Nike Volleyball Camp at St. Thomas Aquinas College

Thiago Lopes enters his second season as Head Coach of the St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Volleyball team. In his inaugural season (2023-2024), the Spartans captured the first-ever ECC Regular Season and Tournament Championships.

Lopes arrived in Sparkill after spending two seasons as an assistant coach for the Southern New Hampshire University Women's Volleyball program, where he helped to guide the the Penmen back to the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament in 2021, and won the NCAA East Region title for the first time ever in 2022, earning a spot in the NCAA Division II Championship in Seattle, Washington.

"With Coach Lopes at the helm, I am convinced we will be primed to pursue championships both athletically and academically for years to come", said STAC Director of Athletics Nicole Ryan. "Thiago brings forth a fantastic resume built on: recruiting, development, and a deep knowledge of the game. He has a great track record in molding young men into leaders on and off the court. The men's volleyball program is positioned for success with Thiago's leadership."

Prior to SNHU, Lopes served as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (2017-2021), where he worked primarily with the team's setters and defensive specialists. He also assisted in recruiting, with his efforts providing an expanded roster in 2020, which included Leigh Maher, who received the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year that season. Under his tutelage, Taylor Lindberg earned a Sun Belt Conference Setter of the Week award her senior year (2018), before inking a contract to play professionally in Europe. At Little Rock, he helped recruit the team that made it to the NIVC in 2018.

Additionally, Lopes served as the head coach for the men's club volleyball team at the University of San Francisco (2016-2017), where he helped build the team from the ground up and saw one player earn All-Conference honors, while two others received Honorable Mentions.

At the same time, Lopes was an associate coach for Sláinte Volleyball Club and helped coach 16-year-old boys’ and 14-year-old girls’ teams.

Lopes was a volunteer assistant coach for San Francisco’s NCAA women’s team for two seasons (2014-2016) and helped with recruiting, scouting, logistics and team camps. He started out as the beach volleyball team’s director of operations in January 2015.

Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Lopes was a setter for Fluminense FC, winning multiple local championships. The sports enthusiast has tied his passion for volleyball into his studies. Prior to graduating with a degree in international relations, Lopes focused his thesis on the politics within the Olympic Games through the history. Lopes earned his undergraduate degree from Brazil's Centro Universitário Curitiba - Unicuritiba. In 2009, Lopes coached the Unicuritiba men's squad to a program-best second place finish at the state championships.

However, his biggest accomplishment took place when he was in charge of the Department for International Affairs of World Youth Day Rio 2013, one of the largest events ever held in Brazil. Being responsible for groups of young people from all over the world and dealing frequently with Roman Curia, Lopes had the opportunity to be in touch with multiple cultures and improve his skill set in areas such as negotiation and conflict resolution. The highest point of his work came when he met and shook hands with Pope Francis. Also at San Francisco, Lopes was a campus minister leading social justice immersion trips to West Virginia (2015), Poland (2016) and Brazil (2017), a program he developed himself.

Lopes earned his master’s degree in international studies in 2015 from the University of San Francisco with a thesis of migration and adjustment of international student athletes. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in International Relations in 2012. At Little Rock, he pursued a master’s degree in sports management and higher education affairs. Along with his his native language of Portuguese, Lopes speaks English, German and Spanish. He is a Level I Coach certified by the South American Volleyball Confederation.

Megan Musselman joined the Monroe University Mustangs athletic department as the second head coach of the Monroe University Mustangs men's volleyball program in September 2024. She joins Monroe having most recently serving as an assistant men's and women's volleyball coach at both St. Thomas Aquinas College and Manhattanville University.

At St. Thomas Aquinas, Musselman helped guide the men’s volleyball team to the 2024 East Coast Conference Men’s Volleyball Championship. In her time at Manhattanville, the Valiants won the Skyline Conference Championship in 2022 and 2023, making a pair of NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Championship tournament appearances.

Musselman took over the men’s volleyball program at Monroe University ahead of its third season of competition. The Mustangs finished as the NJCAA Men’s Volleyball Invitational runner-up in each of its first two seasons. In 2024, Monroe claimed the inaugural NJCAA Region 15 Men’s Volleyball Championship title.

Musselman’s coaching and training experience goes beyond the collegiate realm. This past summer, she was the lead summer volleyball camp coach at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where she led practice sessions, supervised coaches, and developed camp curricula. Musselman first began honing her craft as a coach with the Missouri Juniors Volleyball Club and with the University of Missouri summer camps from Nov. 2019 through Aug. 2022. Musselman worked with Mizzou's coaching staff to lead a youth program focused on developing players. She specialized in training outside hitters and defensive specialists of all ages in addition to developing a physical conditioning program. While coaching with the Missouri Juniors Volleyball Club, she led a 13-under team to a Top-5 finish in the Heart of America USAV Region.

Musselman completed her collegiate volleyball career at Columbia College. A decorated student-athlete, Musselman was named an Academic All-American and a three-time Academic All-Conference team member in her time with the Cougars, while also making four appearances in the NAIA National Tournament, including a national runner-up finish. Prior to college, Musselman was a member of the Illini Elite Volleyball Club that won the 2017 AAU Open Junior National Championship.

A native of Metamora, Ill., Musselman received her master of science in sports business and entertainment management from Manhattanville University in May 2024. She previously completed her bachelor of science in biology with a minor in sport psychology at Columbia College in April 2022.

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