Bushnell University Women's Volleyball

Kim Elgarico joined the Beacon volleyball program as the Head Beach Volleyball Coach in 2020, overseeing the development and launch of the program which started competition in the fall of 2022.  In a short time, Elgarico has established a strong Beach program that has qualified for the post-season in four of their first five years. She has earned two Coach of the Year honors, and helped oversee the development of the Grace/Bushnell Beach Volleyball Courts.  After just one win during their debut campaign, Elgarico took the Beacons to a seven-win season in year two that included a victory over NCAA Division I University of Portland, and multiple times receiving votes in the NAIA Top-10 Coaches Poll. Elgarico was named the NAIA West Grouping Pacific Northwest Coach of the Year, and saw her team earn both Defender of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors.  The Cascade Collegiate Conference added Beach Volleyball as an official sport in 2024 and the Beacons have been a contender every season. In 2026, the team recorded a program-record nine wins, including a 7-8 mark the CCC. The team rose to as high as No. 9 in the NAIA national coaches poll and Elgarico was named the CCC Coach of the Year.  Elgarico came to Bushnell with over 20 years coaching experience at all levels including four years as a head coach at the NAIA level. Her career has taken her from South Carolina to Louisiana with stops in Los Angeles and Texas along the way before settling in Eugene in 2020. She is currently a private beach volleyball coach working with the community from youth to seniors, striving to promote Beach Volleyball as a sport which can be played for a lifetime. Elgarico currently serves as the Beach Volleyball Coordinator for North Pacific Juniors (NPJ), the top ranked club in the Pacific Northwest. She facilitates all coordination between the club, p1440 and AVP for Junior level events in Salem and Bend.  Coach Elgarico has cut her teeth on the national stage, working summers with Brazilian coaches, training athletes from middle school through college at an international camp held in Fort Collins, Colorado. Through that experience she has worked with both professional and Olympic athletes from around the globe. Prior to Eugene, Elgarico coached in Louisiana where she was a club coach at the NOLA Volleyball Club and Coconut Beach. She has coached at all levels in multiple competitive sports, leading players from ages 3-55 in volleyball, softball, and basketball.  From 2006-2009 she was the head coach at La Sierra University, an NAIA program in Riverside, California that, at the time, was transitioning to the NCAA.  Coach Elgarico played collegiate volleyball and softball at Defiance College, an NCAA Division III school in Ohio, and went on to graduate with a bachelor's degree in marine science from the University of South Carolina. 

One of the greatest players to ever don a Beacon uniform, Makenna Northern-Nichols has been an assistant with the Beacons since 2023. Northern's decorated playing career was highlighted by three straight NAIA All-American Honorable Mention selections between 2019-2021. She is the Beacons all-time leader for sets played, double-doubles, and assists, and holds the Bushnell record with 12 Cascade Collegiate Conference Athlete of the Week honors.  Playing five years with the Beacons, she was a five-time All-Cascade Conference selection, including four First-Team All-CCC honors. She was also the 2021 CCC Setter of the Year.