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COACHES

AJV-SAND-LOGO-trans

COACHES

AJVsand Staff

Ashley Ivy Swift

Ashley Ivy Swift

Director of Outdoor

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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Alyssa Legette-Brennan

Assistant Director of Sand 

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. 

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Paige Panter Mierl

Senior Sand Manager

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.

Our Coaches

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Scott Pardue

Scott Pardue

Scott Pardue has been passionate about volleyball since age twelve, starting in leagues with his mom and family. He played club volleyball in high school, joined the men’s club team at UT, and began coaching there. Coaching has been his biggest passion for 20 years. He was part of the 2011 17 Open national championship team staff and contributed to their win. Scott now competes as a men’s open beach player and shares his expertise with the next generation!

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Caitlin Godwin

Scott Pardue

Volleyball has been a huge part of my life since I was 10 years old. Growing up training in Austin and competing all over the country laid the foundation for my journey as a student-athlete at Florida State University and later competing internationally in Thailand with the U21 Team USA. This sport has taken me places I never expected and taught me lifelong lessons I’ll carry with me forever. I’m beyond excited to be back in the sand coaching with AJV!

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Kait Karschnik

Kait Karschnik

Kait Karschnik is another AJV Sand alumni! She played for coach Ashley throughout her junior sand career. She chose to attend the University of Texas and competed on their gymnastics team! Kait coached at AJV Sand throughout college and has helped many of our athletes grow their game! She now plays beach regularly and is in her 5th year coaching!

Morgan Martin

Morgan Martin

Morgan Martin

Coach Morgan Martin is a standout beach volleyball player from the University of Hawaii! She earned All-American honors and ranks fourth in dual match wins (91) and sixth in overall wins (93) at UH. Morgan was awarded All Big West first and second team awards during her career. Did you know that she and her partner, Kathryn Plummer, won gold in the FIVB U17 Beach Volleyball World Championships? Professionally, her highest finish was 9th in the 2019 Manhattan Beach AVP. Hailing from Mission Viejo, California, Doheny and Huntington are her home beaches.

Allie Shepherd

Allie Shepherd

Allie Shepherd

Bio Coming Soon!

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.

Brody Miller

Brody Miller

Brody Miller

Brody Miller is a championship-winning AJV Sand alum who’s been part of the program’s family for years. Growing up, he trained under Ashley Ivy — AJV Sand’s director and a highly decorated athlete and coach — where he developed a strong foundation and love for the game. A 2016 USA Volleyball Junior Beach National Champion and member of the USAV High Performance Team, Brody went on to play club volleyball at Texas A&M University. During his time there, he was a two-time SIVA All-Conference player, named to the National All-Tournament Team, and helped lead his team to a 2nd place finish at the 2021 National Championship. In his first year of coaching, Brody helped guide his collegiate team to another 2nd place national finish and has since brought that same energy and passion back home to Austin. He’s now in his second year coaching with AJV Sand and is excited to keep sharing his experience with the next generation of players!

Sadie Shipman

Sadie Shipman

Sadie Shipman

Sadie is from North Austin and began playing indoor volleyball with her club and HS varsity team from 2014-2019.  She has been competing in beach volleyball for 8 years with AJV Sand.  Sadie started her collegiate career at Stephen F. Austin State University before transferring to Saint Mary's College of California, earning several academic and athletic honors, including the Saint Mary's College Dean's List, the Nancy Richardson STEM Scholarship Award, and West Coast Conference All-Academic Volleyball Honorable Mention.  Athletically, she has over 70 NCAA DI beach volleyball wins and ranks seventh in program history for the #2 position.  In 2024, she received the Heineken Queen's Cup Best Defender HM Award.  Sadie has been coaching with AJV for 4 years and holds a B.S. in Biology.

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Jay Ferguson

Jay Ferguson

Bio coming soon!

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Maddi Kriz

Maddi Kriz

Maddi Kriz is a championship-winning AJV Sand alumni. She is a Stanford and USC alum, bringing unparalleled expertise to our program. All-PAC-12 first team, AVCA All-American second team, and Pac-12 conference champion - she’s achieved it all! At USC, her team won the NCAA National Championship in 2024! She is now back home in Austin and ready to share her experience with our athletes!

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Madi Smith

Madi Smith

Bio Coming Soon!

Student Coaches

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Lizzie Denyer

TAMUCC
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Kealy Dirner

Georgia State University
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Arden Besecker

Arizona State University
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Victoria Simmang

McNeese State University
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Kaitlyn Bradley

TCU & Sand Diego
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Naina Urs

UC Davis
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Alex Kriz

University of Oregon