“I am so happy to have the opportunity to work with Lauren and the 13 Travel Team.  I love working with this age group and helping these young athletes grow and develop into skilled volleyball players that love to play the game!”

Candace Novoselnik is the Head Volleyball Coach and PE Teacher at Sidwell Friends School.  She led the program to a 2014 AA ISL Division Championship more than 15 years. Sidwell  was recently the runner-up in the DC State Championships the same year she was awarded DCSAA Coach of the Year in 2018.

Prior to her coaching career, Novoselnik played volleyball professionally for 11 seasons and was a member of the USA Women’s National Team, and including pipeline teams Youth, Junior, A2 National Teams as well.  She was a setter in the 2002 World Grand Prix team.  Throughout her career, Novoselnik played in countries such as Spain, Slovenia, Germany, Turkey, Indonesia, France, and Italy.  She was voted Best Setter in France in 2010 and as well as was one of the top servers in the league (Ligue AF).  While in Germany, her team won the 2007 DVV Cup Final (Deutsche Bundesliga) and finished top 4 in the league (Serie A1) in Italy.

After finishing her professional career, Novoselnik began coaching in Ljubljana, Slovenia with UOK Vital volleyball club.  She worked with 13-14 year old’s and guided them to a 11-1 record her first season. 

Played NCAA volleyball and graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in American Studies.  Made the Pac-10 All-Academic Team and broke Cal hitting percentage record with .971 hitting percentage (11 kills, no errors, 12 attempts). 

Candace currently lives in Olney, MD with her husband, Damjan and their three young children, Ella, Urban, and Vida.