Utah Valley University Athletics

The third softball head coach in Utah Valley's NCAA Division I history, Nikki Palmer made history in 2014 during her first season at the helm of the Wolverines. With four consecutive wins at the program's first-ever WAC Tournament in Seattle, Washington, UVU Softball became the first team in the school's NCAA era to earn a berth in the postseason. In leading her team to the monumental feat in only her first season, Palmer became the first head coach at UVU to take a team into the postseason.

In her second season at the helm (2015), Palmer continued to excel as she guided UVU softball to its first-ever win over a nationally ranked opponent by shutting out No. 25 Cal State Fullerton, 9-0, in a run-rule shortened six innings. She also helped her team lead the nation in double plays that season by turning a school record 45 of them for an average of 0.76 double plays per game. 

Again this past season (2016), Palmer and her Wolverines managed to shine on the diamond as they broke a number of school records. Her 2016 squad not only set the highest stolen base percentage mark in program history with an .833 clip (50-of-60), but also a new record for total walks in a season with 181, as well as throwing out the most would-be base stealers with 25 and picking off the most runners with five. Individually, senior speedster Morgan Smith also became the program's all-time stolen base leader (61), all-time triples leader (11), leader in career games played (219) and single-season stolen base record holder (24), while junior pitcher Bailey Moore became the program's career leader in total appearances (127), games finished (37) and most groundouts (817). The 2016 team also shined in the classroom as it put up one of the highest term GPA's in program history with a 3.30 spring semester GPA as well as having 13 student-athletes named Academic All-WAC. 

Plagued with injuries, Palmer's 2016 squad finished the year with a 9-43 record and tied for fifth place in the WAC standings with a 3-12 league clip. Late in the season the team picked things up, however, as it won three games down the stretch, including scoring a school record 21 runs en route to a 21-6 win at Portland State and another WAC Tournament victory with a 4-0 shut out victory over the host Seattle U Redhawks in the tournament's opening round.  

Despite finishing the 2015 season with an 18-41 record and a sixth-place finish in the WAC (3-12), Palmer once again led her youthful squad to a deep run at the 2015 WAC Tournament by going 2-2 with a pair of wins over the higher seeded Seattle U Redhawks. During the regular season, the second-year coach also guided her club to wins over Wisconsin (9-5) and Indiana (4-1) of the Big Ten Conference, Texas Tech (6-5) of the Big 12, Virginia (5-4) of the ACC, UConn (4-3) of the American Athletic Conference, New Mexico (9-3) of the Mountain West, as well as no-hitting neighboring rival BYU of the West Coast Conference en route to a 13-0 five-inning victory over the Cougars.

The 2015 team also set a number of records, as freshman slugger Jaylen Watson tied the single-season record with 13 home runs and infielders Tiani Hensley and Brittney Vansway helped the Wolverines lead the nation in the most double plays turned, as Hensley recorded a record 183 assists while Vansway turned a record 25 double plays. 

Fielding a young team and bringing a brand new coaching staff with her, Palmer's 2014 squad finished the season with a record of 18-42 and a fifth-place finish in the WAC standings at 5-9. Still, the team found a way to win at the right time, going unbeaten and knocking off top-seeded New Mexico State twice en route to the WAC Tournament title.

With the automatic bid secured, the Wolverines trekked to Eugene, Oregon, to join Albany, Wisconsin, and No. 1 overall seed Oregon in the NCAA Regional. The Wolverines' historic season came to an end after losses to Oregon and Albany at the Regional.

Aside from its first postseason berth, a number of other 'firsts' were achieved during Palmer's first season in Orem. On March 13, senior RHP Josi Summers became the first UVU pitcher to throw a no-hitter when she blanked Albany in a 3-0 win. Summers ended her career in the circle that season as UVU's all-time leader in wins (37) and strikeouts (392). The 2014 squad also faced the program's highest ranked opponent on a pair of occasions, meeting No. 5 Michigan in early March before facing No. 1 Oregon twice in April and again in May at the NCAA Regional.

Under Palmer's leadership, the 2014 Wolverines set a new program record for home runs hit in a season with 51, besting the previous record of 49. In addition, Palmer's aggressiveness on the base paths also showed as her team compiled an .820 stolen base percentage -- the second highest single season mark in school history.

Palmer comes to UVU with an already established familiarity with the state of Utah and its softball circles. For the last two seasons, she has held an assistant coaching position at Weber State, which was preceded by a year in the same position at Utah State. In 2012, her first with WSU, she helped lead the Wildcats to a tie for second place in the Mountain Division of the Pacific Coast Softball Conference -- one the best seasons in program history.

With WSU, Palmer was directly responsible for developing the Wildcat offense, creating independent hitting drills for the team. As such, she had a hand in the development of 2012's PCSC Mountain Division Player of the Year, Lyndsey Minnich. Third-best in the league, Minnich batted .453 in conference-only play, including a slugging percentage of .830 and a .613 on-base percentage.

With USU in 2011, she worked primarily with the outfield and also held responsibilities in establishing a recruiting system and database -- laying the groundwork for her future recruiting endeavors at Weber State and, now, at Utah Valley.

Prior to her time in Logan, she held two other assistant coaching stints. She spent two years with San Francisco State and another with her alma mater at UC San Diego, helping the Tritons reach the West Regional of the 2008 NCAA Division II tournament.

A native of Temecula, Calif., Palmer played four seasons at UCSD. She started 146 of the 158 games she appeared in during her career, playing primarily at catcher. She graduated in 2007 with a degree in sociology and earned a master's degree from National University in 2010.