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COACHES

AJV-SAND-LOGO-trans

COACHES

AJVsand Staff

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Ashley Ivy Swift

Director of Outdoor

Ashley Ivy Swift

Ashley Ivy Swift started her volleyball career in Arlington, Tx where she earned athlete of the year for the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex while playing for Lamar High School. She continued her career at Stanford University where she played in 3 NCAA National finals, winning the National Championship in 2001 and receiving all-tournament honors. After completing her Masters at Stanford University, she started playing beach volleyball on the AVP tour. In 2008 she made the USA Beach National Team and competed on the FIVB World Tour.
Her coaching career began while playing in college. She has won a gold medal coaching in 15 Open and a silver medal in 17 Open at the Junior National Championships. She is CAP I and BCAP certified in coaching and also a cadre specialized in instruction of teaching coaches the art of teaching beach volleyball for USA Volleyball.  From 2006-2016 she was a A1/A2 USA Beach HP Coach and in 2017 has been named the head coach of the USA Jr National Beach Team. In 2011 Austin Juniors hired her to start the sand program, which now runs year round with over 30 teams qualifying for various National Championships this past season. In 2019 she was inducted into the City of Arlington's Athletic Hall of Fame. She is also married to Patrick Swift and they have a 8 yr old son named Carson and almost 5 yr old daughter named Clarke.

  • 2017 USA Beach Jr National Team Head Coach
  • 2019 City of Arlington Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee
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Amber Wise

Assistant Director

Amber Wise

Originally from Brownsville, TX. Attended Pace High School and played 4 years of club volleyball with RGV jrs. She continued her volleyball career at Temple Junior College in Texas. Helping the squad become the regular season champions in 2003 and 2004. In 2004, she led the team to the NJCAA Region V tournament championship, advancing to the NJCAA national tournament. Earned Associate of Fine Arts degree in 2005 from Temple. Transferred to Limestone College (Division II) in South Carolina, leading the team to a regular season 2005 co-championship. She currently holds the Limestone match record with 32 kills. Earned a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Athletic Training and a minor in Coaching. Coached for Club South in South Carolina for 3 years. Joined the Limestone College volleyball staff in 2008 as the Women's Assistant Coach, later helping to build the first men's program in the state. Moved back to Texas in the summer of 2010, beginning her first year coaching with Austin Junoirs. Coached at Holy Family Catholic School before becoming a Physical Education teacher (K-9th) and coach at Harmony School of Excellence Charter School from 2011-2014. Presently in her 10th year as the assistant director for AJV Sand.

Our Coaches

Sand- Paige Panter

Paige Panter

Paige Panter

Paige grew up in Dallas, Tx. She played club for TAV, Dallas Skyline, and Beach 10K. She started her collegiate career playing indoor at Texas A&M University from 2015-2016. In 2015, her team won the SEC Conference Championship for the first time in program history and competed in the NCAA National Championship Tournament. In 2017, she transferred to play beach volleyball for Misty May- Treanor at Long Beach City College. She and her partner went undefeated for the season and won the 2017 CCCAA Pairs State Championship for the first time in program history. This opened the door for her to continue her athletic and academic career at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) from 2018- 2019. In 2019, the LMU Lions won the West Coast Conference Championship for the first time in program history and finished the year ranked #9 overall.  After her athletic career came to an end, she moved to Austin and began coaching beach at AJV in the summer of 2020.

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Alyssa Legette

Alyssa Legette

Alyssa is from Round Rock, TX and began playing indoor with Austin Juniors at the age of 9, as well as with the sand club from 6th- 12th grade. She started her collegiate career at Lamar university, as a libero/setter, before transferring to Concordia University where she finished with all conference honors. She coached club at Austin Juniors for 4 years and is currently on her 4th year coaching with the AJV Sand program. 

Sand- CIndy Paonessa

Cindy Paonessa

Cindy Paonessa

I have been coaching girls volleyball for over 20 years. I began club coaching with the Texas Tornados in Houston, and later moved on to the Houston Juniors Volleyball Club where I coached several age divisions. I was also a coach for St. Francis Episcopal School in Houston during their volleyball season, and currently coach for Holy Family Catholic School (volleyball season) in Austin, Texas. I joined the coaching staff at Austin Juniors in 2012 and have had a great time coaching the 13 Toro, 14 Cedar Park, 16 Toro teams, as well as working the Sand Volleyball program. My experience has run from training volleyball fundamentals to young girls 11 and under, to putting those fundamentals to work with girls up to the 16 year age division. I believe that TEAMS win games, not players, and I enjoy inspiring team spirit in every group of girls I coach. I sincerely love the game of volleyball and believe that the sport not only builds athleticism and healthy bodies, but also helps to build character. I have been married for 33 years, and have three amazing daughters and two beautiful grandchildren. My husband and I are co-owners of the Anytime Fitness gym in Cedar Park, Texas on W. Parmer Lane.

Madison Smith (2)

Madison Smith

Madison Smith

Bio coming soon!

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Jay Ferguson

Jay Ferguson

This is Jay's 11th season with Austin Junior Volleyball. Jay has coached both girls and boys 12's through 16's and is currently coaching AJV Sand 14U - 16U coach, 14 Helix Head Coach. Jay's previous coaching experience includes three years at St. Dominic Savio Catholic High School Volleyball and Middle School Head Volleyball Coach with Round Rock ISD. Jay has coached youth volleyball over the past decade and provides both one-on-one coaching as well as numerous youth volleyball summer camps and clinics, middle school, and high school camps. Jay is a graduate of St Edwards University, and he is currently working towards his Masters in American History; Jay is currently teaching in the Round Rock ISD.

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Kait Karschnik

Kait Karschnik

Kait is from Round Rock, TX and played indoor from 13s-15s before transitioning over to beach volleyball at Austin Juniors. She recently graduated from The University of Texas studying Psychology where she competed on the club gymnastics team all 3 years. She coached indoor with Austin Juniors for 1 year and is currently in her 3rd year with the AJV Sand program. 

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Jackie Baro Diaz

Jackie Baro Diaz

Second indoor season with AJV. 7th year coaching club. Both AJV indoor and sand coach. Played beach volleyball for the University of New Mexico 2014-2017.

Juliana Murillo

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Juliana Murillo

Juliana is from Round Rock, TX and began playing indoor with Austin Juniors at age 11. She played both indoor and beach volleyball for Austin Juniors for six years. She is currently a senior at The University of Texas studying public health. She has coached club with the AJV Sand program for three years.