Coaches and Staff

Paul Schiffer – Club Director
Paul is one of the founders of AVC. He is the Club Director for day to day business. He most recently served as Assistant Coach on the 2015 AAU National Championship 17 National team. He has coached several teams to OVR Championships as well as leading his teams to the Nationals 6 times. He has served as the Assistant Coach for teams have qualified open 3 times. He has coached 32 athletes that have gone on to play in college including 20 D1 athletes. He has coached at the CYO, Regional, National and Open level. He also serves as the Business Development, Recruiting Director, Transportation Coordinator, and Housing Director for the club.

Brian Highfield
Brian is the Academy's co-founder and co-owner. He is in charge of AVC’s administration and finances. Before his 6 year varsity coaching career began at Aurora High School, Brian participated on Case Western Reserve University Men’s Club Volleyball Team, who were two-time NCAC Champions in 1993 and 1994. Brian is well known in the volleyball community and has 20 years of playing experience as a USA Volleyball player. Brian is IMPACT, ASEP, CAP I and CAP II certified.

Brian Scipione
Brian is one of the founders of AVC along with Brian Highfield. He is the Club Director for the 14 and under Regional and American teams. After coaching older players the first 3 years of AVC, he moved to coaching younger national teams in the 12 - 14’s age groups and has qualified 4 of his 5 teams to nationals. His teams best finishes are 13th in the country in 2013 and 11th in the National division in 2014. He also coached beach in 2014 and his players finished 9th in the country for the 14’s Open division. He really has a passion to coach and train the players in these age groups. Besides Brian’s coaching experience, he also brings valuable playing experience to the table, having participated in Men’s USAVB and in local volleyball leagues. Brian is IMPACT, ASEP, CAP I and CAP II certified.

Sheree Harvey
Sheree Harvey is the Academy's National Program Director. As a scholar-athlete at Ohio State University, Sheree helped the Buckeyes capture a Big 10 Championship and participated in two trips to the NCAA National Championships. Sheree has more than 25 years of coaching experience, including positions at Kent State University and Stow High School. She has extensive club coaching experience in Northeast Ohio and participated as a coach for USA Volleyball's High Performance program in 2004 and 2005. Her teams have qualified for Nationals each year and her teams are ranked among the best in the country.

Jeff Reaser
This will be Jeff's 4th season with AVC. He has 8 seasons of coaching experience with three area clubs, as well as 3 years experience with St Joseph's Academy as varsity assistant. He has 3 USAV national qualifications. 2013 17-2 open class as the only club in the OVR to qualify 2 Open teams in the same age class, 2014 15-1 national class 5th place, 2015 16-1 open class 5th place. In addition to coaching Jeff will be heading up a new position of Director of Player Development for the National Program. Jeff is also Impact Certified.

Mike Laffey
This is Mike’s 7th year coaching with AVC, prior to that he coached at Renaissance Volleyball Club.  While at AVC he has qualified teams for the National Championship in both the 15 and 16’s year old levels as well as won the OVR Championship and numerous tournaments throughout his six years here.  Mike coached both boys and girls in the junior high CYO program at Holy Cross School in Euclid for more than 15 years with numerous trips to the City Championships and also ran the volleyball program there.   He has played in many local leagues and tournaments both indoor and outdoor throughout the Cleveland area for 30 years.   Mike is IMPACT, CAP I and CAP II certified.

Meredith Gromala

This will be Meredith's 5th season with AVC. A native from Los Angeles, Meredith has 11 years of coaching experience. In Meredith's first year at AVC her 17-2 team qualified Open as the only club in the OVR to qualify 2 Open teams in the same age group. Out of her four seasons at AVC, coaching teams ranging from 15s to 17s, she has qualified open three times, including a 5th place finish in the 2015 season.
This year she will be the head coach of our 17-1 National team. In addition to coaching, Meredith will continue to assist Jeff Reaser in Player Development and Positional Training as well as the Club Recruiting Coordinator. Meredith is married to Kent State Head Coach, Don Gromala.

Elizabeth Balser
This is Elizabeth's third year coaching at AVC. She has played volleyball since she was 8-years-old and is excited to continue to share her knowledge of the game. Elizabeth graduated from Strongsville High School in 2008 and graduated from Ashland University in 2012 with a degree in Child Development and Family Studies. She works as a Case Manager for a mental health agency in Cleveland. She is working on her Masters at The University of Akron in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Elizabeth is IMPACT certified.

Mary Kate Bastulli
Mary Kate, started playing volleyball in 4th grade, played 9 years of club volleyball with CVC, Renaissance and finished at AVC. She played 4 years at Beaumont High School and then went on to play at John Carroll University for three years. She was recruited as an outside hitter/libero for JCU. Prior to AVC she coached 15s at Quicksliver Volleyball Club and is currently the Freshmen coach at Beaumont High School. She graduated in 2015 with a psychology major from JCU and is currently going for her masters in Occupational therapy.

Jessie Blackley
Jess has been with AVC since 2011 and has coached at multiple levels within the club. As for past experience prior to AVC, she was the head Junior Varsity and Assistant Varsity coach for Aurora High School. She graduated from Aurora in 2008 as a three year varsity letter winner with conference awards each season. She took her play to the next level for two years at Marietta College where she earned a starting position as a middle for the Pioneers. Due to a severe back injury, she decided to hang up her jersey and begin her coaching career at 19 years old. Aside from volleyball, Jess is now 24 years old and graduated from Kent State University in December 2013 where she received her bachelors in Communication Studies with a specialization in Public Communication. She has begun a career as a medical sales rep for an imaging company known as, Advantage Diagnostics.

Christiana Blakeslee
This is Christiana’s first season coaching at AVC, but this will be her second year coaching as a JO head coach. Christiana completed her first year of Junior Olympic coaching in 2015 at Club Ashtabula, where she coached an 18 Regional Team. Christiana was a three year varsity volleyball starter at Lakeside High School in Ashtabula. Christiana was a Junior Olympic player for six years and played at the National Level for four years. JO clubs included Club Ashtabula (2 years), Renaissance (1 year), and Maverick (3 years). During high school, Christiana attended the Sports Performance Setters Academy and was chosen for the 2008 USA Volleyball camp in San Francisco California. Christiana went on to play collegiate volleyball at the Division I level at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Christiana was recruited as a Setter/Right Side and completed three seasons. Currently, Christiana competes in beach and indoor volleyball leagues. Christiana is looking forward to the upcoming season at AVC.

Val Bour
Valerie Bour started playing volleyball in 4th grade and played at Willoughby South High School where she broke numerous school hitting records. She holds multiple conference and district honors and is the first girl to get All-Ohio honors in volleyball. She played club volleyball at the National level for 5 years and was a member of the OVR High Performance team in 2008. She played collegiate volleyball at Shepherd University. She is the current JV coach at Chagrin Falls High School has worked with many CYO volleyball teams and summer camps.

Angela Bush

Aundrea Cormier

Karol Coundourides
Karol has over 20 years experience coaching volleyball at She has taken many CYO girls' and boys' teams on to win City Championships and has a very high level of success in the USAV circuit, as well. She was inducted into the Magnificat High School Athletic Hall of Fame, as well as the Baldwin Wallace University Athletic Hall of Fame and was elected Senior Female Athlete of the Year in both high school and college. Her children, Alyssa, Alex and Kyra, are all Collegiate Volleyball Players.

Stacy Coundourides
Stacey was a 4 year starter for the Baldwin-Wallace Men's Club Team. He has over 15 years of coaching experience with boys and girls CYO and club teams. He has coached at both Northcoast Volleyball Club, Southwest Volleyball Club and for the last 3 years has been with AVC. He is IMPACT certified.

Adam Evans
Adam Evans has coached nine seasons of Varsity Volleyball between both Norton High School and Massillon Washington High School. Adam has also been active in USA Volleyball as a club coach, working with 8 clubs in various roles, including 7 years as a club Director. He has been the head coach or assistant coach of six teams that have qualified for the USAV Girls' Junior Championships, including five for AVC. One team qualified after the 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2015 seasons and two teams qualified after the 2014 season. Adam played for 17 years in Men's USAV mostly at the A and Open levels as a middle blocker. Adam is a CAP II certified volleyball coach, a USAV Regional Official and is serving a third term on the Ohio Valley Region Board of Directors.

Jodi Evans
Jodi Evans has been coaching USAV Volleyball teams for twenty years, beginning in 1994. Upon graduating from Eastwood High School in 1986, Jodi accepted a volleyball scolarship to play for the University of Akron. She's still among the top ten all time in many kill and block categories for Akron U. In January of 2003, Jodi was honored with her induction to the University of Akron Athletic Hall of Fame for her accomplishements on the court. Jodi has been the Varsity Volleyball coach at three high schools; Our Lady of the Elms, Kenston and Shelby and has previously coached USA Volleyball with Club NET, Richland Volleyball Club and Renaissance Cleveland.

Karen Farrell
This is Karen's first season coaching at AVC. Karen has served as the head volleyball coach at Case Western Reserve University for 14 years and overall has compiled over 350 wins in her 20-year career coaching at the collegiate level. She also serves as Associate Athletic Director at CWRU. Karen competed as a dual-sport varsity athlete in both volleyball and softball at Brandeis University.

Kelly Fieseler

Rachel Geis

Larmar Hicks

Kalli Holdash
This is Kalli's first season of coaching at AVC. She was a two year varsity starter at Trinity High School. Along with volleyball Kalli has played softball, basketball and racquetball at the varsity level. Kalli has continued to keep volleyball close to her life by being involved in intramural's since high school. Kalli is an alumni of Baldwin Wallace University where she received her Bachelor of Arts with focuses in Communication Sciences & Disorders, along with Psychology. Kalli has been working with adolescents for the past 7+ years and is currently a nanny. IMPACT, SafeSport and Concussion certified.

Michael Jackson
Michael is beginning his 4th year at AVC, and has coached both boys and girls teams with AVC and at Jump Serve Volleyball Club. His teams consistently place in the top 20 in the OVR. Michael is the current JV volleyball coach at Brecksville Broadview Hts. High School.He has a passion for the sport and is driven to teach success in team unity as well as individual improvement. He is IMPACT certified.

George Kambic
George has coached in the St. Rita's CYO program for 26 years primarily at the 8th grade level. He has been with AVC since its inception where he has coached most often 14 year old teams. He has also coached with a number of other JO programs over the years, such as Cannon and Renaissance. He is CAP 1 certified.

Jordan Kolarik
This is Jordan's fourth season coaching with AVC.   Jordan just completed her third year as the Junior Varsity coach at Maple Heights High School after one year as the program's freshman coach.  Each year her teams have posted winning records.  Jordan teaches high school social studies at Maple Heights.  She is IMPACT certified.

John Matsumoto
This is John's second year coaching for AVC. John (Motts) brings with him over 20 years volleyball coaching experience including at the high school junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant coach levels as well as JO. He has previously served as a JO Volleyball club director and head coach for LEVA as well as being a head coach for 12 years at CVC.

Doug Mekinda
Doug has 20+ years experience as a Head Volleyball Coach. He has coached women's and men's teams at the Collegiate, High School, and Junior Olympic levels, as well as, providing private lessons for both indoor and beach players. He also has 20 years of playing experience including USA Volleyball (indoor), EEVB and MPVA (beach), and local indoor and beach tournaments and leagues. He is IMPACT and CAP I certified.

Bojan Miocinovic
Bojan (pronounced boy•on) has been coaching volleyball for over 15 years. He has experience coaching (both girls and boys) at the high school, junior club, and collegiate club levels. He has been named coach of the year in 2009 (Northeast Ohio Conference) and 2011 (Northeast Ohio Conference). Bojan has also served as the club director the Great Lakes Volleyball Club from 2004-2010. Currently he coaches at Luther High School West. As a student athlete, he was a 2 year captain of the Lakewood High School Boy’s Volleyball team and a 4 year captain of the Kent State Men’s Volleyball Team earning All-MIVA accolades in 2001 and 2002. Bojan holds certifications in the following: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and First Aid, Pupil Activity Permit, Concussion in Sports, NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching, Increased Mastery and Professional Application of Coaching (IMPACT), American Sport Education Program (ASEP), USAV Coaching Accreditation Program (CAP) Level 1. Bojan resides in Westlake with his wife Shana (who also coaches at AVC) and their daughter Isidora.

Jim Moore

Tierra Moore

Suzanne Morris
Suzanne is entering her second season as a coach at AVC. She was the head JV coach at Solon High School in 2014 and then transitioned to Shaker Heights High School, where she assisted both the JV and varsity teams. Suzanne was a two-year varsity starter at Westwood High School in Mesa, Arizona and then went on to play at Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona, followed by two more years at Notre Dame College. She was a 4-year starter during her collegiate career. In May 2015, Suzanne graduated from NDC, where she studied biology and business management.

Gil Pariente
Gil started in the AVC coach development program in 2006 . He took off three years to be his daughter’s biggest fan. Since returning he has been an assistant coach for two 14 Regional and one 16 American teams.

Mike Passarelli

Samantha Placko
This is Samantha's first year coaching at AVC. Samantha has been playing volleyball for the past 11 years. She is currently a senior playing volleyball at Notre Dame College where she is majoring in Biology. Previously she lettered in volleyball for two years at Brunswick High School. She also played JO volleyball at Buckeyefire Volleyball and Quicksilver Volleyball.

Tom Ray

Jason Schellenburger
Jason Schellenberger coached at Medina High School from 1999-2011. While at Medina he coached his team to a 21-4 record in 2007 and was named both District 3 and N.O.C coach of the year. In 2010 he lead the Bees to the its first Regional appearance since 1984. This is his third year coaching club volleyball. One year at Ignite and the past two years here with AVC. He also played 3 years on Kent State Mens Club Volleyball.

Erick Sopata
Erick was the Head volleyball coach at Strongsville High School for 16 years and has won over 300 varsity matches. He was named conference coach of the year 4 times and District coach of the year twice. In 2013 Erick led the Mustangs to their first ever District Championship and Regional finals. Erick has coached 16 athletes who have gone on to play at the collegiate level, 9 of those athletes played at the DI level.  Erick has coached at a few volleyball clubs over the years including: Southwest, Players Choice and Ignite. Many of his teams have finished the season as Regional Champions. Erick has been with AVC for the last three years coaching the top 11’s teams and finding great success. In addition to coaching indoor at AVC, Erick has also coached the AVC 12U teams on the beach. In 2015 Erick helped qualify 4 teams to the USA Beach National Championships. Erick played volleyball for the Kent State Men’s MIVA Volleyball team. After college he played USA volleyball at the AA/Open levels and has won 2 regional championships.

Ellen Spear
 

Brittany Tusek
Brittany has been playing volleyball since 5th grade. Broke records for school for most digs in a season. Currently is the freshman coach for Chagrin Falls high school. 2 year coaching at AVC.

Mary Vincent

Dale Walter
Dale Walter has assisted Betsy Smerglia at Maple Heights HS for the last 22 years, where they have won Nine Lake Erie League Championships, currently six in a row. Along with HS coaching experience, Dale brings 20 + years of coaching experience,  many as Head Coach, having coached for AVC, Eastside and PVC.

Andy Welkley

Sonja Williams
Sonja Williams was the head coach at Ursuline College. The former Shaw University standout started her coaching career as a junior varsity coach at Beaumont School in 2004 and she served in that capacity for three seasons. Williams then became the head coach at Saint Peter Chanel High School from 2008-09 before leaving to coach freshmen at North Royalton High School.Before coming to Pepper Pike, Williams was the head coach at Warrensville Heights High School for two seasons. She also coached junior Olympic volleyball for Renaissance Cleveland, Cleveland Volleyball Company and Academy Volleyball (Cleveland). At the club level, Williams tutored players that ranged from 11 to 18 years old. A former star athlete in her own right, Williams was named the Shaw University ‘Freshman of the Year’ and ‘Player of the Year’ during her days as a Bear. The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association also named her to its all-conference team. She now lives in Broadview Heights with her husband Brian. The couple has three children, Shannon, Brian Jr. and Bryndan.

Marissa Wilson
Marissa is a student at Tri-C studing Social work. She has been playing volleyball for 6 years and was named LEL player of the year when she was at Euclid High School. She played at Hiram College her freshmen year.

Alicia Wood
This is Alicia's 3rd season with AVC. Alicia is currently the Assistant Women's Volleyball Coach for the Cuyahoga Community College Challenger's. Alicia began her coaching career in 2012 with the Cleveland Heights High School Tiger's, as the Head Junior Varsity and Assistant Varsity coach for the 2012 and 2013 volleyball seasons. For the 2014 season Alicia served as the Head Freshman Volleyball coach for Charles F. Brush High School. Alicia lettered 3 yrs in Volleyball, was an All-LEL Conference player & MVP for CHHS for the 2008/2009 & 2009/2010 season. She was also named The 2009-2010 Lake Erie League "Player of the Year" during her senior season. After graduating she played 2 seasons for Bluffton University and later ended her playing career due to a knee injury. She recently graduated from Ursuline College with a Bachelor of Arts; Double Major in Sport Management & Business Administration. Alicia has played club for Eastside Cleveland Juniors & AVC.

Jackie Wyman
Jackie played 6 years of club volleyball at Club Hollywood in the Youngstown area  and was a 4 year varsity player at Cardinal Mooney High School. She served as an assistant coach with numerous teams at Club Hollywood before moving to Cleveland where she finished her undergrad at JCU and her masters at Notre Dame College.

Amanda Artbauer
 

Andrea Ciavarelli
This will be Andrea's 13th year coaching JO volleyball and 6th with AVC.  She has qualified for the USAV Junior National Championships for the past three years with all three teams finishing in the top 25 in the country. She just finished her second season as the head coach at Nordonia High School and was an assistant coach at Amherst Steele and Cuyahoga Heights High Schools previously.  Andrea is IMPACT, VCAP, and CAP I certified through USAV.  She also helps run the youth programs at AVC which include JVC and summer camps.

Neil Diesslin
This will be Neil's first year coaching at AVC. Prior to coaching at AVC, Neil spent 4 years as a student at Purdue University working with the Varsity Women's Volleyball Program. In his time with the team, Purdue competed in 2 Elite Eight matches, and 4 Sweet Sixteen matches in the NCAA tournament. Most recently in his coaching career, Neil spent part of the spring of 2015 as the volunteer assistant coach at the University of Alabama before moving to Cleveland. He studied mathematics at Purdue University and currently works at McMaster-Carr Supply Company in Aurora.

Brooke Indiano
This is Brooke's first season coach at AVC. She played volleyball at Kenston High School, and was on varsity for two years. She played JO volleyball for five years, four of the five years she was coached by Jim Moore whom she will be an assistant coach for this season. Brooke played for AVC for two years and her team won the OVR in 2011. Brooke graduated from John Carroll University in May of 2015 with a Chemistry degree. She currently works as a Chemist at Oakwood Laboratories.

Tom Keller

Abby Kornowski

Abby has been coaching 13s and 14s for AVC for 3+ years and has also coached 7th and 8th grade CYO. Abby played club volleyball as a defensive specialist for numerous years she has 15 years of playing experience. She is a graduate of Padua Franciscan high school where she was a 2008 State Volleyball Champion. Abby graduated with a BS in Health and Human Service with a double major in Health Services Administration and Long Term Care Administration, and a certificate in Gerontology from Ohio University. She is currently attending John Carroll University for her Masters in Non-Profit Administration while working full time at Cleveland Clinic.

Melissa McClelland
This is Melissa’s first year with AVC. Melissa was a was a 3-year Varsity starter at Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron. She was both a middle hitter and setter. While at Hoban she earned All-Ohio 1st Team Honors her Senior year, and All-Ohio 3rd Team Honors her Junior Year. She went on to play at Kent State University as a setter. She was the Bedford High School varsity coach from 2001-2005 and recently got back into coaching. She is a Social Studies teacher at Nordonia High School.

Zak Rittenberry
Zak has been Junior National Assistant Volleyball Coach for the last couple of years as well as a USA and Beach Volleyball Player. He is a graduate of North High School where he was a 4 Year Varsity basketball player and all PAC Player. He is IMPACT certified.

Tori Sanchez

Tim Schifle
This is Tim's second season coaching with AVC. Tim brings 13 years of coaching experience at the high school and club levels, including a 2010 district runner-up with Nordonia. He played for 3 years as an opposite (right-side) hitter at the University of Cincinnati, after having been a 3-year starter, 2-year captain, and Regional co-MVP at North Olmsted High School. As an adult, Tim has competed regularly at the open and A level in the OVR and TVP since 2005. Scholastic coaching record: 82-35.

Amaris Scipione

Betsy Smerglia
For the past 28 years, Betsy has been the Head Volleyball Coach at Maple Heights High School where she has earned over 400 wins. Assisted by Dale Walter, her Varsity teams have clinched nine League Championships. She has been coaching JO for 20 years for various clubs including LEVA, Eastside, PVC, and AVC at age groups from 13's to 18's.