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Santa Barbara City College
The Official Home for Santa Barbara City College Vaqueros

Women's Volleyball

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Kat Niksto

Kat Niksto

Coach Niksto will begin her fifth year at SBCC in 2024.

Since the cancelled covid season in 2020, Niksto has led the Vaqueros to consecutive playoff berths for each of the past 3 seasons. In 2021, Niksto led the Vaqueros to one of its best records ever, going 23-5 overall and tying for first in the WSC-North with an 8-2 mark. During her time at SBCC Niksto has coached 6 First Team All Conference Selections, including 1 All SoCal Region Selection.

Additionally, Niksto has spent over 10 years as a club coach and executive for the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club and has been an assistant coach for the Laguna Blanca boys and girls teams for the last 8 years. The Owls' girls team won a CIF title in 2015.

In 2018, she coached UCSB's women's club team to a ninth-place national finish.

She's lived in Santa Barbara for most of her life, playing volleyball at Dos Pueblos High and enjoying a stellar career as an outside hitter at Pomona-Pitzer, where she was two-time All-Conference and All-Western Region. She was Pomona-Pitzer's female Athlete of the Year in her senior season.

Niksto earned a double BA in Psychology and Art from Pomona-Pitzer, then coached NCAA Division 1 volleyball at Temple University as the graduate assistant/director of operations for three years while getting her Master's of Education in Sports and Recreation Administration.

"I love the team aspect of volleyball," Niksto stated. "A balanced team working together, can overcome a team with just one superstar player. I pride myself on coaching strong teams that work together, and play hard for each other."

Niksto and her husband Jake have two sons, EJ and Quincy.