Hickey named 2023 WVC Coach of the Year

Of West Valley's five Coast Conference championships in 2022-23, maybe the most noteworthy was the undefeated Coast title by Viking tennis. It was just five short years ago WVC Coach Lauren Hickey re-started a program that hadn't seen a service ace for 30 years. That first year, 2019, the Vikings went an understandable 1-13 in the Coast.

Fast-forward to 2023, and Hickey led her Vikings to a 12-0 Coast mark and an undisputed title. The only loss the 2023 Vikings absorbed to a California community college program was in the CCCAA NorCal finals. Appropriately, Hickey was named the 2023 West Valley Coach of the Year at yesterday's Scarf Ceremony, the annual celebration of student-athlete graduation.

Hickey's teams have been ITA Scholar teams every year sinch she came to Saratoga and West Valley tennis is always at or near the top when it comes to overall WVC team GPA every semester. Her 2023 Vikings featured three All-Coast selections, Sonya Hu, Lindsay Lee and Abigail Prokter, who were joined by Brynn McKenzie, Lavanika Sharma and Tal Volinsky as CCCAA state tournament qualifiers. Prokter captured the ITA NorCal singles championship - she won it with Seraphina Vossen in doubles in 2021 - in October.

Hickey shared the Coast Conference Coast of the Year in 2022, but, in 2023, she was the unanimous, undisputed Coach of the Year.

West Valley began awarding the Coach of the Year in 2018, with a break in 2021. Past recipients are:

2018: Willo Rodriguez (aquatics)

2019: Armen Zakarian (beach/indoor volleyball)

2020: Erika Vargas (women's water polo)

2022: Erika Vargas (women's water polo/swimming)