Staff
Alesia Vaccari
Head Volleyball Coach, Athletics
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Alesia Vaccari joins the full-time Simmons College athletics staff in fall 2011 as the Head Volleyball Coach.
Coach Vaccari joins the Sharks after two years as the Assistant Coach for the Clarkson University Volleyball program. In 2009, Vaccari helped lead the Golden Knights to their first Liberty League Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance as Clarkson went 28-7, the top winning percentage in program history.Vaccari, a 2006 graduate of Springfield College with a degree in Athletic Training, was a two-time All-American for the Springfield Pride in 2003 and 2004, two seasons in which her team reached the NCAA Tournament. The 2004 NEWMAC Player of the Year as well, Vaccari is Springfield's all-time leader in assists (5,196) and aces (321) while ranking eighth at the school in digs (1,196). Springfield went 109-31 in her four seasons (.779 winning percentage) and she played in all 140 matches over that four-year span.
In addition to being a three-year captain for Springfield, Vaccari also was named the 2001 Connecticut High School Player of the Year and was a Junior Olympic Volleyball athlete.
Caitlin Updike
Assistant Volleyball Coach
Caitlin Updike, a native of Manhattan Beach, CA, is a 2011 graduate of Tufts University with a BS in Psychology. A four-year student athlete at Tufts, Updike was a two-time All-American, two time All-New England selection, and was twice named to the NESCAC first team during her career.
Off the court, she studied abroad in Florence, Italy and is conversationally fluent in Italian. She was an active participant in Tufts’s Relay for Life, an ACS fundraiser, where she served on the planning committee for three years. “Caitlin was an impact player and true competitor at Tufts. She will be a great role model for our team, and we are thrilled to have her on the Simmons Staff” said Coach Vaccari.