With first-year head coach Antonia Sweet at the reins, the Purchase men's volleyball team advanced to the Skyline Conference playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. Despite a playoff loss to No. 3 Sage College in the first round of the tournament, the Panthers thrived in 2016, adding two more wins from the previous season and finishing with an overall record of 12-17 (6-10 SKY).
Sweet was named the head men's and women's volleyball coach at Purchase in January of 2016. She came to the Panthers by way of Vassar College, where she held an assistant coaching position. She was a mainstay at VC dating back to 1998 and had two stints at the college, one from 1998-2010 and then another from 2014-15. After serving as a volunteer assistant men's club volleyball coach at Marist College in 2014, she returned to VC as an assistant in 2014. Â
Prior to her work with the Red Foxes, Sweet was also an assistant women's volleyball coach at Bard College in 2012, where she helped the Raptors more than double their win total from the previous season. In her previous stint at a Brewer, Sweet was an assistant men's and women's volleyball coach, where she assisted with recruiting, fundraising, community service and game preperation. During the 2009-10 seasons, she was the head men's coach at VC, helping the Brewers to a Metro Division championship, while coaching the Metro Division Player and Newcomer of the Year during a Coach of the Year campaign.
Sweet also held coaching stops at the University of South Dakota from 1996-97 and Northwestern State University in 1995-96, both as a graduate assistant. She served as a volunteer assistant volleyball coach at Vermillion High School in 1996-98, helping the squad to a Class A South Dakota State title. Sweet has also served as the head girls' varsity coach at Fairport School District, The Aquinas Institute, while also holding the club head men's position and at the University of Rochester.
