St. Olaf College Women's Volleyball

TITLE Head Volleyball CoachEMAIL [email protected] Alicia Wood is in her first season as the head volleyball coach at St. Olaf in 2024-25 after being hired as the program's 11th head coach on June 4, 2024. Wood came to St. Olaf after spending the previous four seasons as the head womens volleyball coach at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Ill. In her final season leading the Lady Blues, Wood was named the 2023 Midwest Conference Coach of the Year after guiding her team to a second-place finish in the regular season and a runner-up finish in the MWC Tournament.    Last fall, Wood led Illinois College to an 18-13 overall record, including a 7-1 mark in conference play, culminating in the programs first appearance in the championship match of the MWC Tournament in over two decades.The Lady Blues qualified for the MWC Tournament in each of Woods three full seasons after 2020 season was canceled nine matches in due to the COVID-19 pandemic.    Over three-plus seasons at Illinois College, Woods teams won a total of 46 matches, picking up at least 11 victories and five MWC wins in all three complete seasons while going a combined 18-6 against conference foes in the regular season. She coached eight All-MWC honorees over the last three seasons (no awards in 2020), including four total selections and two first-team honorees in 2023. Under Woods leadership, Illinois College had the 2023 MWC Newcomer of the Year and its second-ever American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Region selection in 2023. In April 2023, Wood was one of 30 volleyball coaches from across the country at all levels to be named to the AVCA Thirty Under 30 list.   Prior to her time at Illinois College, Wood was an assistant womens volleyball coach at DePauw University during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The Tigers made NCAA Tournament appearances in both seasons, including advancing to the second round in 2018, and won their first North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament title in 2019. Wood was part of a coaching staff that produced the NCAC Player of the Year in both seasons and had a pair of AVCA All-Americans. Across her time at Illinois College and DePauw, Wood has led or been on the coaching staff of teams that have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award in five of the last six seasons.   After transferring from NCAA Division III Bluffton University, Wood graduated from NCAA Division II Ursuline College in 2015 as a double major in sports management and business administration with a minor in coaching. She started her coaching career at the high school and club levels in Ohio and Indiana before serving as an assistant coach at Cuyahoga Community College in Highland, Ohio for three seasons prior to coaching at DePauw."

Emma Nelson was named the 12th head volleyball coach at St. Olaf on April 24, 2026.   A former two-sport athlete in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), Nelson came to St. Olaf after three seasons as the lead assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, S.D. In her playing days, Nelson was a volleyball and basketball student-athlete at St. Catherine University. Her first day at St. Olaf will be May 4.    After being hired as a full-time assistant coach in May of 2023, Nelson helped Augustana to 38 wins, including 25 in the highly-competitive Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), over the last three seasons. With the Vikings, she was involved with practice design, opponent scouting, and player development, while also directing the program's recruiting efforts. Nelson also led positional training for defense, serve receive, and blocking, coordinated team travel logistics, and organized summer volleyball camps, and hosted club tournaments.    Prior to her time at Augustana, Nelson spent one year working in the MIAC office as the assistant director. In that role, she supported conference initiatives related to competition oversight, sportsmanship, and diversity, equity, and inclusion programming, directed the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) initiatives, and organized educational events focused on student-athlete mental health, career development, and leadership.   Nelson holds a bachelor of arts in psychology from St. Catherine University and a master of arts in sport administration and leadership from Augustana University. She was a team captain in both volleyball and basketball as a student-athlete at St. Kate's. Nelson is also a member of Women Leaders in Sports and WeCOACH.

Dawn Cherwinka is in her first season as an assistant coach for the St. Olaf volleyball program in 2025-26 after joining the staff in August 2025. Cherwinka came to St. Olaf after seven seasons as an assistant coach at Luther College. Prior to that, she coached 27 seasons of high school volleyball in Minnesota, including being the head coach at Faribault High School (2003-11) and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (1996-2003). While at Faribault, she was named the 3A Coach of the Year in 2011. Cherwinka has also coached at the club level for Northern Lights (2009, 2011-14) and Club Falcons Volleyball (2003-12). She holds a bachelor of arts in fine art from Winona State University, a bachelor of arts in art education from Mankato State University, and a master of arts in educational leadership with an emphasis in technology from the University of Minnesota Moorhead.