Southeast Missouri State University Athletics

        Nikki Buchholz is in her seventh season as an assistant coach with Southeast Missouri volleyball. Buchholz coaches the middle blockers and rightside hitters. Aside from daily coaching responsibilities on the court, Buchholz also serves as recruiting coordinator as well as oversees all camps and game-day operations. 
 

    Buchholz is also heavily involved in the coordination of Redhawks volleyball camps and clinics. Redhawks clinics are designed to bring young players to Houck Field House during their off seasons and get them excited about playing the game of volleyball. Clinics are very low commitment but feature a great turnout each week. Redhawks Camps are designed to be more intensive as players work on all volleyball skills as well as teamwork, confidence building, and volleyball I.Q. 

    At the conclusion of the 2015 season, the Redhawks ranked third in the conference overall in blocks averaging 1.99 per set. They finished just .05 blocks/set behind co-leaders Tennessee State and Morehead State. In conference play, there was no bigger force on the net than Southeast as they posted 2.40 blocks/set. Second-place TSU finished .19 blocks/set behind SEMO.
 

    During the 2014 season, Southeast Missouri led the Ohio Valley Conference, for the second consecutive year, in team blocks with 2.22 blocks per set; 0.28 blocks per set more than second-place Tennessee Tech (1.94). Individually, Buchholz coached two of the top-three blockers in the league in Nzingha Clarke (1.10 blocks per set) and Taylor Masterson (1.03). Each earned post-season OVC honors. 
 

    In 2013, the Redhawks middle blockers proved to be impenetrable walls on the net. The Redhawks were the top-blockers in the league as they averaged 2.39 blocks per set. In all, Southeast posted 316 total blocks; 72.5 more than the second-most team, Eastern Illinois. The Redhawks’ 2.39 blocks/set mark was up from 2012 in which they averaged 2.21, which ranked second in the league. Both years are up dramatically from 2010 (her first season) when they averaged 1.66. 
 

    Since joining the Southeast coaching staff, Buchholz has mentored four-time All-OVC performer Emily Coon (2010-13). Coon garnered All-Newcomer honors as a freshman and was named to the All-OVC team all three seasons after. Coon was a top blocker in the league throughout her career. Buchholz also helped guide Masterson to All-Newcomer honors during Masterson’s first season in 2012 and All-OVC honors in 2014. 
 

    Prior to Southeast, Buchholz served as a graduate assistant coach at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. During her graduate assistantship, Buchholz assisted with recruiting, match and practice video breakdown, while also training middles and blocking for ESU. She earned her Master’s Degree in Sports Management in 2011 from ESU. 
 

    Buchholz graduated from Franklin Pierce University, a Division II school in New Hampshire, where she was a four-time All-Northeast 10 Conference player.
 

    During her junior year, she was named to the All-Region Second Team in 2007. She was the first player to ever be named to an All-Region Team in Franklin Pierce’s 20-year program history. Her 159 total blocks led the Northeast-10 Conference, as did her 1.26 blocks per game. She was also named team MVP that season. 
 

    At the completion of her four-year career at Franklin Pierce, Buchholz guided the Ravens to four consecutive Northeast-10 Conference Championship appearances. She was also named conference player of the week five times and set the school career record for kills (1,271) and blocks (493). 

    Buchholz also excelled in the classroom, as she graduated cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications with a minor in Creative Writing. She was a three-time First-Team Academic All-Conference selection.
 

    Buchholz is currently working towards her doctorate degree in Educational Leadership in Policy Analysis from the University of Missouri.