On May 19th, 2021, Interim Director of Athletics and Recreation Dixie Jeffers announced Nikki Van Cleave as the next Head Volleyball Coach at Capital University.
"It is with great excitement and pleasure that we announce the hiring of Nikki Van Cleave as our next volleyball coach," said Jeffers. "I have watched her coach over the years at Ohio State and Otterbein, and I know Capital Volleyball is heading in a great direction under her leadership."
Van Cleave will join Capital Volleyball as the program's eighth head coach since its inception in 1984. Her new position at Capital will be the first head coaching stop on a noted list of assistant positions.
"Nikki is an impressive communicator and the type of person you would want to entrust your daughter with while attending college," Jeffers continued. "I am ecstatic to see where our program heads with her at the helm."
"I'd like to thank Dixie Jeffers, Dustin Rudegair, and the rest of the search committee for this great opportunity," said Van Cleave. "As I went through the process, it became very evident that Capital is an amazing place and has all the tools to be successful. The location, the facilities, the department, the university support, and the academics at Capital are unmatched and make the university an appealing place for recruits."
Van Cleave enters Capital with an extensive history of coaching in the Columbus market. Over the past six plus years, she has been a prominent face in and around the collegiate and club volleyball scene in the greater Columbus area. From 2015 to 2017, Van Cleave served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for The Ohio State University. After OSU, Van Cleave served as the Director of Volleyball Operations for College Coaches Skills Camps from 2017 until 2018. In November of 2018, Van Cleave moved to Integrity Athletics and Elite Volleyball where she has served as a Recruiting Director and Club Coach since. In 2019, Nikki joined the coaching staff at Otterbein University where she has served as an assistant coach since.
Prior to her start in Columbus, Van Cleave spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.
As a student, Van Cleave played for and assisted the collegiate volleyball team at Marquette University, where she graduated from in 2011. During her playing days, she was named an Honorable Mention All-American in 2010 and was twice selected All-Big East. After graduation, Van Cleave spent one season playing professional volleyball in the Deutsche Volleyball Liga in Germany.
Van Cleave has proven to produce high quality athletes at each of her coaching stops. At Marquette, she mentored the Big East Freshman of the Year and an All-American setter. At UWM, Van Cleave helped vault the team to Horizon League Champions and assisted in helping the program earn NCAA postseason qualification in 2013.
During her time at Ohio State, Van Cleave twice assisted the team to 20+ win seasons and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen both years. During her time with the Buckeyes, Van Cleave was primarily responsible for guiding the offense and setters. She mentored three All-American and All-Region players, and four All-Big Ten honorees, including her setter who was named All-American Honorable Mention in 2016.
On the club circuit, Van Cleave served as the liaison between the youth players and the collegiate environment. During her time with College Coaches Skills Camps, she was responsible for communicating with collegiate coaches to attend the camps. She also handled marketing and booking for the camp. At Integrity Athletics and Elite Volleyball, Van Cleave has served as the mediary connecting players with college coaches, fielding recruiting communication regarding all club players, and educating club players on the NCAA recruiting process.
In 2019, Van Cleave returned to collegiate volleyball as an assistant coach with OAC foe, Otterbein University. There, Van Cleave was in charge of the setters and guided the setting corps to OAC first team, second team and Freshman of the Year accolades in her time. In addition, her setting group ranked second in the nation in assists.
With her respected accolades as a volleyball coach, her professional development has continued. As a respected member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association, Van Cleave was named as a Thirty Under Thirty Award recipient in 2017.
Her abilities to recruit have gone unparalleled in her time as a recruiting coordinator and director in her career. In 2015, she helped recruit the #13 ranked recruiting class, and the following year, her recruiting class ranked as the #16 class according to prepvolleyball.com.
"I am excited to hit the ground running, to develop and mentor these young women, and to grow the volleyball program," Van Cleave finished.
Van Cleave will officially join the Capital Athletic Department on June 1st.
