Lenika Vazquez

Lenika Vazquez was named the 11th head coach in Canisius College volleyball program history, after serving four seasons at Butler University.  As a member of the Bulldogs staff, Vazquez helped her squad to 73 wins, highlighted by back-to-back 20-win campaigns in 2013 and 2014.

Butler University also earned a berth into the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament in 2013, followed by a trip to the Big East semifinal round in 2014 after the team went 20-10 overall and 12-6 in league play.  In her time on staff, six players earned all-league honors, and setter MaKayla Ferguson was named the Big East Freshman of the Year in 2014.

The Buffalo, NY native coached at South Suburban College in Illinois before taking over as an assistant coach at Butler in the winter of 2012.  She has over 10 years of high school and collegiate volleyball coaching experience.

Vazquez was named the head coach at SSC in South Holland, ILL, in the fall of 2010.  At South Suburban, Vazquez was charged with recruiting and developing players.  Vazquez also co-founded the Illiana Explosive Volleyball Club in Crete, ILL, a suburb of Chicago.  In addition to coaching in the Chicago area. Vazquez worked as a Personal Training Director at LA Fitness in Oakbrook, ILL.

Prior to her time at South Suburban, Vazquez was the head coach at Chicago State University for 3 seasons.  While at CSU, Vazquez proved to be a talented and relentless recruiter and coach.  She had 3 players break school records for kills, blocks, assists, and digs and had several players earn academic honors.

After coaching 2 seasons as a head coach at the high school level in Illinois, Vazquez began her college coaching career in  2002 as an assistant coach at her alma mater, Southern Illinois University.  While at SIU, Vazquez was involved with recruiting, travel, training, game management, and community service projects.  In her first season at SIU, she helped the Salukis to a 23-10 season and a first-ever appearance in the Missouri Valley Conference final.

As a player, Vazquez was a defensive specialist at SIU from 1996-99.  She was an integral part of Southern Illinois’ 1998 squad that went 19-12 and 12-6 in the MVC.  She played in college for Sonya (Locke) Hopkins, who is coordinator of academic support at Butler University.

She is a native of Buffalo, NY.  Vazquez earned a degree in business management from Souther Illinois University in 2001.