Florida Gulf Coast University Women's Volleyball

Baziquetto-Allen begins her first season with the Eagles in 2025. She arrives at FGCU following an exceptional tenure at Florida SouthWestern State College, where she became the first head coach in NJCAA Division I history to lead her program to three consecutive National Championships. Under her leadership, the FSW Buccaneers amassed an impressive 145-25 (.853) overall record, including a dominant 65-5 (.929) mark in conference play. “Thais’ passion, experience, commitment to excellence and connection to the Southwest Florida community will champion FGCU volleyball’s continued success,” Hargis said. While at FSW, Baziquetto-Allen was named NJCAA National Coach of the Year in three straight seasons (2022-24) and coached three consecutive NJCAA National Players of the Year including 2024 Eagle Barbara Koehler and current Eagle Julija Grubisic-Cabo. In her final three seasons with the Bucs, Baziquetto-Allen won as many National Championships (3) as total losses with an 84-3 overall record. During her six years with the Bucs she recruited and coached 10 NJCAA All-Americans including eight 1st Team All-Americans. In 2020 she earned the AVCA Diversity Award and in 2023 she was named the AVCA Volleydictorian for her work both with her program as well as the AVCA. Before her time at FSW, Baziquetto-Allen was the head coach at Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kansas, where she guided the Lady Saints to an 86-28 (.754) record over three seasons. She was one of just three NJCAA coaches to receive the AVCA Thirty Under 30 Award in 2017, recognizing the sport’s rising coaching talent. Baziquetto-Allen began her coaching career as an Assistant Coach at Lamar Community College in Colorado. In nine years as an NJCAA head coach, Baziquetto-Allen had an all-time record of 231-53 and a 109-10 in conference play with seven Conference Championships. Along with success on the court, Baziquetto-Allen’s teams won nine consecutive AVCA Team Academic Awards for their accomplishments in the classroom. A native of Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil, Baziquetto-Allen played collegiately at Western New Mexico University and St. Petersburg College, earning Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Academic honors. She resides in Cape Coral with her husband, Roy Allen, and their dogs, Kai and Ace.  

Chris Sweat was named head coach of the FGCU beach volleyball program in January 2020 after spending the previous five seasons as an assistant coach, and he has guided the Eagles to a 69-44 record as a head coach that includes the 2022 ASUN Coach of the Year honor. 2023 Under coach Sweat the Eagles advanced to the ASUN Tournament championship match and was only defeated by Stetson and North Florida in conference action all season long. In non conference play FGCU defeated No. 14 FIU, No. 15 FAU, Tampa, Mercer, UTEP, Coastal Carolina, Houston Christian University, College of Charleston, Erksine and PBA. HISTORIC SEASON Sweat's 2022 team finished with a program-high 29 wins, and Sweat earned his 50th career victory in just his third season as coach. Sweat became the first coach in FGCU program history to earn ASUN Coach of the Year accolade after guiding his team to its 11th-consecutive appearance in the ASUN Championship. The Eagles earned wins over two top-25 teams in 2022, downing No. 17 Stetson and No. 18 South Carolina while also taking down seven different conference squads. Sweat's FGCU program again ascended to a No. 20 ranking in the AVCA Top 20 in March 2022 and maintained that ranking through the ASUN Tournament. COMING OFF COVID After a Covid-19 shortened 2020 campaign, Sweat led the Green and Blue to a 17-15 record in 2021 while navigating through the Covid-19 pandemic. For the first time in program history, the team spent three weeks ranked in the AVCA Top 20, checking in at No. 20 from late March through early April. On top of that, the Eagles were ranked 20th in the CollegeBeachVB.com poll on March 22 and 29.   On the court, FGCU faced the toughest schedule in program history, going up against 11 nationally ranked teams. They knocked off No. 14 Stetson on March 20 before producing its highest-ranked win in program history against No. 11 Florida Atlantic on April 13. More signs of the program’s progress included four of their ranked losses being in 3-2 fashion and 18 pairs producing single-match wins over their ranked foes. The previous season high was six.   A trio of freshmen, led by First Team All-ASUN selection Kacie Johnson, won at least 17 matches apiece. Trinity Rosales and Madie Lichty also helped the group finish 57-34 combined. A pair of seniors closed their FGCU careers on a high note as Kayla Whetstone became the program’s all-time wins leader, was named First Team All-ASUN and was tabbed the ASUN Scholar Athlete of the Year while Giovanna Borgiotti became one of just three Eagles all-time to win at least 60 matches. On top of that, the No. 3 duo of Maddison Parmelly and Lexie Hamilton were named Second Team All-ASUN. PROGRAM’S GROWTH Named to VolleyballMag.com’s Under 40 Coaching Hotshots list in January 2020, Sweat has been instrumental in the growth of the Green and Blue. The Eagles have compiled an 80-56 record since losing the first nine matches of his assistant coaching tenure, and the ascent started with wins in four of the final six matches of his opening season. Overall, the team has had a winning record in each year since. Following that strong finish, Sweat helped lead the program to its first winning season in his second season, which included a third-place finish at the ASUN tournament. The 2017 season then produced a program-record 15 wins and a runner-up postseason finish. In 2018, the Green and Blue tied the 15-win record, defeated No. 15 Florida Atlantic for its first win over a ranked team and earned the No. 2 seed in the ASUN Championship for the first time. This past season, the team won a best ever 18 matches and recorded a runner-up finish at the ASUN tournament, nearly knocking off national No. 8 Stetson in the finals.   PRIOR TO FGCU Prior to joining the staff at FGCU, Sweat served as the head varsity volleyball coach at Barron Collier High School and spent six years coaching the USA South volleyball club. As an athlete with 17 years of playing experience, he won the AAU national championship in Imperial Beach, Calif. in 2000 and compiled a five-year streak with a top-3 or better finish in the event. Sweat, who resides in Naples with his wife Alyssa, earned a bachelor of science in resort and hospitality management from FGCU in 2007. His brother, Nick, is married to former FGCU indoor star and 2016 beach volleyball Olympian, Brooke Youngquist. THE SWEAT FILE FGCU Record 69-44 (.658/4 yrs.) ASUN Regular Season n/a ASUN Regular Season Finishes n/a ASUN Tournament 11-5 (.727) ASUN Tournament Finishes 3rd Place (2021) 2nd Place (2022) 2nd Place (2023) ASUN All-Conference Selections First Team (4) - Kayla Whetstone (2021), Kacie Johnson (2021), Kacie Johnson (2022), Maddison Parmelly (2022) Second Team (6) - Maddison Parmelly (2021), Lexie Hamilton (2021), Trinity Rosales (2022), Shelby Beiser (2022), Emma Hansen (2022), Kaitlyn Luebbers (2022) ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year 1 - Kayla Whetstone (2021) ASUN All-Freshmen Team 2 - Kacie Johnson (2021), Kaitlyn Luebbers (2022) ASUN All-Academic Team 4 - Kayla Whetstone (2021), Giovanna Borgiotti (2021), Snowy Burnam (2022), Maddison Parmelly (2022) ASUN All-Tournament Team 4 - Maddison Parmelly (2021), Lexie Hamilton (2021), Maddison Parmelly (2022), Kacie Johnson (2022) ASUN Pair of the Year 1 - Kacie Johnson and Maddison Parmelly (2022) YEAR-BY-YEAR COACHING RECORD Year School Overall Record Conference Record (Finish) Conference Tournament Postseason 2020 FGCU 4-0 n/a n/a (Covid) n/a 2021 FGCU 17-15 n/a 2-2 (3rd Place) n/a 2022 FGCU     29-9 n/a 6-1 (3rd Place) n/a TOTAL 7 Seasons 50-26 (.628) n/a 8-3 (.727) n/a * - ASUN Conference Regular Season Champions # - ASUN Conference Tournament Champions UPDATED: 8/26/2023