INTRODUCING OUR STAFF & COACHES
Our directors and coaching staff bring a high level of dedication, expertise, and passion to the gym every day. Dead Frog Volleyball is committed to providing a safe environment where young athletes will improve in the game of volleyball through encouragement, dedication and hard work while promoting the value of team work and sportsmanship.
MEET THE DIRECTORS
Dedication. Expertise. Passion.
Co-Director
Dawn Jaqua
Dawn Jaqua graduated from Portage Central High School and went on to play at KVCC. While finishing her degree at WMU, she coached varsity at Otsego High School for 3 years and was the assistant coach at Kalamazoo College for 2 seasons. She continued her collegiate coaching career as an assistant coach at Western Michigan University under Coach Cathy George. She was the head coach at Portage Central High School for 20 years, where she had an impressive career including over 800 wins, 15 conference titles, 2 regional championships and 1 runner up finish in the 2009 state finals. She has run the national program for Dead Frog for several seasons and is in her fourth year as a Co-Director. Dawn is also the main Lead Coach for the national and elite teams.
Co-Director & Club Operations
Kenny Herbert
Kenny Herbert played club volleyball at Central Michigan University from 2013-2017 as an outside hitter. He then went on to coach JV volleyball at Beal City for 2 years and Port Huron Northern for 2 years before becoming the varsity coach at New Haven. He has 7 years of club experience with Michigan Elite at the national level. Kenny joined Dead Frog in 2022, coaching at the national level each season. He also has been the head coach at Mendon High School for the last 3 seasons, winning a district title in fall 2023 and 2024. Kenny enters his third season with Dead Frog, and second as Co-Director. This season he will co-coach 17 Black.
MEET THE NATIONAL COACHES
Train. Educate. Achieve. Motivate.
18 Black Head Coach
Annemarie Bates
Annemarie Bates attended Portage Northern High School. She played collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh for former USA Olympic Silver medalist Sue Woodstra. During her time at Pitt, Annie won 4 Big East Championships and competed in the NCAA tournament each of those years. She was named First Team Big East All-Conference. While in Pittsburgh she also coached with Pittsburgh Nike Elite VBC. After graduating, she was an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky University. She then received the opportunity to come home and coach at Western Michigan University under Head Coach Cathy George, where the team won a MAC championship. Annie has coached with Dead Frog VB since 2014. She met her husband Clayton while working at WMU and they have two daughters Lyse and Sydney.
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17 Black Co-Coach
Lead Coach - State 12's
Lizzie Britner
Lizzie Britner is from Indianapolis, IN. In high school she played in the AAU National Championship with Team Indiana and a State Semi-Final with Roncalli High School. Lizzie then went on to play 4 years of Division I volleyball at IPFW where she was named Defensive Player of the Week, Academic All League and Team Captain. After graduating she coached with Team Indiana and Summit Volleyball Club before coming to Dead Frog in 2020. Lizzie has been with our national program as both an assistant and head coach. She also assisted the varsity team at Otsego High School in the 2023 season, which included a co-conference championship, District Championship and Regional Runner Up. Lizzie also works in the real estate industry and lives in Kalamazoo.
17 Black Co-Coach
Kenny Herbert
Kenny Herbert played club volleyball at Central Michigan University from 2013-2017 as an outside hitter. He then went on to coach JV volleyball at Beal City for 2 years and Port Huron Northern for 2 years before becoming the varsity coach at New Haven. He has 7 years of club experience with Michigan Elite at the national level. Kenny joined Dead Frog in 2022, coaching at the national level each season. He also has been the head coach at Mendon High School for the last 3 seasons, winning a district title in fall 2023 and 2024. Kenny enters his third season with Dead Frog, and second as Co-Director.
16 Black Head Coach
Lead Coach - State 13's-14's
Erin Onken
Erin Onken is the Varsity Coach at Portage Northern High School. She has been coaching for 18 years and in her first four seasons at Northern, her team has won two SMAC conference championships, four District titles and a Regional Championship. Additionally, Erin has been named the MIVCA Region 11 Coach of the Year the past two seasons at Northern and also has been named the MHSCA 2024 Coach of the Year.
In her nine seasons as Varsity coach at Schoolcraft High School, her teams collected nine conference championships, eight Districts titles, five Regional titles and three State Runner Up finishes, while being named Regional Coach of the year three times. Before landing the Schoolcraft position, Erin coached at Parchment High School for three years and Fennville High School for two.
Erin graduated from Parchment High School where she competed in volleyball, basketball and softball. Then continued her education and played volleyball at KVCC and Lake Superior State. She resides in Schoolcraft with her family and dogs. Her daughter Kayla just graduated from Grand Valley State University and her son Beau works full time in construction. Aside from coaching, Erin works from home as an office administrator for her husband’s residential construction company.
Erin loves coaching at Dead Frog because of the high level of training all athletes receive, the level of energy and commitment shown by the athletes, the collaboration of the coaching staff and being surrounded by players and coaches who share a growth mindset. The Dead Frog gym is a place where you can be yourself and grow as an athlete, teammate and a coach, if you're willing to be challenged and put in the work.
14 Black Head Coach
Madison Jaqua
Madison Jaqua is a Dead Frog alumni and new to the coaching staff this year. She graduated from Portage Central High School, where she was a four-year varsity player. She then went on to play 4 years of Division I volleyball at IPFW where she was named Offensive Player of the Week, Academic All-League and Team Captain. She coached at Summit Volleyball Club for 3 years during her time in Fort Wayne. During the 2024 club season, Madison was the assistant coach for our 17 Black team that placed 3rd at MEQs and won a bid to USAV Nationals in Las Vegas. Madison works in the real estate industry and lives in Grand Rapids.
14 Green Head Coach
Devin Jaqua
Devin Jaqua is a Dead Frog alumni and joined the coaching staff in 2023. She graduated from Portage Central High School, where she was a four-year varsity player and 2x captain. Devin went on to play collegiate soccer at Michigan State University. She has coached volleyball at South Haven Middle School. Devin works in the real estate industry.
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Co-Lead Coach - National Teams
Lead Coach - State 16's
Mikayla Shell
Mikayla Shell is a graduate from Croswell-Lexington High School and went on to play at Wayne State University. At WSU she was a four-year starting middle blocker and three-year captain. In her senior season (2016) she helped lead the Warriors to the most wins for the volleyball program since 1999.
Mikayla has been coaching volleyball for 11 years at the AAU and USAV national club levels and joined Dead Frog in the 2022 season. During her time coaching, she has served as a national level head coach, camp lead, training lead, and assisted athletes in the recruitment processes. She also coached collegiately at St. Clair County Community College (SC4) as an assistant coach who played a key role in recruitment, scouting, and training for the team.
Mikayla is the Assistant Athletic Director at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Michigan.
MEET THE ELITE COACHES
Train. Educate. Achieve. Motivate.
17 Green Head Coach
Megan Meyer
Megan Meyer joins the Dead Frog coaching staff this season. She is from Dayton, Ohio where she coached club for five years at Air City Chicks. She began her coaching career in 2018 as an assistant for the 13s national team before continuing to co-head coach national-level teams from 13s to 16s. She also led numerous training teams and camps through Air City Chicks. Before moving to Michigan in 2023, she was an assistant for the Miami University (Regionals) Women’s Volleyball team. During her time at Miami University, she helped lead the 2022 season to have the winningest record in program history.
Megan began her volleyball career in 2007 when she started competing in AAU/club volleyball. She graduated from Centerville High School (Dayton, OH) in 2017 after a successful four years playing as a pin hitter and serving as team captain sophomore through senior year. After high school, Megan competed at the collegiate level first attending Mount St. Joseph University (Cincinnati, OH) in 2017 as a DS. After making a tough decision to pursue education elsewhere, she took a gap from playing collegiate volleyball before picking it back up in 2020 at Central State University (Xenia, OH) as an opposite. However, Covid restrictions prevented her from competing in the 2020 season leaving her to only compete in the 2021 season, her final season at Central State University. Megan graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and currently works for lululemon Athletica.
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16 Green Head Coach
Kelsey Swoboda
Kelsey Swoboda is a Dead Frog alumni. She went on to play at Michigan State as a middle and right side for 4-years competing in back-to-back Sweet 16s, followed by competing on the track team for a season and the basketball team for a season as well at MSU. She teaches high school Special Education at Portage Northern High School and is the Varsity Volleyball Coach at Otsego High School. She just finished her 3rd season at Otsego and has earned a Conference title, District title, and Regional Runner-up there. She has been coaching volleyball at Dead Frog, ranging from U13 to U18, for the past 9 years.
14 Gold Head Coach
Gabriella Iagnocco
Gabriella is a Dead Frog alumni and graduated from Mattawan high school. She earned many accolades during her time as a Wildcat. She then went on to play at Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) for 2 years before signing to Albion college. She stepped away from volleyball to start her family and had her first daughter in the Spring of 2019, and then went on to play at Western Michigan University (WMU) on their club team that Fall 2019.
She is currently the JV coach at Paw Paw High School and previously coached at Kalamazoo Central High School as the JV coach as well.
Along with her volleyball background, Gabriella's educational background is rooted in sports nutrition and overall fitness. She received her Master’s in Dietetics and Nutrition from Marshall University and also completed an internship at WMU with their football nutrition and sports performance program. She has since passed both her Registered/Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Personal Training exams and plans to bring her expertise in those areas into coaching.
13 Black Head Coach
Ryann Jaqua
Ryann Jaqua is a Dead Frog alumni and entering her second year on the coaching staff. She graduated from Portage Central High School, where she was First Team All Conference two years in a row, a Miss Volleyball Candidate and team captain. Ryann continued on to play D1 volleyball at The University of Toledo for 5 years. She was named Second Team all MAC and is a 3x team captain. Ryann has run multiple camps at The University of Toledo while also helping out with local clubs in Toledo and high school teams.
MEET THE STATE COACHES
Train. Educate. Achieve. Motivate.
16 - Reeghan Head Coach
Reeghan Boyer
Reeghan Boyer is new to the Dead Frog coaching staff this season. She is a graduate of Montini Catholic High School in Downers Grove, IL where she had an overall record of 105-21 and helped the team win a state championship during her senior season. Reeghan was a four-time Girls Catholic Athletic All-Conference selection and named AVCA All-Region and an Honorable Mention AVCA All-American.
She has continued her playing career at Western Michigan University where she is a Junior defensive specialist for the Broncos.
16 - Jessie Head Coach
Jessie Zesiger
Jessie is a Dead Frog Alumni and Portage native, graduating from Portage Central in 2018. She graduated from Grand Valley State University after playing on the club lacrosse team and studying science education. She is currently a biology teacher at Portage Central where she also coaches lacrosse in the spring.
16 - Jess Head Coach
Jess VanderWeele
Jess VanderWeele (Goldsmith) graduated from Vicksburg High School and has played volleyball on both competitive and recreation teams most of her life. Jess attended Western Michigan University for Exercise Science and is the General Manager and a Fitness Coach at Orangetheory Fitness. She has 7 seasons of coaching experience, from Portage Central Middle School, Loy Norrix High School and Dead Frog Volleyball.
14 - Victoria Head Coach
Victoria Kerns
Victoria Kerns is new to the Dead Frog coaching staff this season. She is a graduate of Lawton High School where she played volleyball all four years as a setter. After graduation, Victoria joined the Air Force and served for 6 years. While enlisted, she played volleyball for her Air Force base, and finished her career as Staff Sergeant. Victoria is also the Freshman volleyball coach at Paw Paw.
14 - Ellie Head Coach
Ellie Louiselle
Ellie Louiselle is from Charlevoix, Michigan. She was a four-year varsity starter for Rayder Volleyball and earned All-State Honorable Mention honors during her time there.
Following high school graduation in 2019, Ellie attended Olivet College and was a four-year Varsity starting Right-Side Hitter for the Comets. In 2020, Ellie was named the Olivet Comets “Rookie of the Year" during the school’s annual Ollie’s Awards Ceremony.
After graduating from Olivet in May of 2023, Ellie moved to Battle Creek. Ellie is the Physical Education teacher at Bellevue Elementary and the Varsity Volleyball Coach at Bellevue Jr/Sr High School.
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13 - Halley/Josie Co-Coach
Halley Johnson
Halley Johnson is from Lexington, Kentucky and is her second season of being on Dead Frog’s coaching staff. She has previously coached different age groups for boys' and girls' volleyball. Halley played at Lexington United Volleyball Club from 12U to 18U. Now, she is a senior outside hitter at Kalamazoo College and she is studying neuroscience there.
13 - Halley/Josie Co-Coach
Josie Carlisle
Josie Carlisle is a Dead Frog alumni from Portage, MI. She played four years for the Frogs and five years of volleyball. This will be her second season on the coaching staff at Dead Frog. Josie attends Western Michigan University and has been an assistant coach at the Varsity level with Portage Northern High School.
13 - Kyleeann Head Coach
Kyleeann Pfiefer
Kyleeann Pfiefer is new to the Dead Frog staff this season, and usually goes by Kylee. She played 3 years of varsity volleyball at Lakeview High School, in St. Clair Shores, MI, as well as on a national elite team at Crank It VBC. Kylee was a multi-sport athlete, also playing tennis and swimming. During her time playing at Crank It she helped run many camps, as well as assisted with the younger teams.
Kylee is a freshman at Western Michigan University this year and studying exercise science in hopes of becoming an athletic trainer or physical therapist one day.
12 - Shaelie Head Coach
Shaelie Lambarth
Shaelie Lambarth played volleyball for 4 years at Trine University, as an outside hitter, where she was a 2x captain and earned an Academic All American honor. This is her 3rd season with Dead Frog and she assisted the middle school program at Kalamazoo Christian. She has coached travel volleyball for a number of years and has also coached travel soccer over the past 11 years. Shaelie currently has 2 daughters that play for Dead Frog and she works in the Medical Device industry.
12 - Alicyn Head Coach
Alicyn Arevalo
Alicyn Arevalo is a Dead Frog alumni who is new to the coaching staff this season. She is a 2023 graduate of Mendon High School where her team won the conference divisional, and crossover championship as well as a District title her senior year.
Alicyn is continuing her volleyball career at Glen Oaks Community College where she will graduate in May 2025.
12 - Julia Head Coach
Julia Wright
Julia Wright is in her second season coaching with Dead Frog. She is a graduate of Westview Jr/Sr High School in Shipshewana, IN where she played volleyball from 5th through 12th grade. After high school, Julia attended the University of Indianapolis where she was on the Track and Field team as a high jumper. She coached two seasons of middle school volleyball before moving to Michigan.
Julia resides in Plainwell and is a certified prosthetist/orthotist at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital where she make prosthetic arms and legs for amputees and head to toe custom bracing for pediatrics and adults.