBLING, LA
10/01/16
6:30 PM
SWAC
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF
PINE BLUFF, AR
10/07/16
4:30 PM
SWAC
LORMAN, MS
DAVEY L. WHITNEY COMPLEX
10/08/16
1 PM
SWAC
LORMAN, MS
DAVEY L. WHITNEY COMPLEX
10/14/16
6:30 PM
SWAC
HOUSTON, TX
10/15/16
3 PM
SWAC
PRAIRIE VIEW, TX
10/21/16
2 PM
SWAC
BATON ROUGE, LA
10/28/16
4:30 PM
SWAC
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF
LORMAN, MS
DAVEY L. WHITNEY COMPLEX
10/29/16
10 AM
SWAC
LORMAN, MS
DAVEY L. WHITNEY COMPLEX
11/04/16
6:30 PM
SWAC
JACKSON, MS
11/07/16
6 PM
SWAC
ITTA BENA, MS
11/11/16
4:30 PM
SWAC
LORMAN, MS
DAVEY L. WHITNEY COMPLEX
11/12/16
1 PM
SWAC
LORMAN, MS
DAVEY L. WHITNEY COMPLEX
11/14/16
7 PM
SWAC
NORMAL, AL
11/15/16
7 PM
SWAC
MONTGOMERY, AL