ACTION PHOTO GALLERY
Last Updated: August 2, 2010
Nicole Tallarida `02, a former player for the New Jersey City University women’s volleyball team from 1998-2001, begins her second season as head coach of the Gothic Knights in 2010. Tallarida, whose playing name was Nicole Pilla, is the 11th coach in the 28-year history of the program.
In Tallarida’s first season in 2009, she had the difficult task of building a program that had graduated six of seven starters from the 2008 campaign. Despite this obstacle, the team won seven matches and sophomore outside hitter Tabitha Jordan, who had only started twice as a freshman in 2008, earned Honorable Mention All-New Jersey Athletic Conference accolades and NJAC Player of the Week honors (October 5).
Additionally, Tallarida, an educator by trade, presided over a program with the third-highest cumulative grade point average (2.881). Junior setter Alex Johanesen, the only returning starter from 2008, earned NJCU’s Gothic Knight Academic Achievement Award—presented to the male and female athlete with the highest GPA. Johanesen and senior outside hitter Melissa Loo also collected Academic All-NJAC distinction.
|
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
- Head Coach, New Jersey City University, 2009-present
- At NJCU, coached one (1) All- New Jersey Athletic Conference, two (2) Academic All-NJAC and one (1) NJAC Player of the Week
- Head Coach, Queen of Peace High School varsity, 2008
- Head Coach, Queen of Peace High School junior varsity, 2007
- Played four seasons at NJCU from 1998-01 as a setter and defensive specialist
- Helped NJCU reach the 2001 NJAC quarterfinals and win the Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) title
- Earned All-League honors in volleyball and softball as an athlete at Queen of Peace
|
Tallarida, hired on March 2, 2009, succeeded Christopher Feliciano who posted a 131-39 record in five seasons from 2004-08.
While this is Tallarida’s first collegiate coaching position, she returned to her alma mater after two seasons at Queen of Peace High School in North Arlington, NJ. She served as the varsity girls’ coach in 2008 and was the junior varsity coach in 2007. She also ran Queen of Peace’s eighth-grade volleyball camp for two years.
Alice De Fazio, NJCU Director of Athletics, said: “I am confident in Nicole’s ability to guide our women’s volleyball program. As an alum and a former NJCU student-athlete, I feel she is the ideal candidate to continue the success we have achieved in previous years.”
Tallarida’s hiring adds yet another “family” to NJCU athletics, as she is married to assistant baseball coach Michael Tallarida. It will add to the other families that have shared time together as part of the Gothic Knight program. In recent years, NJCU has had more than a dozen siblings competing in one of NJCU’s 15 athletic programs.
Tallarida played four seasons for four different coaches—the late Frank Cella, Henry Martinez, Georgi Vishegonov and Peter Nguyen—as a setter and defensive specialist. In all, she played 85 matches and 253 sets over four years and collected 496 assists, 354 digs, 75 kills and 57 service aces, while helping NJCU win 44 matches. As a senior, the club went 13-13 overall, reached the New Jersey Athletic Conference quarterfinals and won the Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) championship.
At the time of her graduation she ranked fifth in school history in assists, 10th in matches played and 11th in digs. Today, she still is ninth in school history in assists and tied for 21st in digs.
A four-year two-sport athlete at Queen of Peace High School, she played volleyball and softball for the Griffins and earned Honorable Mention All-League honors in each. A two-year varsity volleyball player for Coach Donna Giovia, she was a team captain and earned that program’s MVP and Coach’s Award. She also played four seasons of varsity softball for Coach Sue Murden, and served as a captain while helping the Griffins to the Bergen County and state tournament every year.
Tallarida is a December 2002 graduate of NJCU with a bachelor of arts in Special Education/Teacher of the Handicapped and holds a May 2005 master’s degree from Montclair State University in reading (reading specialist). She has worked as a special education teacher for the Kearny (NJ) Board of Education for seven years. She intends to eventually become a reading specialist and college professor.
Outside of volleyball, Tallarida is a private reading skills tutor and has also worked with autistic children since she was a college student.
The 31-year-old resides in Nutley, NJ with her husband Michael and their two-year-old son, David. Outside of teaching and volleyball, Tallarida enjoys spending time with her son, reading and traveling; the family visits Disney World once per year.
