Meet the Iowa Rockets coaches. Experience. Passion. Compassion.
Many coaches have been with Rockets for 10 to 15 years. Establishing a solid foundation of volleyball skills early pays for itself over and over. Meet the coaches who have provided this foundation for literally thousands of volleyball players over the past 25+ years. This longevity of coaching and breadth of knowledge is unmatched throughout Iowa. These Rockets experienced coaches spend countless hours working with the young and inexperienced players. These coaches know WHAT to teach and HOW to coach players for accelerated learning and development. Experienced coaches with proven results… 27 years and counting.
David Rodgers, Club Director and Coach
David has been playing and coaching volleyball for over 35 years. As the seasons unfold we realize that volleyball is really about relationships – both on the off the court. It’s not about winning and losing – it’s about becoming YOUR BEST. David stresses the importance of constant improvement in the Mental, Physical, Skill, and Emotional aspects of the game.
In his early years, David was a sailor so he finds personal meaning in the quote: “We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust our sails.” – Unknown.
Kyla Rodgers, Club Director and Coach
Kyla is the club director for Iowa Rockets Volleyball and has been playing volleyball for over 35 years. She was a player at the USAV Women’s AA level and is a USAV Regional Referee, collegiate referee, Men’s Big 10 referee, and a CAP I USAV coach. She has taken teams to the USAV National Tournament, finishing as high as 2nd and 3rd in the nation. In 2003 she led Rockets 15s to a 1st place Regional finish and 3rd place in the Nation! Also, her teams have won National Qualifiers at 13s, 14s, 15s, 16s, 17s and the 18s level. In 2014 she led her team to a USAV Open division bid at Nationals. In 2015, her (somewhat of an underdog team in 16s) won the GOLD medal in a strong field at Iowa Regionals, completing the season with a great showing at Nationals. Though Kyla is an all-around coach, she specializes in attacking, blocking, and offense. Her larger perspective of the game of volleyball (and life) focuses on coaching the whole girl, learning the whole sport, and working(playing) together.
Chin Nguyen, Coach and Recruiting Coordinator
Chin has been playing volleyball for over 30 years. He was part of the University of Iowa Men’s Club team during college and played at the AA level on a men’s team in Des Moines, Tulsa, & Chicago. He’s been a Rockets coach since 2004 & has also coached in Bend, OR. Chin is a CAP I USAV volleyball coach & has coached at the 12s thru 18s levels. He has captured 1st at Iowa Regionals multiple times and 1st at three National Qualifiers. In 2013 his 18s team brought home a Gold medal by winning a USAV National Championship! Chin was the Iowa Region Coach of the Year in 2012 & joins the ranks of a very few Iowa coaches that has led his/her teams to not one…but two USAV Nationals Open division bids. In 2018, his 13Black & 15R teams both brought home 3rd Place trophies from Nationals in Detroit.
Greg Allen, Coach
Greg has been coaching for 20+ years for multiple Iowa Rocket teams. This past year his Iowa Rockets 18-1 team played outstanding at Mideast Qualifier and qualified for USAV National tournament.
Sarah Anderson, Coach
Sarah is in her 10th year with Rockets. In addition to coaching for Rockets she has coached at the junior high level the past five years through the Iowa City Community School District. She played for Rockets throughout her high school years as well as playing for her high school team, City High, where they won State her junior year and qualified for the Iowa HS Tournament her senior year. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 2012 with a degree in Health Science and when she’s not managing the restaurant Micky’s Irish Pub in Iowa City, she enjoys traveling. She has lived out of a backpack throughout Southeast Asia for two month periods – twice now! She looks forward to meeting new faces and watching her players grow and succeed both on the court and off!
Keeley Arnold, Coach
Keeley has been in the volleyball scene in the Iowa City area for countless years and a Rockets coach for many years. A previous standout setter at IC West High School, Keeley is now coaching with Rockets.
Rachel Berkland, Coach & Recruiting Coordinator
Rachel has been coaching volleyball for over 20 years. In addition to coaching high school and club volleyball, Rachel has 2 daughters who graduated from Iowa Rockets. They are now playing Division I volleyball and/or coaching Division I volleyball.
Kelsey Friday, Coach
This is Kelsey’s 7th year coaching with Iowa Rockets. Kelsey is originally from Iowa City and graduated from Iowa City High School. She went to The University of Iowa and graduated with a Sports Business Degree in 2014. After graduating, she accepted a position at Oklahoma State Athletics working as a Retention Representative for the Athletic Ticket Office handling over 2000 season ticket holder accounts. After a year and a half living in Oklahoma, she decided to move back to Iowa City where she is now teaching for the UI REACH Program, a college program for individuals with disabilities.
Danica Diaz (used to be Haight), Coach
Danica is in her 14th year coaching with the Rockets. In addition to coaching at Rockets, she has coached freshman level volleyball for Iowa City West High for two years, as well as the varsity level of Track and Field for five years. She was a multiple sport athlete at Iowa City West, participating in volleyball, track and softball. She went on to do track (shot put and discus) at the University of Michigan graduating in 2011. When she is not coaching or managing a retail shipping department, she enjoys playing in volleyball leagues, watching movies, and doing crafts. Danica loves to coach at Rockets because she gets to help athletes grow as people and as volleyball players while providing them feedback, regular communication, and a great and fun experience.
Jason Loughran, Coach
Jason has been a coach with Rockets since 2010 and often coaches 2 teams. Dedication and passion.
Jaxon Klosterman, Coach
Jaxon has been an avid volleyball fan since his days at IC West HS. He came into Rockets as a young, enthusiastic coach. In addition to coaching at Rockets, Jaxon is the Assistant Coach at Mount Mercy University.
Jaxon has recently move to a bigger stage as Assistant Coach at Ferris State University. We wish Jaxon the Best of Luck!
Kelsey Reuter, Coach
Kelsey has been coach with Rockets for 4 years. Her teams for the past 2 years have won Iowa Regionals and gone on for successful results at USAV Nationals. Additionally, Kelsey is a Strength & Conditioning Coach at Performance Therapies in North Liberty.
Megan Wilson, Coach
Megan was a founding player with Iowa Rockets back in 1998. She went on to play at Central College where she won a National Championship. She is back with Rockets as a coach. And to continue the legacy, her daughter Izzy now plays with Iowa Rockets.
Aide Morales, Coach
Aide has been coaching volleyball for 12 years. All 4 of her daughters are either Rockets alumni or current players with Rockets.
Don Ho Nguyen, Coach
Don has played volleyball for over 35 years. He started playing indoor and beach volleyball in Southern California. Don played 5 years in college with the University of Iowa Men’s Club team as a setter and outside hitter. Then he played USA Men’s indoor and outdoor volleyball in the Quad-Cities. Don also coached Alleman High School Sophomore team and as an assistant for the varsity. Don has coached for 10 years with Rockets. In 2015, Don led his 17 Black team to a 5th place finish at Nationals in New Orleans. In 2016, Don was head coach for 18-1 and finished 13th at Nationals in Indianapolis. He is also a certified high school official in Iowa and Illinois. Don works in the IT department at John Deere head quarters in the Quad-Cities for the past 25 years as a team lead and also as Global SAP senior analyst. He’s married with a daughter at Iowa State, a freshman son in college, and another daughter who is a collegiate golfer.
Madi Slay, Coach
Madi is an alum of Iowa Rockets and we are extremely pleased to have her back as a coach. This will be her 3rd year as a coach.
Sid Slay, Coach
Sid is an alum of Iowa Rockets and we are extremely pleased to have her back as a coach. This will be her 2nd year as a coach.
Brandon Statler, Coach
Brandon is passionate about vollleyball. In addition to being a Rockets coach, Brandon is the head volleyball coach at Hillcrest Academy.
Kendra Vislisel, Coach
Kendra is a product of Iowa Rockets volleyball and went on to play at Loras College. She is in her 3rd year coaching with Rockets and has helped her teams to 2 Regional Championships and successful finishes at USAV Nationals.
Marissa Robertson, Coach
Marissa is entering her sixth year of coaching club volleyball as our 13-1 coach. Born and raised in Davenport, Marissa attended and played volleyball (along with many other sports) at Davenport Central where she was a three year varsity starter, two year captain, and earned second team all conference. In 2021 she was offered her first high school coaching position at North Scott as their head freshman coach. In her 2021 and 2022 seasons, her freshman teams won Mac Champs back to back. After the season, she was a varsity assistant at the IGHSAU State Volleyball Tournament for both years she was there. In 2023 and 2024 she was the head freshman coach at Pleasant Valley. In her two years at PV, her freshman teams were undefeated, securing two more freshman mac champ spots and making her overall record at PV 65-0. And she helped with the varsity team that won the 5A 2024 State Championship. She started her club coaching career for the PV club team from 2019-2021; then coached for 2 years at another club, taking her 14s team to Nationals in Chicago. Now she’s starting her third year coaching for Rockets!
Carlie Schroeder, Coach
Carlie Schroeder is in her 2nd year coaching with Iowa Rockets. She grew up as a Rockets player attending USAV Nationals with her team for four years.
Ashley Prusha, Coach
Cheyanne Bunch, Coach
Moria Slabaugh, Coach
Moria has been coaching with Rockets since 2024 and has been a coach for 5 years. She is from Wellman, Iowa and lives in North Liberty. Last season she led her Iowa Rockets 11 Black to to a 2nd place Regional finish and qualified for USAV Nationals.
Abby McCaughey, Coach
Allyson Rose, Coach
Ashley Grapp, Coach
Reghan Coyle, Coach
Reghan is from Council Bluffs City and was an incredible high school player. She went onto play at University of Iowa where she was starting RS attacker. She has coaches several different aged teams at Rockets and help lead her Iowa Rockets 13 Black to 9th place in the nation.
Erin O’Conner, Coach
Erin O’Conner was a standout player at Iowa City West HS where she led the Trojans to a 3rd place state appearance. She went on to play at Murray State University as a four-year starter. She earned MVC All-Tournament team honors her junior year. After playing indoor international volleyball for a few years, Erin is now a professional beach volleyball player and runs a beach program in the Iowa City area, called Iowa Sand Academy.
Denise Miller, Coach
Denise has been coaching with Rockets since 2021. She was a stand-out setter at Murray State University. She has older daughters who are Rockets alumni and twins (Edie and Hadley) play Rockets now! They live in North Liberty with her husband, Chris – who is an excellent photographer and contributes AMAZING pictures of Rockets players.
Hailey Daufeldt, Coach
Hailey is a former standout Rockets player from West Liberty. She is still an avid players and excellent coach. Hailey has a younger sister, Macy, who currently plays for Drake University.
Michelle Garrison, Coach
Michelle was a 4 year starter at Lakeland College, Wisconsin, and Richard Stockton University in new Jersey. Some of her accolades are: Four time 1st team All-Conference, Conference Freshman of the year at Lakeland, Numerous 1st Team All-Tournament Selections, Over 1000 career kills. She also played softball in college and holds many season and career records at Richard Stockton. She was the starting shortstop for Team USA in Germany. (Ok, they don’t have shortstops in volleyball, but she is a woman of the world!) Michelle is starting her fourth year with the Rockets and really enjoys helping the girls improve and watching them compete. She has a husband, Todd, and two daughters, Katy and Molly. Both daughters are alumni of Iowa Rockets.
Trystin Luneckas, Coach
Don Jackson, Coach Emeritus
Don joined Iowa Rockets for 9 years after retiring from Procter & Gamble. Don’s love of the game began in college and he is actively involved in playing, coaching, and refereeing. He has 20 years of experience coaching youth sports at all skill levels. For the past 7 years, he has been a Lead coach for our U11/12 teams who have won numerous local and regional championships. In 2017 he led both 12 Black and 13 Black to National Division bids in Minneapolis. Don specializes in developing fundamental skills in our younger players, as well as mentoring our newer coaches. He was also the assistant varsity coach at Clear Creek Amana High School for 6 years. Though he has retired and moved to Idaho, his heart is still with Rockets and you will see him again this fall.