2023 Liberty Elite Staff
Coaching positions are subject to change due to tryouts and final team developments.
Courtney Hutchinson
18 National Head Coach
Courtney has been coaching for Liberty since 2019. Previously, she has assistant coached 17/18 Open, 18 National, and 17 Open. This season will be her first as head coach. Courtney played volleyball at Blake High School in Montgomery County, and then went on to play all four years at Hood College as a middle blocker. While at Hood, her career accolades include placing 4th in blocks, 7th in points, and 8th in kills. Since 2019, she has been the assistant varsity coach at St. John's Catholic Prep in Buckeystown, MD. Her primary job is as a preschool teacher for the Goddard School. She is so proud to coach at Liberty and continue to grow the game. Be fearless. Be feared.
Liberty Elite 2021/2022
17 Open Assistant Coach
Liberty Elite 2020/2021
18 National Assistant Coach: Team won a bid and played in the AAU Nationals, team ended in July ranked in the top 34% Nationally
Liberty Elite 2019/2020
17/18 Open Assistant Coach: Team ended in March ranked 5% Nationally
Rebekah Hanshaw
18 National Assistant Coach
Rebekah has been Coaching for two years and this is her first year at liberty. She was head JV coach at St. John's Catholic prep for two years. And is Assistant coaching the men's volleyball team at Wilson College this year. Rebekah played varsity volleyball all 4 years of high school and went on to play two years at Harford Community College. She received Most Valuable Player award as a senior, was named to First Team All-Conference as a senior, honorable mention as a junior, and named to First Team All-UCBAC Chesapeake Division, she also earned Player of the Week honors as a junior. Part time, she compete's/play's volleyball for several competitive adult volleyball leagues. Her full time position is Event planning but she leaves plenty of time in her life to contribute the knowledge she has to better the players and the game. She is extremely excited to see what this season has in store.
Josh Briggs
17 National Head Coach
12 National Head Coach
Josh has been coaching for Liberty since 2018. He began playing volleyball at the age of 13. His enjoyment of the sport led him to try out for his high school varsity program. He continued to play up through high school, and was introduced to the Great Lakes Volleyball club program in Racine, WI where he had several competitive runs at Junior National Titles. Josh eventually earned a spot on the FAB 50 list of top high school players in the country. He was offered and accepted a scholarship to play for Penn State Division 1 Men’s Volleyball program as a middle hitter. During his tenure with the Men’s program he helped to secure three bids to the NCAA Division 1 Final Four (1997-2002). Josh also played international outdoor volleyball in Italy and Mexico.
After graduating Josh went on to teach at Glen Mills School, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He brought his knowledge, training and experiences with him and assumed coaching duties of the high school team for the next 5 years. Josh had two seasons of successfully training first year players and making two runs at Pennsylvania high school state competitions. This led to recruitment opportunities for two of his players. While coaching, he also helped to build a club program and assist other programs in the area to improve players.
Recently, he has coached and supported multiple local programs, and is now looking forward to helping develop young players working to enhance their skills and enjoyment of volleyball in the club environment.
Liberty Elite 2021/2022
15 National Head Coach
U11 Head Coach
Liberty Elite 2020/2021
14 National Head Coach: Team won a bid to USAV Nationals, team in July ended up ranked in the top 1% Nationally
Liberty Elite 2019/2020
15 National Head Coach: Team ended in March ranked 13% Nationally
Liberty Elite 2018/2019
U12 Assistant Coach: Team finished 4th out of 54 teams regionally and 243 out of 2377 Teams Nationally. Won a bid to both AAU and USAV Nationals. Played USAV Nationals within the American division.U17/18 Assistant Coach: Team finished 14th out of 60 teams regionally and 581 out of 2010 Teams Nationally. Won a bid to AAU Nationals and played in the Premier division.
Taylor Belella
16 National Co Coach
Board Member
Taylor started coaching with Liberty in 2020. Taylor has been coaching club for ten years at the 17/18s level. Her first coaching assignment was with Potomac Elite’s 17s team during her freshmen year of college. Taylor then coached with WACO and coached the 17/18s team there until 2020. Upon graduating from college, Taylor coached at the high school level for seven years before moving to the collegiate level. She is currently an assistant coach at Shepherd University.
She started playing volleyball when she was young through attendance at Mid-Maryland Sports Camps and various youth leagues in both Virginia and then in Maryland. She was a multi-sport athlete all throughout her childhood and high school career. Taylor was a two time volleyball state champion with Smithsburg High School (2009 and 2010) where her team was undefeated for both her junior and senior season. Additionally, she was a part of the Smithsburg varsity girls basketball team that was state runner-up her junior year. Taylor graduated from Smithsburg in 2011 and continued her career at Shepherd University on a scholarship. There she was a member of the team all four years, and a captain her senior year.
Taylor’s passion for coaching comes from a long lineage of coaches in her family. Sports and the desire to help grow the game has and always will be a big part of her life.
Liberty Elite 2021/2022
18 National Head Coach
Liberty Elite 2020/2021
17 National Head Coach: Team won a bid at NEQ's for USAV Nationals, team in July ended up ranked in the top 7% Nationally
Briana Metzger
16 National Co Coach
Board Member / PR Specialist
Bri has been coaching with Liberty since 2019. She has been around the game her whole life and has been playing volleyball since she was the age of 7. Bri played volleyball for Smithsburg where they won a state championship her senior year. She also played club volleyball with AIA and WACO. Although she was offered a scholarship to play volleyball in college, she decided to go to her dream college of West Virginia University. She graduated in May of 2019 with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science. Bri has coached at Smithsburg Middle in 2019, Smithburg High JV in 2021, and is now the Head Volleyball Coach at Smithsburg High.
Liberty Elite 2021/2022
13 National Head Coach: Team won a bid and played in USAV Nationals
Liberty Elite 2019/2020
14 Open Head Coach: Team ended in March ranked 10% Nationally
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Megan Smith
15 National Head Coach
Megan is a first year coach at Liberty but has been coaching at the club level since 2017. She began playing volleyball in high school at Hedgesville High in WV, where her team won their first state championship in 2002. They continued to make state appearances and she was named 1st Team All-state and The Journal Player of the Year in 2003 & 2004. She coached at the Martinsburg Rec League for 5 years and coached for the Panhandle Boomers for 6 years. Her 14U team last year earned a full bid to Nationals in Orlando, FL and finished with an overall season record of 59-14-2. They were ranked in the top 10% in the nation.
She has participated in several coaching clinics including Gold Medal Squared 3-Day Coaching Clinic and WVSSAC Coaching Course. She attended Shepherd University for her Physical Education/Health Teaching Degree, is Nationally Board Certified in Physical Education, and completed her Masters Degree in Administration through WGU. She is in her 13th year teaching at Hedgesville Middle School in WV. Kids are a huge part of her life and she loves seeing their athletic abilities progress. Competitive players and strong skill sets are important, but Megan believes a strong team "family" is also just as important in developing a great team.
LaToya Parks
15 National Assistant Coach
LaToya is new to Liberty this 2022-2023 season. LaToya is a graduate of Martinsburg High School where she was a 3-sport athlete and a recipient of numerous local and state accolades. LaToya went on to attend Glenville State College and was a middle blocker on the Lady Pioneer volleyball team. Her junior and senior year she was named to the 2nd team all WVIAC conference, as well as named to the WVIAC all-tournament team. Upon graduation, LaToya came back home to Martinsburg where she taught middle school physical education, and coached Martinsburg High’s junior varsity and assisted the varsity volleyball teams for 5 years. After taking a break to raise her daughter, she resumed coaching at the freshman level at Martinsburg High for four more years before leaving the program to coach her daughter in the local parks and recreation volleyball league. After a 3-year break, LaToya once again put on her coaching hat as an assistant coach for the 14U Panhandle Boomers volleyball team which earned a bid to the 2022 AAU National’s in Orlando. LaToya taught physical education in Berkeley County for the past 18 years until deciding that she was ready for a career change. She is now utilizing her master’s degree in Social Work and is an attendance worker for Berkeley County Schools.
Children and Volleyball have played a significant role in LaToya’s life, and she is excited to be a part of an organization that sets high standards for their athletes on and off the court.
Meagan Bohn
14 National Head Coach
Club Director / Board Member
Meagan has been coaching for Liberty since 2018. Meagan has been in involved in volleyball since high school where she played volleyball for North Hagerstown High School and club volleyball for FCA. Meagan has coached for other local clubs for several years. For the 2016 & 2017 Meagan served as the Head Coach for Hancock High School. The 2017 season was the first winning season for Hancock in over 8 years with an overall Record of 18-12. In 2019 Meagan accepted the Head Varsity coaching position at St. John's where she holds a 41-9 record. In 2021 she led that team to their Conference Championships winning the IAAM conference title. Meagan has multiple has attended multiple coaching clinics such as University of Maryland Coaching Clinic, Art of Coaching Volleyball, American University Coaching Clinic and Gold Medal Square. Meagan is also CAP I and CAP II certified. In 2006 she also served as a sports ambassador in Holland. Since 2019, Meagan has been the Varsity Head Coach at St. John's in Frederick MD.
Liberty Elite 2021/2022
17 Open Head Coach
Liberty Elite 2020/2021
18 National Head Coach: Team won a bid and played in the AAU Nationals, team ended in July ranked in the top 34% Nationally
Liberty Elite 2019/2020
17/18 Open Head Coach: Team ended in March ranked 5% Nationally
Liberty Elite 2018/2019
U15 Select Assistant Coach: Team finished 8th out of 119 teams regionally and 531 out of 3745 Teams Nationally. Won a bid to AAU, played in the Club division within the AAU National Tournament finishing with a 6-4 record.
Erin Helman
14 National Assistant Coach
Erin is a new coach to Liberty Elite this year of 2022. She recently was a coach for Washington County Recreation and Liberty Elite Fall Ball in 2020. Erin played for club volleyball for WACO and Edge Elite. She also was on the Williamsport High School team where she was a defensive specialist. She decided to focus on schooling after graduation. She will be graduating December 2022 with her bachelors degree in education. She will be a 6th grade math teacher at E. Russell Hicks Middle school. Erin is excited to be coaching travel ball in the area she grew up in and is excited to see the growth in skill/ technique her players will make.
Erika Lawrence
13 National Co Coach
Vice President / Board Member
Private Lessons
Erika has been coaching with Liberty since 2017. She has been coaching youth in the Washington County community for over 8 years, and has coached players of all ages and levels of development. Growing up, Erika fell in love with the sport when she was just 9 years old. She began playing in her first year of middle school and hasn't stopped since. During her years at North Hagerstown High School, she contributed to the first ever State Championship title for girls volleyball in North High history as a defensive specialist. Erika has knowledge and experience playing in each of the positions on the court, while her expertise is as a defensive specialist and outside hitter. After High school Erika continued her volleyball career as a defensive specialist for Hagerstown Community College.
"Volleyball has changed my life in so many ways, I don't know who I would be today with out the sport. Touching the lives of our youth through my favorite sport has always been a dream of mine."
Liberty Elite 2021/2022
16 National Co-Coach
Liberty Elite 2020/2021
15 National Co-Coach: Team played in AAU Nationals, team in July ended up ranked in the top 23% Nationally
Liberty Elite 2018/2019
U14 Open Co-Coach: Team finished 4th out of 113 teams regionally and 202 out of 4647 Teams Nationally. Won a bid to both AAU and USAV Nationals. Played USAV Nationals within the National division.*Liberty 2019/2020 13 National Co-Coach: Team ended in March ranked 1% Nationally
Liberty Elite 2017/2018 U13 Team Co-Coach: 13U team placed 2 out of 65 teams regionally and 139 out of 2246 nationally. The 13's qualified and won a bid for USAV Nationals in the American Division.
Kiara Rakestraw
13 National Co Coach
Kiara has been involved with sports her whole life. She loves the atmosphere sports can bring out of people. Her volleyball journey began in the sixth grade at Indian Valley where she continued to play all throughout high school. Her passion drove her to continue to play as an outside hitter for Shepherd University for the past four years. She has coached girls in volleyball clinics for her high school and club team, Elite Sports Ohio, for many years, with a focus on teamwork. She has always loved how volleyball is a team sport and loves the momentum of the game. She focuses on the phrase, “you are only as good as your weakest link.”
Tanna Rakestraw
13 National Co Coach
Tanna has been playing volleyball since 6th grade and is currently in her fourth year playing as a right side for Shepherd University, where she graduated last spring with her bachelors in social work. She is currently completing her masters in student development with goals of becoming a sports psychologist. This is her first year coaching, but she has prior experience with coaching clinics and private sessions with her junior Olympic club, Elite Sports Ohio. Her focus with coaching is to inspire individuals to see themselves as more than just athletes and encourage development in all areas of life by creating a space where athletes can increase their confidence and attitudes towards themselves, and through supporting their teammates.
Jackie Shelton
18 Open Head Coach
This is Jackie's second year of coaching with Liberty Elite. Jackie graduated from Martinsburg High School, where she played volleyball all 4 years. Her senior year, their team qualified to play in the State tournament. She played 2 years of club Volleyball for Hub City Volleyball Club. She attended West Virginia University of Technology majoring in Criminal Justice where she played as a defensive specialist in the NAIA division for 3 years. She has several years of experience in coaching youth volleyball. Jackie is also an experienced referee. She is a referee for club and high school volleyball in the Eastern Panhandle region. She is currently the assistant coach at Smithsburg High School.
Taylor Ferguson
16 Open Co Coach
This is my 1st year coaching with the Liberty Elite. I played volleyball at Pennsberry and Martinsburg High Schools. As a three year letterwoman, I went to State tournaments twice, finals once. Made all area and all region teams while at Martinsburg High and was awarded 1000 sets or assists as a senior setter. Played 2 years at Garrett College as a setter. I also played basketball at Garrett College (played both sports on scholarship), making Region XX All Tournament Team and Second Team All Region.
I'm excited to be an addition to the program! My goal is to give these young women all of the skills, lessons and drive needed to get to the next level.
Nicole Murray
16 Open Co Coach
Nicole has coached club volleyball as a head coach and assistant coach for 5 years throughout Maryland and West Virginia clubs. Nicole has played volleyball for 16 years where she played on the North Hagerstown High School varsity team for 3 years and continued to play at Shepherd University Where she received the 2016 player of the year accolade.
Through her high school career, she was named on the first team for 3 years, thereafter earning player of the year her senior year in 2016. She played club volleyball for 5 years at WACO volleyball club. Through her college career at Shepherd University, Nicole was named on the Freshman All-conference team for the MEC and received honorable mention recognition her sophomore year. During her years at shepherd university, she contributed to record breaking history for the shepherd volleyball team which included a record of 75-25 from 2016-2019 seasons.
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Hollee Winders
13 Open Head Coach
This is Hollee's second year coaching with Liberty. She was the head coach for 12s open last year and previously the assistant coach to the 17s national team for Montgomery Village Sports Association for 3 years. Hollee played on Smithburg's varsity team for four years and won three state championships with them. For Smithsburg she started her freshman year as an outside hitter/ defensive specialist where she continued that position until her senior year during which she transitioned to their setter. She also played club with MVSA where two of those years her team placed top 3 regionally - securing a bid for nationals. At MVSA she was primarily the libero and setter. After High School she was awarded a scholarship to play with Shepherd University as a setter. There she played one year until she decided to focus on her studies. She graduated with a B.S. in Biology in December of 2019. Hollee is looking forward to coaching another season with Liberty University.
Kelly Grove
11/12 Club Head Coach
Tori Houtt
Strength & Conditioning Coach
Tori has been coaching at Liberty since the 2021-22 season. Growing up she was a multi-sport athlete with her primary focus on volleyball. She started playing volleyball at 11 years old and fell in love with the sport. Spending the majority of her athletic career as a setter, she helped her high school & college teams win conference titles, state titles, and travel to national tournaments.
Coming from a family of coaches, her passion for the sport has grown ten-fold since she began her coaching career. The relationship between athletes & coaches is key and she has found a love of cultivating an environment of discipline, accountability, growth, and support for her athletes.
Currently, Tori is a graduate student of Physical Therapy and a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). She plans to utilize these skills to help Liberty Elite athletes train to improve their speed, agility, overall performance and reduce risk of injuries throughout the lengthy season.
*Liberty 2021/22 15 National Assistant Coach: Team played in USAV Nationals, ended the season ranked in the top 1.5% nationally
Alisa Doolan
Mental Performance Coach
Alisa has coached with Liberty since 2018. She was born and raised in Montana where she had a very successful high school career in basketball and tennis. She went on. She went on to successfully play college basketball at Black Hills State University in SD where she graduated with a B.S. in Exercise Science. Alisa has played a variety of different sports since she was little and enjoys an active lifestyle through multiple recreational sports. Since graduating she has dedicated her time to coaching multiple youth recreational and travel sports. Alisa has also trained young athletes and helped them prepare for their sports season by working on functional movements, strength training, and endurance, along with speed and agility. Alisa has been helping with Liberty Clinics for two years, learning from the best area coaches and college coaches. She was mentored as an assistant coach for 2 years and then took on the head coaching position of the 12's and then the 13's. Both years she developed, mentored, and coached those young players where they won bids to and qualified for USAV Nationals. Alisa has most recently been working with Pat Powers during his local clinics. Not only is she learning from the master of volleyball, she has been helping coach those as well.
Liberty Elite 2020/2021
14 National Assistant Coach: Team won a bid to USAV Nationals, team in July ended up ranked in the top 1% Nationally
Liberty Elite 2020/2021
13 National Head Coach: Team won a bid to USAV Nationals, team in July ended up ranked in the top 2% Nationally
Liberty Elite 2019/2020
12 National Head Coach: Team ended in March ranked 3% Nationally
Liberty Elite 2018/2019
U12 Assistant Coach: Team finished 4th out of 54 teams regionally and 243 out of 2377 Teams Nationally. Won a bid to both AAU and USAV Nationals. Played USAV Nationals within the American division.
Terri Pryor
Club Founder
Terri has coached for Liberty since 2017. Terri started coaching volleyball in Wisconsin in 1993. She started playing in 7th grade, played Junior Olympics in High School, and then received a full scholarship to play DII in Wisconsin where she acquired both DI and DII playing experience as a middle/right side hitter. During college she started coaching girls club for Milwaukee Sting. She earned her degree in Sports Management, after college she was commissioned into the U.S. Army as an Ordinance Officer in Ft. Hood Texas. While in the Army, Terri continued to play volleyball and coach within the local communities. After she left the Army she moved to Frederick MD where she continued to play USAV Women's AA/A. Terri also served as the CHRVA Women's AA/A and a Men's BB/B coordinator for several years. She continued to coach both youth and adults through the local clubs, YMCA's, Frederick county's parks and recreation department and the Montgomery county recreation department, coached 1 year at FCC as the assistance coach and then 1 year as head coach. Terri, her husband and 4 school aged children moved to Fairplay MD in 2015, where she coached for the Springfield Middle intramural team and other local club teams. For the 2018 season, Terri was the JV coach and assistant Varsity coach at Williamsport High School where she coached the JV girls through a winning 13-2 season and assisted with varsity team winning their 2018 2A State Title. For the 2019 - 2020 seasons, Terri was the Varsity Head coach at St. James. Terri is also a court coach for several USAV High Performance tryouts each year.
*Liberty's 2017/2018 U14 Travel team Head Coach: Team finished 6th out of 110 teams regionally and 459 out of 3723 teams nationally. The 14U Travel team also played in the AAU National tournament.
*Liberty's 2018/2019 U15 Open Head Coach: Team finished 7th out of 119 teams regionally and 162 out of 3745 Teams 15% Nationally. Won a bid to both AAU and USAV Nationals. Played USAV Nationals within the National division finishing with a 6-4 record.
*Liberty 2019/2020 16 National Head Coach: Team ended in March ranked 11% Nationally
*Liberty 2020/2021 12U Head Coach: Team went 13-14 for the season. Played in gold division for CHRVA Regionals
*Liberty 2020/2021 16 National Head Coach: Team won a bid for USAV Nationals, team in July ended up ranked in the top 8% Nationally
Additional Coaches Bios Coming Soon
Interested in Coaching?
If you have volleyball coaching experience and you are interested in making a difference not only with our youth but our county, please contact LEVBC. Within the subject line put "possible coach". Please submit a volleyball experience resume for review and consideration.
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