MARCIO SICOLI COACHING RECORDS
An expert in both indoor and beach volleyball, Marcio Sicoli enters his 17th season with the Waves. The 2026 season will mark his eighth as Pepperdine’s head beach volleyball coach.
Sicoli was a member of the indoor volleyball coaching staff for six seasons from 2008-13. After the 2013 indoor season, he turned to the sand to focus solely on the beach game, where he was Nina Matthies’ assistant coach since the sport emerged in the spring of 2012. After she announced her intent to retire after the 2018 campaign, Sicoli was directly elevated to the role of head coach at the completion of the season.
In his 13 seasons on the beach, the Waves have taken home the AVCA National Championship title twice and are one of only a few teams that have earned berths in eight of the 12 possible national championships from AVCA to NCAA. Pepperdine has had 15 players to earn 22 separate AVCA All-American honors.
In his seven seasons at the helm, Sicoli led the Waves to 118 wins. In his 13 years altogether, Sicoli has helped Pepperdine to 255-113 (.693) win-loss output on the sand.
SEASON-BY-SEASON BREAKDOWN
In 2025, the Waves posted a 19-15 (.559) record and the team made the WCC Tournament semifinal. Three Waves earned WCC postseason honors, with Clermont, Eden and Thomas all earning first team recognition. Eden was also named the WCC co-Freshman of the Year and made the All-Freshman Team. Additionally, five Waves earned WCC All-Academic honors with Clermont and Thomas earning first team recognition and Bubelis, Erickson and Oriskovich making the honorable mention squad. Six Waves - Clermont, Eden, Foti, Oriskovich, Perez and Thomas all earned AVCA Top Flight honors.
In the 2024 campaign, the Waves collected a 22-16 (.579) record and the team earned a spot in the WCC Tournament Final for the ninth-straight season. Eight Waves earned WCC postseason honors, with Briede, Clermont, Oriskovich and Thomas garnering first team recognition, while Perez and Svobodova were named to the All-WCC second team. Meyers and McNabney picked up spots on the WCC All-Freshman Team, and Meyers was named the WCC Freshman of the Year. Seven Waves also earned WCC All-Academic honors with Clermont and Thomas earning the first team award.
In the 2023 season, the Waves went 19-14 (.576) and the squad reached a spot in the WCC Tournament Final for the eighth-straight season. Eight Waves garnered WCC postseason honors, with Clermont, McLeod and Thomas garnering first team recognition, while Briede and Oriskovich were named to the All-WCC second team. Campbell, Perez and Standage picked up spots on the WCC All-Freshman Team as well. Seven Waves also earned WCC All-Academic honors with Clermont and Thomas earning the first team nod.
In the 2022 campaign, the Waves collected a 22-12 (.647) overall record and the squad earned a spot in the WCC Tournament Final for the seventh-straight season. The squad finished ranked #17 nationally in the AVCA Coaches Poll. He coached Melanie Paul and Madison Shields to AVCA All-American second team honors, as well as to AVCA Top Flight acclaim alongside Simone Priebe and McKenna Thomas. Six Waves garnered WCC postseason honors, with Paul, Shields and Priebe garnering first team recognition. Thomas, with Kate Clermont and Juju Quintero picked up spots on the WCC All-Freshman Team as well.
In the 2021 campaign, Pepperdine went 14-17 overall (.452) and the squad reached the West Coast Conference Tournament final matchup for the sixth-consecutive season. Five Waves garnered WCC postseason acclaim with Brook Bauer, Carly Skjodt and Melanie Paul picking up All-WCC first team nods, Alexis Filippone earning second team status and Gracie Pedersen being named to the WCC All-Freshman Team. Eight also earned WCC All-Academic honors with Bauer, Simone Priebe and Skjodt earning the first team nod. Paul and Priebe also tabbed WCC March Pair of the Month honors during the season.
The 2020 campaign was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the season, the Waves collected a 2-5 output, though were on the rise with a pair of wins under the squad’s belt heading into the second home tournament of the season. No national or conference postseason awards were given, apart from a record 10 players earning WCC All-Academic recognition, including Hannah Frohling, Peyton Lewis and Simone Priebe to first team.
In the 2019 season, the team posted a 20-11 (.645) record and earned a berth in the NCAA Championships. The Waves put up a pair of hard-fought battles in the tournament, but were felled by LSU and USC and forced to bow out of the tournament. That wasn’t the end to the season, however, as several Waves hit the sand to compete at the USA Collegiate Beach Championships. After three grueling days of competition, Pepperdine’s top pair, Brook Bauer and Deahna Kraft, finished with silver in the tournament. Along the way to the title match against LSU’s Clair Coppola and Kristen Nuss, the Waves bested Florida State’s Brooke Kuhlman and Avery Poppinga and PCH Cup rival LMU’s pair of Savannah Slattery and Emma Doud.
After the season, Bauer and Heidi Dyer were named AVCA and Volleyball Magazine All-Americans. The pair, along with Kraft, also earned DiG All-American honors after the season. Bauer also tabbed West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, while six Waves picked up All-Conference acclaim, including Bauer, Dyer and Kraft to first team, Skylar Caputo and Gigi Hernandez to second team and Simone Priebe to the All-Freshman squad.
In 2018, the team finished with a 25-5 overall record and a No. 4 final AVCA national ranking. Corinne Quiggle and Deahna Kraft became the 13th and 14th Pepperdine beach volleyball players to earn AVCA All-American honors and the two along with Brook Bauer garnered WCC Player, Defender and Freshman of the Year honors. A total of eight Waves also earned 10 other All-American honors from either VolleyMob.com or VolleyballMag.com.
In the 2017 season, the Waves finished as runners-up at the 2017 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championships, while also taking home the second-consecutive WCC tournament and regular season crown. Another year after that and Pepperdine earned the program’s third-straight WCC tournament title and a third-berth into the NCAA Tournament, this time as the No. 2 seed.
The team finished the season ranked No. 2 in the AVCA Coaches Poll, while amassing a 27-5 overall record. The squad went 17-5 against nationally ranked opponents with a 9-1 record at home, 6-2 record on the road and 14-2 output on neutral sand. In the NCAA Tournament, Pepperdine opened action with a 3-0 sweep over No. 6-seeded Long Beach State, followed by a 3-1 win over No. 2-seeded UCLA to advance to the day two winners bracket. After falling to USC, the Waves returned through the contender’s bracket to sweep No. 5-seeded Hawai’i 3-0 and earn a spot in the NCAA Championship match-up against the Trojans.
In the match, the Waves and women of Troy split the opening wave as Deahna Kraft and Anika Wilson bested their opponents on court four and USC took court five. In the final wave, all three matches went to a third set, with Corinne Quiggle and Brittany Howard winning their match at the No. 2 position to put the Waves up 2-1. After USC evened the match 2-2 with a win on court one, the decider fell on court three. With an even 13-13 tie in the third set, the Trojans took the next two points to win the title.
Among the ranked defeats in 2017, the Waves handed Florida State the team’s first-ever loss at home with a 4-1 defeated in Tallahassee on April 15. To open the season on March 4, Pepperdine tabbed a 3-2 upset win over then-ranked No. 3 UCLA.
In the 2016 campaign, Pepperdine earned a berth in the inaugural 2016 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championships, making history as one team in the first-ever field of eight. The Waves advanced through the opening round and finished out the season ranked 5th overall in the final AVCA Coaches Poll.
Senior Taylor Racich and freshman Heidi Dyer earned AVCA All-American status. Pepperdine also won the first-ever West Coast Conference Championship crown in Santa Monica, going 3-0 to take the honor. Six Waves picked up All-WCC accolades, including three first team selections. Three Waves also were tabbed to the WCC All-Freshman squad for their efforts on the sand.
The 11th and 12th Pepperdine AVCA All-American acclaim came in 2017 as Madalyn Roh and Delaney Knudsen earned the rights. Roh, Knudsen, Corinne Quiggle and Brittany Howard also garnered Volleyball Magazine All-American nods with Roh and Knudsen earning first team honors. Six Waves tabbed All-WCC recognition with four first team selections and two second team nods.
PRE-NCAA SPORT SPONSORSHIP
Prior to London, Sicoli served as the assistant coach for the Waves during the inaugural year of collegiate sand volleyball. After an undefeated season, Pepperdine captured the AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala. The team’s top pair of Caitlin Racich and Summer Ross won the individual pairs championship.
Pepperdine reached the finals of the sand national championship once again in 2013 after finishing the regular season with an 18-0 record.
SICOLI AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Sicoli also served as the coach for two back-to-back Olympic Games, first in 2012 with Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor and again in 2016 with Walsh Jennings and April Ross. He then returned to the Olympics in Paris in 2024, this time coaching the Canadian duo of Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes.
He tutored Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor, arguably the best beach volleyball duo of all time, during the 2012 Olympics in London. Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor entered the Games as the No. 3 seed, and went a perfect 7-0 to claim an unprecedented third-straight gold medal. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, Walsh Jennings and Ross took home the bronze medal. At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes earned a silver medal, the first ever Olympic medal for a Canadian pair in women’s beach volleyball.
Sicoli, a native of Brazil, boasts an impressive international resume, as he was an assistant coach for the Brazilian Olympic women’s beach volleyball team from 2000-04. One of their duos earned a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
“His wisdom is well beyond his years,” Walsh Jennings said of Sicoli. “There’s also a youthfulness and enthusiasm that is really contagious. He makes practice every single day really fast, really challenging.”
He has coached various other indoor and beach volleyball teams, including serving as the head coach for women’s beach volleyball legend Holly McPeak and as head coach of the AVP women’s beach volleyball team of Tatiana Minello and Semirames Marins during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. In 2007, Sicoli served as head coach for the women’s beach team of Minello and Carrie Dodd and as coach of the men’s beach team of Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer.
THE EARLY YEARS
Sicoli has also coached at the Beverly Hills-based Sports Shack Volleyball Club. He received the Sports Shack Coach of the Year Award in 2007 as the coach of the 18-2 team. Sicoli also recently served as the head coach of the Southern California Volleyball Club’s South Bay 12-1 indoor team in 2007, and assisted USC men’s head coach Bill Ferguson with the 17-1s.
Sicoli received his bachelor’s of physical education degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 2001 and competed for the men’s volleyball team as the setter from 1999-2002. He holds a specialization in sports training (earned in 2002-03) and holds a Brazilian Beach Volleyball Level II coaching credential (earned in 2001).
