MIAMI (August 19, 2016) – FIU Volleyball Head Coach Rita Buck-Crockett has announced the hiring of Camilo Guerci and Ricardo Guimaraes as assistant coaches with the Panthers' program. Guerci will work with the indoor volleyball team, while Guimaraes will focus on the beach volleyball program.
 
"Bringing in Camilo and Rico completes the whole volleyball program, indoor and beach included," said Buck-Crockett.
 
Guerci spent last season as an assistant coach to the Northwood University volleyball team. With the Timberwolves, he was in charge of training the middle blockers and opposite hitters, along with defensive and blocking schemes. Guerci also scouted opposing defenses and aided in creating scouting reports. Off the court, he acted as the marketing liaison, assistant camp director and academic counselor.
 
Prior to his time at Northwood, Guerci spent one year as the head coach for Shepherd University in West Virginia. During his time with the Rams, the program enjoyed its best season in over 15 years, finishing with a top-10 regional ranking for the first time in school history and a third-place conference finish, its best finish in 10 years.
 
Guerci has also worked as an assistant coach for Fairmont State University from 2011-14 and has coached two club programs in the past six years (Elevation Volleyball Club, Cincinnati Attack Volleyball Club).
 
As a student-athlete, Guerci was a four-year letter winner at Mount Olive College, where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management in 2010. Guerci ranked second, nationally in Division I for hitting percentage (.484) and 14^th in blocking at the North Carolina institution.
 
"Camilo is coming in with a lot of experience as a Division II head coach and as an assistant," said Buck-Crockett. "He is from Miami, so this brings him home and also helps with our local recruiting. He has played every position, so he is going to bring a wealth of knowledge to our program."
 
Guimaraes is currently the USA Beach Volleyball National Team Coach for the U17 Elite International Team for boys and girls. He is also a head coach, recruiter and evaluator of High Performance U17-U26. Most recently, he worked as the assistant coach for Stetson University's indoor and beach volleyball programs.
 
Guimaraes has coached several volleyball clubs over the past 13 years including High Performance, Professional Volleyball Club, Club Volleyball DELA and Club Voleibol Tenerife (CVT). His most notable coaching experience is at the national level, having served as head coach of the USA National Training Team (Men and Women) in 2013, the Netherlands' Women's Beach Volleyball Team (2004) and the Brazilian Beach Volleyball Team (AVP and CBV) in 2003. Guimaraes was also the assistant coach for Brazil from 1998-99.
 
Guimaraes earned his Bachelor's Degree in Operational Events at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in 1995.
 
"Rico is known nationally as one of the best trainers," said Buck-Crockett.  "He is an exceptional trainer and is working with the men's and women's USA beach teams. He is also from Brazil, so he brings a big help to recruiting internationally."
 
The Panthers will begin the 2016 indoor volleyball season with three-straight home matches as part of the FIU Invite on August 26-27. FIU will host Coastal Carolina on Day One of the tournament at 7 p.m. and then face cross-town foe Miami at 11:30 a.m. and Florida A&M at 7 p.m. on August 27. All matches will be played on Lime Court at FIU Arena.

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.