Liz Towne-Gilbert - Club Director
As a setter at UC Santa Barbara, Liz Towne-Gilbert remains the Gauchos' leader in career assists with 5,542 and ranks fifth with 1,256 career digs. She earned AVCA All-Region honors as a senior and was a member of the United States Volleyball Association National Team. After earning a bachelor's degree in sociology from UCSB, she spent time playing professionally in Europe.

Liz returned to her home town of Santa Barbara after spending two years in LA as Associate Head Coach at USC. Prior to USC, as the Associate Head Coach for UCSB, Liz Towne-Gilbert helped guide her alma mater to two Big West Conference championships and two trips to the NCAA Tournament, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2002. UCSB was ranked as high as No. 8 in 2002 and compiled a 49-12 overall record during her tenure.

Liz has over ten years of coaching experience at the Division I level. She began her collegiate coaching career at South Florida before accepting a similar position at Arizona. She spent four years in Tucson and helped lead the Wildcats to three NCAA Regional appearances during that time. She then was an assistant at Sacramento State for two seasons, where the Hornets captured the Big Sky Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament during both of her seasons. Liz also is one of the founders of the Zona Volleyball Club and, before joining the UCSB staff, she was the Club Director for two years for the Davis Volleyball Club.

Liz started with SBVC as Head Coach in 2006, and also coached the 16-1's team who qualified and placed 5th in the National Division of the Junior Olympics. As the new Club Director for 2007, she also coached the 14-1 team who likewise qualified and placed 5th in the Open Division of the Junior Olympics.

Liz Towne-Gilbert wiill continue this season as Club Director and looks forward to developing and strengthening club programs for the Club's athletes, and to continually build on the Club's previous successes!

K.C. Collins - Administrative Director
K.C. grew up in Hawaii, living much of the time on a sail boat. She competed in horseback riding, soccer, tennis and sailing. K.C. picked up volleyball at East Beach earning her "AAA" rating in CBVA events in her first year, and played indoor in City League.

K.C. began coaching by assisting the frosh/soph boys at Santa Barbara High School, and became the freshmen girls coach the following season. She has coached and assisted the girls' teams at all levels at SBHS for over 8 years, and has coached the freshmen boys team on and off for three seasons. K.C. also enjoyed assisting Ed Gover two seasons with the SBCC Women's team.

K.C. began coaching in the Club in 1998 and became the Club Administrator in 1999. She has coached and assisted at all Club Travel team age divisions, Club camps and clinics, and has assisted in developing and coaching the Blenders Program. She also spent one season as the Director for the 805 Carpinteria Volleyball Club, where she oversaw all aspects 5 travel teams and 3 non-travel teams. K.C. is currently in her 10th year coaching with the Club, and completed a second year at Buena High School coaching the Girls Junior Varsity team. K.C. also enjoys teaching beach doubles lessons with her husband during the summer!

K.C. is excited to once again work alongside Liz during the upcoming Club season, as well as help to develop new year-round programs for the youth in volleyball!

Tina Brown
Originally from Laguna Beach, Tina played four years as a setter/right side hitter for Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Her team finished #5 in the nation two years in a row, and Tina earned an All-American award as a setter her senior year. She has continued to play in City League, on indoor adult Club teams, and also competes in beach volleyball.

Tina is married to Pat Brown and has four children, three of which play or have played for the Club. Her oldest daughter currently sets for Cal State LA. Tina taught PE for years at Kellogg School, and for over four years coached its afterschool volleyball program. Tina has also assisted at the high school girls' freshman and JV levels, and moved on as the Assistant Varsity coach for Dos Pueblos High School for the last 5 seasons.

Tina has assisted and coached in the younger age divisions with the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club and coaches at its camps and clinics. Last season, Tina enjoyed a successful season coaching the 13-2 team, and previously assisted the 13-1's team in 2006 who earned the Bronze medal in the American Division of the Junior Olympics!

Jason Donnelly
As a native of Santa Barbara, Jason played high school volleyball at San Marcos. He played college volleyball at University Of the Pacific and graduated with a BA in psychology.

Jason has coached at San Marcos High School, coached at many camps at UCSB, UOP, Stanford, Santa Clara, George Washington University, and many camps and clinics for the Club. While overseeing and coaching the volleyball programs at Laguna Blanca, Jason has also coached in the Club for over 10 years. Jason is one of the main founders of our very popular non-travel (Blenders) program, and has coached at the 18's age level for many years. Jason's 2007 18-1 team qualified and participated in the American Division of Junior Olympics!

In 2006, Jason was honored with the High School Coach of the Year award by the Santa Barbara Roundtable! Jason currently works at Laguna Blanca School as Assistant AD, and Varsity Volleyball Coach for both girls and boys!

Erica Menzel Downing
Erica grew up in Santa Barbara and played for San Marcos High School, Santa Barbara Volleyball Club, and UCSB where she graduated in Sociology with a minor in Sports Management. At UCSB, Erica finished her playing career in 2003 ranked sixth in school history with 1,422 career kills and fifth all-time in digs with 1,432. She is just the third Santa Barbara player to garner All-Big West acclaim all four years of her career, including first team honors in 2002 and 2003. In addition, she was an AVCA All-West Region performer as a junior. Erica also plays on the beach and has played in many AVP Qualifier events.

Erica was married to George Downing on July 29, 2006, and is currently teaching PE at Roosevelt School and assisting San Marsco Girls Varsity. Erica has coached at Laguna Blanca for over 3 years, and for the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club for over 5 years, assisting the 18-1's, and coaching in various age divisions. Last sesaon, her 16-1 team placed 14th at the Festival (after having missed a Region bid to JO's by one spot!) and in 2006, her 14-1's team earned a Gold medal in the American Division of Junior Olympics!

Jordan Druary
Jordyn started playing volleyball in the 7th grade for Saddleback Valley Volleyball Club in southern California. She then played for Orange County Volleyball Club her sophomore thru senior years of. She also played on the Varsity team all four years at Woodbridge Hich School in Irvine, where she recieved First Team All-League and First Team All-CIF. She moved to Santa Barbara to attend SBCC and took a year off from volleyball, but missed it so much she played her sophomore year where she earned First Team All-Confrence. Jordyn will transfer to UCSB to finish her college studies, and play on the UCSB Club Volleyball team.

Jordyn has coached Freshmen Girls Volleyball camps at Woodbridge High for two summers, coached in our Blenders League and also teaches private lessons on occasions. This will be her second season coaching with the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club!

Jessie Fahey
Jessie Fahey attended South Hills High School in West Covina, where she played volleyball and competed on the swim team. While also playing for her high schoo, Jessie played club ball for 6 years for Top Gun Volleyball Club. Jessie went on to play as a libero at Citrus Community College, who was ranked 6th in the state, and missed state playoffs by one match. Jessie has transferred to UCSB to begin her major in Communications, and plans to play for the university's Club team.

Befor moving to Santa Barbara, Jessie coached at a couple summer camps for Citrus College, as well as non-travel teams for Top Gun. Jessie has coached this past season's SBVC summer camp as well as this fall's Madskills. This will be Jessie's first club season coaching Blenders with the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club.

Jared Godinez
A native of Ventura, Jared attended and played volleyball at Ventura High. Jared played Club Volleyball for Club Santa Barbara and thereafter joined the UCSB Men's Volleyball program as a setter and outside hitter. He was a team captain his senior year and graduated from UCSB in 2005, with a degree in Global Studies. In Beach Volleyball, Jared represented the U.S in Australia for the 18U Junior Olympics placing 5th and in Italy for the 21U Beach Volleyball Championship finishing 9th.

Jared was an assistant coach at Ventura High for the JV Girls' team, and coached middle school volleyball at Ventura Missionary. He has coached for the USVYL league, and assisted at UCSB camps for both Ken Preston and Kathy Gregory.

Jared is currently employed as an Account Executive at the Pacific Coast Business Times in downtown Santa Barbara, while also coaching for the boys' club volleyball teams at the 18U age division, and assisting travel teams with the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club.

Over the years, Ed has coached at all age divisions in Club, coached at many, if not all, Club clinics and camps throughout the years, and is one of the main founders of our very popular non-travel (Blenders) program. Ed coached the 13's the past three seasons; all teams qualifying for the Junior Olympics, with the 2006 team winning the Bronze medal in the American Division!

Ed is a P.E. Teacher at Santa Barbara Junior High, and is the Head Coach for Santa Barbara City College Women’s team.

Brooke Niles Hanson
Brooke was a four-year letterwinner at UC-Santa Barbara where she played every position except for middle blocker. She was a third-team All-American her senior year while ranking third nationally in assists. As an outside hitter, she was named the Big West Freshman of the Year, and three times was selected to the all-conference team. Graduating with a degree in Law and Society, she left the school ranked fifth in career digs.

Brooke started her beach career playing with two former college teammates, then began playing with Sarah Straton during the 2005 season. Hanson, now playing with Angie Akers, has logged her 4th straight year as a top 32 player, and just wrapped up a successful finish with the 2007 AVP tour where she qualified in the top 12 to participate in the Gods & Goddesses tournament, and placed 4th with her partner in the Best of the Beach season finale tournament.

Brooke has coached with Santa Barbara Volleyball club for many years, both in Blenders and at all age levels for Travel. She spent one year as Director of the Blenders Leauge. Brooke currently resides in Ventura with her husband Brendan and pitbull Roxy. Brooke is in her second season as the JV Girls coach for Moorpark High School, She will continue assisting with SBVC as she once again begins training for the 2008 AVP season.

Jake Hong
Jake played at Bellarmine College Prep High School, then played one year for Cal Poly Men's Volleyball Club team. He volunteered his time for the women's team at Cal Poly SLO, while also coaching the Cal Poly SLO Club team for two years. Jake was the volunteer assistant coach for the women's team for two years at UCSB, and is currently assisting for the women's team at Santa Barbara City College. Jake has coached camps for over 5 years at colleges such as Long Beach State, Stanford, Cal Berkeley, UCSB, College of Charleston, and Cal Poly SLO.

Jake has been coaching or assisting at all age levels for the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club for 5 years including Blenders, Travel teams, and clinics and camps. Jake assisted the 2006 16-1 team as they placed 5th in the National Division at Junior Olympics, and in 2007 his 15-1 team likewise competed and placed 5th in the National Division! This season, Jake will also be taking a bigger role in overseeing the Blenders program.

Bart Kowalski
Bart played at Royal High School in Simi Valley, while also playing club volleyball with Classic, LAAC and SCVC. The summer following high school graduation, Bart played on the Men's Junior National team.Bart has coached boys and girls for over four years, several seasons with SBVC as a travel team assistant and Blenders coach.

Bart has been coaching various teams with the boys club, the UCSB Women's Club volleyball team, and will continue coaching in the Blenders program.

Currently, Bart is setting for the UCSB Men's team, and is graduating with a degree in Computer Engineering.

Roger Kuntz
Roger, after coaching the freshman girls and boys team and assisting the Varsitys last season, is currently the Girls Varsity coach at San Marcos High School, taking over the program this year from Jon Lee who has retired after 23 years with the program.

Roger was a starting varsity player in 4 sports in high school in Texas, as well as played football for Baylor University. Attending UCSB for graduate studies, Roger played competitive beach volleyball at East Beach, and head coached varsity football and assisted varsity baseball for a few years at San Marcos.

Roger then moved to Colorado and became the head coach for boys and girls volleyball at Middle Park High School, where he made 5 trips to the final 8 in State Championships, received League Coach of the Year two of the seasons, as well as was the Director of the Rocky Mountain Volleyball Camp and a head club coach with the boy's Colorado Volleyball Club, where his teams qualified for Junior Olympics many season running. Roger is USA Level III Coach accredited and has also been assisting with the High Performance Program, as well as coaching at Stanford's and Kenny Preston's UCSB summer camps.

Roger moved back to Santa Barbara in 2006 with his wife, and his two children who both play volleyball for San Marcos; his daughter currently plays for the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club. This is Roger's first season coaching with Santa Barbara Volleyball Club!

Kayce Matthess
A Mission League All-Academic Team member who graduated cum laude from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, she played both as a setter and opposite hitter. She earned Mission League MVP honors as a senior, leading the Knights to their first-ever CIF semifinal appearance, and she was also first team all-league as a junior after being a second team honoree as a sophomore. Kaycee also earned varsity letters in soccer, water polo and track.

Kaycee played club volleyball on a team who ranked fifth in the SCVA in her senior year, while she also earned a "AA" rating on the beach! She is currently attending UCSB working on an Environmental Studies major, and is a setter/libero for the Gaucho women's team.

Kaycee is in her 3rd year coaching Blenders, and assisting Travel teams, and in camps and clinics. Last season, Kaycee enjoyed assisting the 15-1 team who placed 5th in the National Division of Junior Olympics!

Lauren McLaughlin
Lauren was a four year varsity starter for South Torrance High School, where she was named one of PrepVolleyball.com's top-250 "Senior Aces", and she was also named 1st Team All-CIF, 1st Team All-Bay League and Daily Breeze All-Area selections. As a senior, she led her team to a CIF-SS title and semifinals of the State playoffs.

Lauren is currently majoring in business with a minor in art history at UCSB, while also playing for the Gauchos as an Outside Hitter, where she so far has earned Big West Academic All-Conference honors and earning a spot on the Big West All-Freshman Team.

This is Lauren's first year coaching Blenders with the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club.

Michelle Mills
Michelle played at High School all four years on varsity, where she earned 2nd Team All-League honors her sophomore and junior years, and received the MVP Award and earned 1st Team All-League honors her senior year. Michelle also competed for Yahoo Volleyball Club for two years, and City Beach Volleyball Club, where her 16's team won the Silver Medal in the American Division at the Junior Olympics in Houston, Texas.

Michelle is currently attending and playing volleyball at Santa Barbara City College. Her freshmen year, she received 2nd Team All-Conference honors.

This will be Michelle's 2nd season with Santa Barbara Volleyball Club as a Blenders' coach.

Greg Novak
Originally from Camarillo, Greg was a die-hard surfer throughout high school and college. Greg was introduced to the beach volleyball game in 1990 by Kathy Hanley and Kathy Gregory, then spent many years competing in the CBVA beach volleyball events where he earned his "AA" rating, and also played indoors on City League teams.

Greg has coached high school girls volleyball including over five years at Dos Pueblos High, and two years assisting boys varsity at Santa Barbara High. He has coached various age divisions for club Travel and Blenders teams, as well as Club camps and clinics throughout the years. Greg is in his 7th year coaching club volleyball, and is currently the JV coach for DPHS girls. Last season, Greg's 15-2 team had a strong finish for the season in Division 2!

Greg also enjoys coaching beach doubles lessons with his wife during the summer!

Greg works full-time, and on the side is the Club's graphic designer, photographer and webmaster. He also makes DVD musical slide shows for special events!

Courtney Preston
Courtney, a twin daughter of UCSB Men's Coach Ken Preston, played for the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club for seven years - she started on one of the first 12's team! Courtney also played at San Marcos High School as a defensive specialist for all 4 years.

Courtney has coached boys and girls Frosh/Soph teams at San Marcos for two years, and has been coaching for the Club the past four years. She has coached Blenders teams and assisted Travel teams. Courtney assisted the 2005 12's travel team who placed 6th at the Volleyball Festival, and her 2006 12's travel team finished the SCVA season as one of the top 10 teams!

Currently, Courtney is a science teacher at La Colina Junior High school and the coach for Laguna Blanca JV girls' team.