CLUB NEWS
2022 Volleyball 7th/8th grade 4’s League (Session 2)
NOTE: Any club, Team, group or players are welcome. You DO NOT have to be a Club Ignit Select Volleyball member to Participate.
Supplemental Volleyball Tryouts
Elizabeth Plum (Image coming soon)
Co- Director at Club Ignit Select. She joined the Ignit team in 2021 following a move to the Des Moines metro area. Elizabeth graduated from Columbus High School where she played Varsity Volleyball, basketball, track, softball, and tennis. She went on to attend Wartburg College and the University of Upper Iowa. Elizabeth has coached 16 club seasons, qualifying 16 consecutive teams to the Girls Junior National Championships. Career highlights for Elizabeth include a top 10 finish in the 14u Open division, a 2nd place finish in the 14u National division, and a 2nd Place finish in the 14u USA division.
Leigha (Image coming soon)
Co-Director of Club Ignit Select. She has been a coach at Club Ignit Select since 2019. Leigha has coached High School and Club Volleyball in the state of Iowa for well over a decade. Leigha played volleyball and soccer for Marion High School, and helped Marion earn their first State Championship in 2008. Throughout her coaching career Leigha has guided many of her teams to USA Volleyball Junior Girls National Championships. Leigha has also been part of six consecutive trips to the Iowa High School State Volleyball Tournament as a member of the Dowling Catholic Volleyball Staff. She lives in Des Moines with her husband, Ben and their son, Meyer.
Michael Maiers (Image coming soon)
Co-director at Club Ignit Select. He is joining the team in 2022. Michael graduated from Dyersville Beckman High School where he participated in basketball and track. While there, he qualified for state track numerous times and was a member of the 2007 qualifying state basketball team. He went on to attend the University Northern Iowa where he was a member of the UNI Men’s Club Volleyball team. While in Cedar Falls Michael assisted with the UNI Women’s Volleyball team as a practice player and camp coach. Michael has been coaching volleyball at the club and high school level for over 10 years and has 7 consecutive trips to USAV Nationals placing 5th and 3rd in the National division.
Staff
Originally from St Charles, MN, Melanie is entering her 13th season coaching volleyball. Currently, she’s on staff at Valley High School as the sophomore head coach and assistant varsity coach. 2019 will be her fourth year at Valley, and this will also be her fourth season at CIS, previously coaching the 16s-18s teams.
From 2011 – 2014, she served as the head volleyball coach at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, IA. The Panthers made a trip to the Regional Championship game in 2012. They were eliminated in a close 3-1 match up with the 7th place team in the nation. Prior to ECC, Melanie spent four years as the assistant volleyball coach at Rochester Community & Technical College in Rochester, MN and also coached four seasons at Southern Minnesota Volleyball (SMV) and three seasons at Iowa Heart in Ames.
Melanie earned her B.A. in Communications from Waldorf College and Her M.A. in Educational Leadership & Sports Management from Winona State University. Her 4 year-old daughter, Izabella, enjoys taggign along to the gym with her mom.
Scarlett played for Drake University from 2012-2016. Originally from Lincoln, NE, she graduated high school from Pius X winning State volleyball her senior year. She played club at Nebraska Juniors winning Gold at USAV Nationals in the Open Division at 16s.
Along with Sheby Sawyer, they started the Des Moines Beach program in 2018. She also coached at Elite Beach VBC from 2013-2017. She received the Junior Beach Coach Award for the 2015-2016 season.
Scarlett resides in Norwalk with her husband, Logan, and their daughter, Presleigh.
Andrea is a West Des Moines native. She attended Valley High School. She began playing club volleyball at an early age and continues to play sand, grass, and indoor volleyball frequently today. Andrea has been coaching volleyball since 2006. She has coached at Valley high school and Norwalk high school, as well various clubs in Iowa before finding her coaching home at CIS in 2010. She has studied sports and motivational psychology, and currently holds a masters degree in a similar field. She has coached very successful teams ranging from ages 14u-17u. She helped her 14’s team on their nationals journey in 2017. In 2018 she coached the 15’s National team to earn bids for nationals at the American, USA, and National levels; and ultimately competed at the National bid level at GJNC. In 2019 she coached the 16’s division, once again returning them to the National Division. Andrea has had very successful teams throughout her club coaching career.
In Andrea’s spare time she serves on the Iowa board for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and oversees all of the Iowa Out of the Darkness Campus Walks, which are some of the top in the country.
Andrea brings an experienced skill set to Club Ignit Select, as well as an advanced psychological and motivational approach to coaching. She is looking forward to the 2019 club season and having an opportunity to coach the 18’s team.
Shannon Wieland
Graduate of Blue Valley Northwest HS (Overland Park, KS). Recruited as 4 year starting setter for University of Northern Iowa where she ranks second in all-time career assists. 2 time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, 3 time First-Team Academic all-MVC honoree. In 1999, the first UNI volleyball player to earn Division I All-American (2nd team) AVCA honors. In 2000, she represented the state of Iowa as a nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. 2 time UNI Hall of Fame inductee, individually in 2015 and in 2018 as a member of 1999 UNI volleyball team (which was for first time in school history a Sweet 16 contender). She has been a setting coach at Valley High School, collectively for 14 years, helping the Tigers compete in 6 state tournaments.
She resides in West Des Moines, Iowa and works as a Physical Therapist & Volleyball Coach. She is happily married to UNI wrestling All-American Tony Wieland, and they have a daughter and son.
Matt is currently the varsity assistant head coach at West Des Moines Valley. This will be his 10th season with the Tigers. Prior to coaching at Valley, Ross was the assistant coach for the Des Moines East Scarlets varsity team from 2007-2008.
From 2009 to 2012, Matt coached teams of various ages. During his time coaching club, he has helped three teams qualify for Nationals. Ross was also the recipient of the Iowa Regional Male Coach of the Year in 2007.
In addition to club and high school volleyball, Ross has also been an active participant in the region’s High Performance program, serving as a travel coach twice. In 2011, he was the assistant coach to the National Select team that brought home region’s first gold medal after competing in Tucson, Arizona. In 2012, Matt coached Iowa’s first boys team. Playing in Des Moines, the team earned a gold medal in regional competition.
Matt currently resides in Ankeny and is the father of two amazing boys, Calvin and Jonah.
This will be Connor’s 11th year coaching club volleyball in Iowa. He has coached National teams with ages ranging from 15s-18s and has qualified for Girls Junior Nationals every year with his best finish being 5th place in 2015! He has also helped over 20+ athletes play at the collegiate level.
Connor played on the University of Northern Iowa Men’s Volleyball team from 2007-2010 where he started every match as a middle hitter and was also a team captain. While attending the University of Northern Iowa he received his coaching minor from UNI’s volleyball coaching staff.
Connor started his coaching career in 2008 coaching NU Tiger Club team in Cedar Falls. When he moved to Des Moines he began helping Roosevelt High School in 2011 as the Junior Varsity coach. For the last six years he has been the Head Junior Varsity, and Assistant Varsity Coach at Valley High School in West Des Moines. Valley has been to state for four consecutive years with a 2nd place finish in 2017 at the 5A level. Connor has also been heavily involved in the Iowa Region High Performance program for the past 5 years.
Connor graduated from Northern Iowa with a Sports Psychology degree in 2009. He and his wife Mallory live in Clive and are parents to their one year old daughter, McKenna.
Staff
Leigha attended Marion High School and graduated in 2009. Leigh helped the Indians win a #A state title playing for Coach Roxanne Paulson in 2008, the first and only time in history for Marion HS. She played club volleyball for several different clubs as an outside hitter and later transitioned to a defensive specialist.
Coaching Experience: Leigha started coaching for Kari Lombardi at Cedar Rapids Washington High School in 2009. During Leigha’s four seasons at Washington, she coached at the freshmen, sophmore, and junior varsity level. She coached ons season at both BallardHigh School and Norwalk High School when first in the Des Moines area, and is now in her third season as Head Freshman coach at Dowling Catholic. Leigha has coached club for the past 10 years, at Washington High School, Rapid Spikers VBC and Central Iowa Select. Leigha is assisted by her husband, Ben McQuade.
Molly attended Western Dubuque HS, DMACC and Coe College. At WD, she was a 4-sport varsity athlete. At DMACC, she helped the Bears to a 7th place finish at the NJCAA National tournament. At Coe College, she majored in Fitness Development and was a 4-year varsity starter. She set numerous records for hitting and defense in her 3 years at Coe. In 2011, Steffens and the Kohawks went 31-4 to set a new school record for wins and securing the program’s first Iowa Conference Championship.
Following her graduation she went onto Minnesota State University in Mankato to pursue a Master’s Degree in Sport Management. Molly is currently an Events Director for the Iowa Volleyball Region of USA Volleyball, with her primary focus being the Iowa High Performance Program.
Her coaching experience: Powerhitters 14U in Dubuque. Cedar Rapids Prairie HS club 15U and 16U. Steffens was an assistant to the varsity volleyball team at Waukee High School after spending three seasons with Urbandale High School.
Molly has also coached and worked for the Asbury, Dubuque, and Cedar Rapids Recreation departments. She currently lives in a Urbandale and is an Assistant Coach at Central College in Pella, I
Haley attended Wapsie Valley High School and graduated in 2013. She started playing volleyball in 6th grade for Iowa Elite VBC out of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. While playing with Iowa Elite, she qualified for nationals 4 times and played as a 6 rotation outside hitter/defensive specialist as well as a libero in her later years. During her time at Wapsie Valley, she primarily played as a libero/defensive specialist.
This will be Haley’s 4th year coaching club and 6th year coaching overall. She had led teams to USA Girls Junior National Championships each year that she has been coaching club. She previously coached for her high school club team at a variety of age levels and helped out with the younger kids at Wapsie as well.
When Haley is not coaching you could find her playing in indoor and sand volleyball leagues for fun. She also teaches 1st grade at Monroe Elementary for the Des Moines Public School District.
Shelby played for Drake University from 2012-2016. Where she is originally from Battle Creek, NE and graduated from Battle Creek Jr/Sr High School in 2012. She played club volleyball at Nebraska Elite, in Omaha, NE.
Shelby is heading into her fourth year of coaching club. The last two years she coached a 17 National team with Scarlett Molina. Previously Shelby coached a 14s indoor club team.
Along with Scarlett Molina, they started the Des Moines Beach program in 2018. She previously coached at Elite Beach Volleyball Club for the summer of 2017.
Shelby brings a great amount of energy and enthusiasm to coaching and is excited to start her journey with the Club Ignit Select family.
Shelby currently resides in Ankeny, Iowa with her husband Dylan.
Michael has been playing and/or coaching volleyball for over 30 years. Originally from Urbandale he started playing in high school on a men’s team as a defensive specialist and setter. He continued his setting career at Graceland College (now University) and Iowa State University men’s club team. After college he continued playing on several men’s teams and sand doubles.
Michael started coaching youth volleyball in 2011 and coached with the Indianola Volleyball Club 2013-2017. He was a volunteer coach for the Indianola HS varsity team from 2016-2017 and continues to help with Indianola. Michael has volunteered with Iowa HP tryouts and camps the last three years.
Hanna attended Wapsie Valley High School and graduated in 2017. She started playing volleyball in 5th grade and played for several different club in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. She started all four years of her high school career where she was a 6 rotation right side hitter/defensive specialist her freshman year and the libero the last three years. She received all conference honors, a team captain, and qualified for the state tournament her junior year. Hanna also played basketball and ran track while she was in high school.
Hanna will be assisting her sister, Haley Risse with the 13M team. Hanna has also helped coach/mentor a variety of age levels in her hometown of Fairbank, IA.
Hanna is currently a student at Drake University majoring in Health Sciences on the Pre-OT track. Her plan is to become a pediatric occupational therapist when she graduates. When Hanna is not coaching volleyball or studying for school, you can find her working at her job at Northern Iowa Therapy as a rehab tech, playing in indoor and sand volleyball leagues, being outdoors, participating in intramurals at Drake, or spending time with family and friends.