COACHES

Matthew grew up around volleyball competing in his first beach events at the age of 8 years old. He played throughout high school on the beach and with adult indoor teams. He began coaching his Junior year for his high school JV team at Bayshore HS.  After graduating Matthew coached at Manatee Area Volleyball and became the assistant Director. While at MAV he helped grow the club from 3 teams to 9 teams in 3 years & gave the program its first National Qualifier win in Baltimore.

In 2012 he founded Coastline Volleyball Club. The club grew to 14 teams in its 2nd year and Matt qualified his teams twice with a 14-National and 15-American bid. In 2014 Matt combined with another local club to create Wave Volleyball Alliance establishing the most competitive club and only volleyball facility in the Bradenton/Sarasota area. After several successful years and sending 9 athletes to play at the collegiate level, WAVE merged with Orlando Tampa Volleyball Academy to create OTVA Sarasota. While at the OTVA the club was ranked as high as 2nd in the National. In 2020 WAVE returned to provide more flexibility with tournaments, fees, and training for the Manatee/Sarasota Area.

Matt has been the indoor and beach coach at Braden River HS since 2011.  He recently coached a beach pair to win the 2018 USAV Beach Nationals for 14U. Matthew has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of South Florida and teaches 4th Grade Math & Science at Tara Elementary.

• PCA Certified
• USAV IMPACT Certified
• USAV Beach IMPACT Certified
• USAV Safe Sport Certified
• 4th Grade Teacher at Tara Elem.
• Club Director since 2006
• 19 Years Coaching HS & Club Volleyball
• Club Teams have Qualified 4 times for the US Junior Olympics
• 2019 – 5th Place at USAV Nationals
• 2019 – 3rd Place at AAU Nationals
• Coached the winning team at 2018 USAV Beach Nationals 14U Division.

Coach Jessica has been a coach for WAVE (Formerly OTVA Sarasota and Coastline) Volleyball Club for over 10 years. Jessica has qualified her teams for USAV Nationals as well as placed in the gold division at AAU Nationals several times. She has been a intracule part of the club helping players develop through a strong passion for the sport. Jessica is currently the Principal at Palm View K-8 School in Manatee County and was recently awarded A.P. of the year in 2023. She has three daughter’s, all who have represented WAVE. Her oldest daughter recently started coaching at WAVE this past season.

High School Coaching: Recently Jessica has been the assistant coach at Braden River High School where the program has qualified for the State tournament 4 years in a row and won districts from 2021, 2022, and 2023. Prior to coaching at Braden River she was the head coach at Manatee High School where she led her program to multiple Regional playoff appearances.

Collegiate Playing Experience:

University of Florida

CAs a Junior (2001): Played in 17 of 30 matches… Logged two attacks and one dig versus Florida International…Posted three digs vs. Virginia Tech…Recorded two kills in four attacks against Kentucky… Registered two kills in two attacks versus Georgia (10/21)… Logged one dig against Kentucky… Recorded one dig versus South Carolina… Registered three attacks and four digs against Marshall during the SunTrust Invitational…

As a Sophomore (2000): Provided depth on the right side, but played middle for three matches (Oct. 27-Nov. 3) for injured Nicole McCray…Hit .583 (7-0-12) vs. Kentucky Oct. 29 and put up a personal-best four blocks vs. Tennessee Oct. 27 while in that role…Shared time with Jacque Robinson at right side…Recorded career highs in hitting efficiency (.667), kills (7) and digs (5) in the SEC opener vs. Alabama…Got her first career start against No. 13 Colorado State in the State Farm Classic Aug. 25…Finished the year with a personal-best .226 hitting efficiency.

As a Freshman (1999): Played 34 games in 22 matches…Recorded first career kill against Jacksonville…Saw first action in three games against No. 6 Pacific in the NACWAA Volleyball Classic….Had a career-high three block assists vs. Iowa.

Prior to Florida: A Paul Mitchell-Volleyball magazine Prep All-America honorable mention selection…Named to that same magazine’s Fab 50 list…Named MVP of the Berkeley Prep state championship team…Two-time 3A Player of the Year…All-state, all-county and All-Bay Area Conference… Named most improved player at Berkeley… Club team competed against the Swiss and Czech national teams…Placed sixth at Junior Nationals…Also a standout basketball player…Played varsity basketball at age 14 and won the Florida State Championship that year as well as her junior and senior seasons…Two-time honor roll student.

Ralph McElhiney is a native of Florida and graduated from Southeast High School in 1975. He has been playing volleyball, both beach and indoors, since 1982. He has competed in many events from local to professional level and was a member of the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) at its inception. 

He was the head volleyball coach at Bayshore High School from 1998 to 2015 with a 5A District Championship and Regional Semifinalist in 2013.  He has coached with 5 different volleyball clubs over the last 20 years.

He has worked at Moody Elementary as a special education teacher for the last 42 years.  He graduated in 1978 from USF with a bachelor’s degree in emotional disturbance and elementary education. His wife, Donna, and children, Coach Matthew and Coach Whitney, all teach in Manatee County schools. He is a proud grandfather of two redheads, Walker and Carson.

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Emily started playing volleyball in 2009 for Bayshore high school and then moved into playing for Manatee Area Volleyball Club and one season of Coastline Volleyball (now WAVE). During club she competed on their National level teams as a setter.

She played all four years of high school and went on to play in adult & college club levels for two more years. She graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in education from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2017 and has been teaching elementary school for five years. 

Emily has coached HS volleyball in Fort Myers and most recently at Braden River HS as their Freshman coach. Emily currently has coached for WAVE’s travel teams for 3 years and Is one of WAVE’s main Mini-Club, Spring Training, and Summer Training coaches.

Ashley Hagood has coached 5 club seasons. Ashley grew up playing volleyball in Bradenton from a young age and was the first team from Bradenton to win a National qualifier and attend USAV Nationals. She continued on to play on a scholarship at the College of Central Florida where she helped her team reach 3rd in the state of Florida and 9th at Nationals. She coached for 5 years at OTVA Sarasota / WAVE, 4 years at Braden River High School, and is in her 2nd year as the head coach at Southeast High School. Ashley brings a true passion the game of volleyball and enjoys sharing her knowledge with players. 

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Don Hinton (USAV IMPACT, Gold Medal Squared and CAP II Certified) has been
coaching juniors’ volleyball since 2001. Don retired from his government contracting day job in December 2022 and relocated to Bradenton and where he was happy to join the WAVE coaching staff.

Don has coached previously at several volleyball clubs in
northern Virginia over the last 20 years.  He also coached high school Freshman at St. Stephens & St. Agnes and spent nine years as Junior Varsity Coach at Bishop Ireton High School. At Bishop Ireton, he was awarded the Christopher Delaware Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 2016 (awarded to top assistant Bishop Ireton coach in all sports).  His BI JV teams won the Alexandria City Junior Varsity Championship in 2010,
2011 and 2014.

During his playing days, Don played at the United States Military Academy and then played and coached military teams throughout his 24-year Army career. He also had the opportunity to play on a German volleyball club team for three years.  In 2000, Don was asked to coach his daughter’s volleyball team and he enjoyed it so much that he has
continued for the last 20 plus years. In addition to coaching, Don is a USAV Regional and high school volleyball referee.

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Brianna Swietzer began playing volleyball at the age of 12 locally in Manatee County. Brianna joined WAVE her Freshman year as a player on WAVE’s PRO teams. She attended Braden River HS where she was a four year starter for the Pirates and eventually played college volleyball at SCF for the Manatees.

She returned back to Braden River as the program’s JV coach in 2021. She has been an iatrical part of Braden River and WAVE as she helps runs their developmental clinics and camps as well as the main assistant for Braden River HS BEACH.

Brianna brings a great deal of passion to the sidelines and her energy is contagious. She is currently perusing a career in Nursing.