One of the SVC's all-time volleyball greats, is being inducted into the Capital University Athletic Hall of Fame, for her career exploits with the Crusaders. Unioto High School graduate and 1999 SVC Co-Player of the Year Nici Workman arrived at Capital University the following year and helped turn a .500 record volleyball program into one of the dominant teams in the Ohio Athletic Conference for the next four years and beyond.
A four-year letter winner, Workman became a regular starter as an outside hitter almost immediately. In 2000, she posted 460 kills and hit 23.9 percent with 275 digs, which was just the start to a promising career. As a sophomore she broke in Capital's new state-of-the-art athletic facility behind a team-high 513 kills, which at the time was second-most all-time in a single season, and hit at a 26.9 percent clip. She was named First Team All-OAC for the first of three times in her career, and was tabbed Academic All-OAC honorable mention following the season.
Workman outdid herself during her junior year, tallying a new program record 585 kills and possessed an outstanding .303 attack percentage, in addition to 66 service aces. As if that was not enough, she went on to rank second of the team with 467 digs and third in total blocks (73). Those numbers garnered her recognition on the 2002 AVCA All-Great Lakes Region team and later was named OAC Player of the Year. On a national scale was honored as a 2002 Second Team Academic All-American by ESPN The Magazine and CoSIDA. It would not be the only time she found herself on all of those lists over the course of her career. That year, the Crusaders set what was then a school record in wins (30) and marked the first time the program hit the 30-win plateau.
Her senior season marked the program's second OAC Regular Season Championship in its history after going 8-1 in conference play in 2003. Along the way, Workman put forth another stellar year with 468 kills, 54 service aces, 432 digs, and 100 total blocks to fuel the Crusaders and put her in select company on a national level. In addition to her all-conference, all-region, and Academic All-American honors that she collected, Workman was also crowned an athletic All-American for the first time and hit the pinnacle of honors after being named ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year.
Workman graduated as the OAC's career kills leader with 2,026, which is also a Capital program record. She holds the school record for career service aces (201), which ranks 10th in the OAC.
She graduated summa cum laude from Capital in 2004 with a degree in economics and then went on to graduated cum laude from the University of Cincinnati College of Law en route to becoming a top-rated attorney in Columbus. Workman also serves as the president of the Capital University Alumni Varsity C and is the president-elect of the Capital University Alumni Advisory Board. She and her husband, Donald, are parents to two young girls and reside in nearby Blacklick, Ohio.
Photo below, from the Capital University Athletics website, features all four of the inductees going into the Capital University Hall of Fame, including Nici Workman's volleyball coach, Pam Briggs.