Brazos Valley Juniors: Coaching Staff

Meet the 2013 Brazos Valley Juniors Coaching Staff. You will find them well qualified to help our athletes improve their volleyball skills.

 2013 Brazos Valley Juniors Coaching Staff

Please review the brief summaries of our coaches for the coming season. You will find that they are well-qualified to help you improve your game!  Coaches are listed alphabetically.

*Mary Burger-A Senior at Texas A&M from Clear Lake High School, Mary was a three year Varsity player and played club for Pearland Juniors. As a 3 year member of the Texas A&M club team, Mary was a member of the National Championship squad in 2011. Mary loves the game and has worked summer camps at Pearland Juniors and the Texas A&M Summer camps. Her patience with young people and her knowledge of the game will be an asset to our staff.

*Ian Calandra-Ian, a Kinesiology major and member of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M and a member of the Texas A&M Men’s club team has a passion for life and packs plenty in it. He is an All League selection on the Men’s team, attends the Aggie women’s team practices to learn more about coaching and serve as a practice player when needed. Ian also coaches the Women’s Club team at A&M and has become a fixture coaching Texas A&M summer camps. Ian’s enthusiasm for life and for the game will be a positive impact on our players.

*Laura Jo Clanton- We are really glad to have Laura Jo return to us for a fourth season as she has guided her players to great team success and individual improvement in her past tenure with us. She coached our 14 Red team two separate years to a bronze medal finish at the Lone Star Classic in the Select Division. Laura Jo was the head coach at St. Joseph’s Middle School for two seasons in addition to getting her coaching start coaching teams for the College Station Parks league, Aggieland Summer League and working several years of Bryan High Summer Camp. She also worked Texas A&M Volleyball camps and served as a Volleyball official for the Brazos Valley chapter.  She is a former Brazos Valley Juniors player and graduate of Bryan High School, Texas A&M and DePaul University in Chicago and is currently working for the Texas A&M Health Science Center as a Communications Specialist.

*Christiana Clark- Another former Brazos Valley Juniors player returns to our staff and we are glad to have her. She was introduced to the game by Laurie Corbelli, who was her summer rec league coach in 5th grade. Christiana learned to love the game at that young age and has always looked for ways to stay near the game. She will graduate from Texas A&M and the Mays Business school in December. While playing club and high school ball, she was also invited to participate in a USA High Performance camp. She graduated from Allen Academy and has returned there to coach. She served as Allen’s middle school coach one season and is now the Head JV coach and Varsity Assistant.

*John Corbelli-We are pleased that Texas A&M Associate Head Coach, John Corbelli returns to our staff for his third season. In his first year of coaching with us, he coached the team to a second place finish at the Lone Star Regional Tournament and a berth at the Junior Olympics.  John’s experience as a player and coach is deep as he played and then coached for University of California Santa Barbara. After also coaching at Nebraska, he served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic team. After a coaching stop at San Jose State, John came to Aggie Volleyball in 1993, where the Aggies have had tremendous success. His love for the game keeps him in the gym at the club level where he looks forward to emphasizing fundamentals to increase the overall talent of each player.

*Sarah Dedmon-A sophomore kinesiology major at Texas A&M with aspirations to include coaching as part of her career, Sarah joins us after being a three year Varsity letterman at Lutheran South and playing club for GCVA. She has a strong interest in working with young players to better their fundamentals and has worked four years of summer volleyball camps teaching and coaching skill development. Sarah recognizes that having great relationships with your players maximizes their performance and we look forward to her positive contributions to BVJ.

*Lindsey Durrenberger-Currently the Head Volleyball and Soccer Coach at Giddings High School, her Alma Mater, Lindsey comes to us as she seeks to be around people that love the game as much as she does. While an athlete at Giddings, she excelled in volleyball and basketball, and played club volleyball for Capital Area and AIM. She was recruited in both sports, but chose to go to McNeese State on a volleyball scholarship and successfully completed four years of Division 1 volleyball there. She has many college contacts which will also be beneficial to our players that strive to play at the collegiate level. We are really excited about having Lindsey join our staff!

*Tani Eschberger-Joining us for a second season, a nutrition major and senior at Texas A&M, Tani came to the Brazos Valley by way of Baytown Sterling High School, where she led her high school team in kills for two years and served as team captain. She played club for Texas Eastside and Texas Elite. After gaining experience coaching high school camps, the Baytown YMCA league, and summer clinics at Texas Coastal, she coached BVJ 13 Navy last season to a a very successful season. Currently, she is the JV Head coach and Varsity Assistant at state ranked, Brazos Christian School.  Her passion for the game comes through to her players as her goal is to help them improve their individual skills throughout the season.

*Brittany Field-We are very pleased to have Brittany return to Brazos Valley Juniors after a very successful season in 2012.  After a terrific career at Naaman Forest High School, where she won numerous awards for her playing abilities and her outstanding attitude, she played most of her club career for Dallas Force, including earning two trips to the Junior Olympics. Prior to coming to BVJ, Brittany coached three years of summer league and worked high school summer league camps. This past summer she coached in the Aggieland Summer league. Sharing her passion for the game will help her players individually and collectively continue to improve their skills!

*Meredith Fletcher-Enthusiasm and Patience are the two words that describe Meredith as she returns to Brazos Valley Juniors for a second season. Meredith is a great bonus to our coaching staff as she has the ability to motivate, teach, and inspire her athletes with her true sincerity and desire for her players to improve. Meredith is a member of Rudder High School’s first graduating class and a member of their first volleyball playoff team. She has coached at Rudder High Camps in addition to assisting the BVCHEA Freshman teams for two seasons.

*Carla Flink-Carla comes to us by way of New Braunfels Canyon High School and played 8 years of club volleyball while in school. She is a graduate of University of Incarnate Word where she played on a volleyball scholarship all four years. While in school, she coached many athletes at her college summer camps. Carla has been around the game her whole life as her mother is USAV Junior National Official. She is a Graduate student at Texas A&M obtaining her PHD in political science and looks forward to sharing her knowledge and passion for the game to our area athletes.

*Lexa Francisco- Coming from perennial volleyball power, CyFair High School where she played as a middle and an outside.  Lexa is currently a student at Blinn College in Bryan. While in Houston, Lexa coached Tumbleweeds teams for Texas Tornados and also coached a 13’s team for the Tornados. While in school, Lexa played club volleyball for five years, her longest tenure at Tornados. In addition to coaching club teams, she has coached fall leagues and given many private lessons.

*Andrea Frazier-A graduate of Corpus Christi King High School, and a Special Education Major at Texas A&M, Andrea looks forward to continuing to work with our young athletes sharing her love for the game and for working with young people. Her club experience was with Braggin’ Rights and Coastal Volleyball. She played three seasons club volleyball for Texas A&M  and has two National Championships to show for her contributions in her first two years! She has assisted in coaching with Braggin’ Rights and looks forward to returning to BVJ!!


*Kristin Goodman-Kristin, a former Longhorn, and currently enrolled at Sam Houston completing her degree in communication and business administration, she returns to our staff for a third season after coaching two previous seasons at Austin Juniors. During a stellar high school career in the Houston area, playing for Pasadena Memorial, she was named to the All District Team two years and was MVP in 2006. In addition to coaching club in Austin and for Brazos Valley, she has worked high school camps for four years, Austin Sports Center Camps, and University of Texas Camps. Kristin has a love for the game and for life that is absolutely contagious.

*Hannah Hale-This spirited coach comes to us highly recommended. She is from Clear Springs High School, where she played for two years, including a year on Varsity before an injury channeled her interests towards coaching. As a high school student, she began coaching and assisting in many ways for Pearland Juniors. She has worked at many skill development classes in addition to coaching their mini-club teams. She played her club ball for Pearland and for GCVA. Hannah has great patience and loves working with young developing players. We look forward to her working with BVJ.


*Haelee Horne-Haelee has been around volleyball for many years in several capacities. As a player, she played for Cedar Park High School as a 3 year varsity letterman and played club for 7 years, with Club Jollyville and Austin Juniors. She played two years of college volleyball for Texas Wesleyan and coached a 17’s club team in Dallas before the traditions of Texas A&M drew her to this area. Haelee looks forward to teaching players the love of the game and with her past experience, we are confident she will be able to do that!

*Kali Ketner-A fierce competitor and terrific athlete, she was highly decorated at China Spring High School and currently plays on the A&M Women’s club team after playing two years as a libero at Blinn College. Kali loves being in the gym and has been involved with volleyball for 14 years. She started playing club when she was 8 and played throughout her school career. She also has coached at many high school volleyball camps, Waco Juniors camps and Blinn College camps. We are very pleased to have her join our coaching staff where she will be able to improve our players overall volleyball skills!

*Samantha Lopez-A three year Varsity player, an All Valley Setter and All District Defensive player, Samantha joins us from McAllen and is currently a Biology major at Texas A&M with aspirations to pursue a career as a doctor specializing in Internal Medicine. Her father is a club director in McAllen and so Samantha has great knowledge of all aspects of the game and team management. She has experience coaching for RGV Sting and also worked summer camps at UT-PanAm. She will bring solid fundamental training to our athletes.

*Melissa Mauger-Another great asset from the Houston area, Melissa brings plenty of success to us from a stellar career at Memorial High School where she reached the 5A state tournament finals. Melissa played club for Texas Tornados and Texas Elite, including qualifying for the Junior Olympics. She is currently the Junior Varsity coach and a math teacher at Rudder High School and her playing experience, setter training and maturity will be a bonus to our young players.

*Nicole Miller-Sophomore at Texas A&M University and is studying Supply Chain Management in the Business school. Nicole was a 3 year varsity player for her Mayde Creek High School in Katy and served as captain for two years. As a libero, she led the district her senior year in digs per game and total digs for the season. She was also named to the the All-American Academic team in 2011. Nicole played club volleyball for 5 years at Katy Volleyball Association and  also coached a Power League team for KVA. In addition, she has worked numerous volleyball camps. Nicole is excited about having volleyball back in her life and can’t wait to help her team improve.
 
*Tara Murray-We are fortunate to have Tara return to our staff as she brings a great deal of volleyball experience to us after playing at Katy High School and playing most of her club career at Texas Elite where she played as a setter and a defensive specialist. Tara’s BVJ 13‘s red team made dramatic improvement last season and we look forward to her impact again this year. Tara has always sought out ways to teach and coach young players as she coached for Katy Volleyball Academy, Katy YMCA League, coached skills camps and taught private lessons through Houston SWAT volleyball club. Tara returns with a quiet confidence that will improve her player’s skills and improve their understanding of the game.
 
*Jacky Pence- Jacky enters her seventeenth year of working with Brazos Valley Juniors and her eleventh year in an administrative capacity as she is currently the Operations Liaison. Jacky played for the North Carolina Tar Heels winning 3 ACC Championships with a career high finish of 11th nationally. She also played for Athletes in Action representing the USA against National teams in South America. While a college player, she coached club volleyball in addition to teaching adult volleyball.  She is currently the Head Volleyball Coach at Rudder High School in Bryan after coaching volleyball and basketball at Stephen F. Austin Middle School for four years. The team has won the prestigious AVCA Team Academic Award for the past four years and qualified for the state playoffs in it’s early existence.  In addition to coaching high school and college camps and coaching city league teams for many years, Jacky runs the very successful Rudder High School summer clinics and Summer Smash Tournament. In 2003, her 13’s team won the Club's first medal at a USA National tournament as they won the silver medal at the NIT in Phoenix. In 2004, she coached Brazos Valley 141 team to a Gold Medal at the Lone Star National Qualifier and a Silver Medal at the Northeast Qualifier, earning two berths to the USA Junior Olympics. After working only as the club director from 2005 to 2008, she coached her 14’s team to a berth in the Junior National Championships in 2010. In 2011, her 13‘s team went undefeated and won both the MEQ and the Lone Star Classic, the first time in our club’s history that a team has won two National Qualifiers in one season. In addition, her team won the 80+ team Houston Power League. In 2012, her 14 Mizuno team finished 5th in the nation in BVJ’s highest finish ever at the USA Junior National Championships. The team qualified for Nationals by winning the Lone Star Regional Championships. Jacky was also a member of the Lone Star Region High Performance Coaching Staff for several summers earning a silver and bronze medal at the USA National High Performance Championships.

*Kallie Pence- BVJ is fortunate to have Rutgers University graduate return to BVJ for a second season. She is currently the Head coach at Navasota High School where she guided the 2012 team to their first district wins in 3 years.  Kallie had an outstanding high school career at Bryan High where she was named All State by both TGCA and the Texas Sportswriters, played in the TGCA All Star game, and was both District MVP and Setter MVP. Making 4 trips to the Junior Olympics, Kallie played for Brazos Valley Juniors, and was on the club’s first team to win a National Qualifier and for Houston Juniors. She was selected to USA National Training camps and selected to the Lone Star Region High Performance team for four years before playing setter and libero during her career at Rutgers . Kallie has coaching experience that started with the College Station Parks league, working summer camps for Rutgers and for Texas A&M, coached summer league teams, coached at Rudder High camps, has been very active in giving private lessons and  guest coached for BVJ for  three years. Most recently, she coached the 14 Mizuno team to a 5th place finish (highest ever BVJ finish) at the Junior National Championships after coaching the team to a gold medal at the Lone Star Regional Championships.  Kallie’s enthusiasm, knowledge, and passion for the game will continue to be a driving force in the improvement of our players.

*Megan Pendergast-A fiery competitor with a wonderful drive and passion for the game, Megan joins us as she completes her playing career at Texas A&M where she has served as libero for most of her two seasons there. Megan was a highly recruited athlete playing for Clear Creek High School and club volleyball for South Shore. She was also selected for several High level USA High Performance camps. She accepted an offer to play for University of Nebraska for two seasons, before the pull of family traditions and Aggie Volleyball lured her to finish her career in Aggieland. Megan won many awards in her High School career as a hitter although she has excelled in college defensively. She aspires to be a Division 1 college volleyball coach and looks for any opportunity to gain additional coaching knowledge. While in Nebraska, she coached a 14’s team for VCN, coached the Texas A&M Men’s club team last year, has worked at many summer camps including Texas A&M and Nebraska and she directed Clear Creek’s Varsity team camp. Megan has so much love for the game that it is hard for it not to rub off.

*Chelsea Reber-We are very fortunate to have one of our own local, and former BVJ players return to us, this time in a coaching capacity. Chelsea was an outstanding player at Bryan High School leading them to their best record in program history in 2005 and was named District MVP. She was a key player at Blinn College for two years, before graduating from Texas A&M where she played club volleyball two years and was a USA National Champion her Senior Year. She then went to Syracuse University to earn her Master’s degree and played club volleyball there as well. She has returned to Bryan, taking a full-time job as a communications specialist for the Health and Kinesiology department at Texas A&M and is the play-by-play announcer for the 2012 Texas A&M Volleyball team. She has coaching experience working summer camps for Blinn College, Bryan High, has coached teams in Aggieland Summer League and has coached club teams for Wicked Good and Washington County Juniors.

* Bill Reynolds –Bill has the impressive distinction of coaching his 12 Mizuno teams to Junior Nationals for three seasons in a row as his team qualified in 2009 and 2011 and became the first team in our club to win the Lone Star Regional championships to secure a bid in 2010.  Bill returns to our staff for the eighth year. He will continue to work with our youngest players as he has a great desire to teach the game correctly so that the girls will learn the fundamentals well and gain confidence in themselves and in playing volleyball. He grew up playing sand volleyball and is a graduate of Bryan High School and Sam Houston State. He returned to his hometown in 2001 where he taught and coached volleyball and basketball at Sam Rayburn Middle School for several years.  He is currently the Varsity Assistant coach at Rudder High School, where he previously guided his JV team to the 2011 District championship.  Bill also co-directs the Rudder High School Camps, runs High school camps by request and has worked at the A&M Consolidated Summer camps and Texas A&M Volleyball camps. Bill also stays very busy giving individual and group volleyball lessons.


*Robyn Romansky- (Special Assignment Coach) Robyn Romansky was the assistant volleyball coach at Texas A&M University from 2004-2009.  With legendary coaching duo Laurie and John Corbelli she was instrumental in developing 5 All-Americans and 7 Big XII Conference First-Team Selections.  The Aggies went to the second round of the NCAA tournament twice and advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2009.  Romansky joined the Aggies after the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, having completed a 3-year tenure on the coaching staff of the USA Women's Volleyball Team.  Romansky has also coached numerous USA High Performance and A2 teams.  She has assisted Kevin Hambly, now head coach at AVCA #1 Illinois, most recently during their gold medal-winning 2007 USA High Performance Championship.


*Sunday Saenz-We are fortunate to have Sunday return to BVJ for a third consecutive season. Her players have always showed significant improvement under her quiet, but confident leadership. Sunday played high school volleyball at Arlington High and played club for Texas Advantage and Tejas. Before coming to College Station, she coached a first year team for Texas Image. During the summers she has coached for TAV’s summer league and Aggieland Summer league. In addition, she has coached YMCA summer volleyball camps as a way to stay in the gym and share her enthusiasm for the game.


*Tori Schwarzlose-(Staff and Tryout Director) A graduate of Texas A&M, we are fortunate that Tori is doing her graduate work in College Station. Tori is one of those people whose eyes sparkle when she works with young athletes. Tori has three years of coaching experience with our club, and in all three years, her teams have earned a bid to the Junior National Championships. She has so much experience in this great game and we look forward to her continuing to share that with our BVJ athletes. A fierce and fun competitor and excellent setter for Alamo, Maverick and Extec Volleyball Clubs out of San Antonio, she earned a trip to the Junior Olympics in several seasons. She was also a four year Varsity Letterman graduating from Smithson Valley High School. Her strong, competitive background combined with her terrific, motivating personality make her a wonderful role model and a valuable member of our coaching staff. Tori lives in the gym and has worked many Texas A&M Summer Camps. In 2010, she led the Madisonville High School Camp for FCA. Tori is a third generation Aggie and plays for the Texas A&M Club volleyball team, where she earned a National Championship title in 2011. Brazos Valley Juniors is a better club because of her involvement.

*Julia Shackford-Brazos Valley Juniors is very pleased to have Julia return to our staff as she has been playing or coaching the past 20 years. In her first year coaching for BVJ, she led her 13 Mizuno team to a silver medal finish at the Lone Star Regional Championships and a berth to the USA Junior National Tournament.  She moved to the Brazos Valley as she does work at Texas A&M in Oceanography while earning her PhD. A New York City native and All Star player in New jersey, she was a  four year letterman and graduate at Colgate University, helping them to the Patriot League Championship. She then earned a Masters at Georgia State and coached for North Atlanta Volleyball Club. After she moved back to New Jersey, she coached for DIGS, (the same club that she had played for), for three years and also for Essex Volleyball Club and was then named as Associate Head coach for Rutgers-Newark for two seasons. Julia is CAP I certified and hopes to go back to collegiate coaching in the future.

*Wally Simpson- Wally has been a tremendous asset to our staff after spending several years on the administrative side of club volleyball. Wally founded Brazos Valley Junior Volleyball Association in 1996 and coached and directed it for several years. As the 18’s coach, his team was the first from our club to qualify for the prestigious Tour of Texas, where they finished in the top tier. He then helped start the Caldwell Junior Volleyball Association and Aggieland Juniors before returning to our Brazos Valley Juniors staff. In addition he runs the Aggieland Summer League. Wally is the Brazos Valley Area Representative to the Lone Star Region, which is our governing body. He will begin his eighth season (over twenty years of coaching club) and brings a very technical background along with expertise in the higher levels of the game, such as offensive systems, statistical evaluation and team strategy. Wally also has a solid network with college coaches and works hard to connect our athletes that have a desire to play in college with coaches that have a need for our athletes.

*Allyson Smith-A third generation Aggie, there was never a question of where she would attend college! Allyson joins BVJ after a successful high school playing career at CyFair High School in Houston. As a lefty she played Middle and Opposite throughout her school years, moving to Houston from Wichita Falls her sophomore year and finished her club career at Willowbrook. She is a nutrition and Kinesiology major with a goal of being a dietition for an Olympic, collegiate, or professional team. She works as a school volleyball official for the Brazos Valley chapter and she has gained coaching experience working the CyFair High School summer camps and we look forward to her working with our athletes.

 Hannah Tucci- As senior Sport Management major at Texas A&M, Hannah is currently the president and player for the A&M women's club volleyball team.  Hannah played a year of college volleyball at Georgia Tech before deciding to come home to Aggieland. Playing club for Austin Juniors in high school, Hannah was the libero on the 17 Open National Championship team in 2008 and was also named an All-American in 2007. Hannah attended Regents School of Austin for high school, helping the team win state in 2006, and also to state semifinals in 2007 and 2008.  She coached for Regents in 2010 as the freshman team's coach. Throughout her career, Hannah has worked many camps and clinics helping girls learn and develop the game of volleyball. She is excited for the opportunity to coach again and work with girls to help further their skills and love for volleyball.

*Sydney Wilhelm-Sydney joins us as a four year Varsity letterman from Bastrop High School and is currently a junior Kinesiology major with plans to attend PA school or to pursue a Master’s in Sport Management in an effort to work with USA Volleyball. She played club volleyball for Austin Juniors and most recently gained experience coaching a 16’s team for AJV after two years of coaching in the Bastrop Summer league. She currently play for the Texas A&M Women’s club team and her focused and determined personality along with her knowledge of the game will serve our players well.