Staff

Executive DAJirector AJ Egli has coached club since 1998 and started United Volleyball Club of the Rockies in 2012.

The success of United speaks for itself: 28 players have signed to play college volleyball in the past 3 seasons alone. Our Beach Program has averaged 7 teams qualifying to go to USAV Beach Nationals over the past 4 seasons.

Back in July of this year (2024), we had 4 teams in the Gold Medal Round at the USAV Beach Nationals ... with one of our 16s teams finishing SECOND in the Nation!

United has it's own volleyball-only facility ... the only one from Denver to Salt Lake to New Mexico.  

AJ has a passion for volleyball and has mentored many coaches and countless young ladies. He is CAP Certified in the USA Volleyball High Performance Program, Beach Nation Coaching Program and is an NCAA College Volleyball Referee.

He has been married for 31 years to his lovely wife, Jennifer. They have a son, Zachary.   Email AJ

Rick

Director of Coaching Rick Reynolds coached at Idaho State (D1) for four years and had a 69-58 record and in conference, the Bengals boasted a winning percentage of 64.7% (44-24). He had six players earn first-team all-conference honors and six players earn second-team all-conference recognition. His team advanced to the tournament title game in 2015.

Prior to Idaho State, Rick had a stellar career at Western Wyoming Community College (NJCAA). In his seven years, he led the team to a 197-87 record. He won the Conference Championships twice. His team finished third in the nation in 2010 and second in the nation in 2011.

Rick was voted Coach of the Year in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2013. He produced six NJCAA All-Americans, five AVCA All-Americans, and five NJCAA National Championship All-Tournament members.

Prior to his time at Western Wyoming, Reynolds spent three years at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where he coached two All-Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Rookie Team members, one CAA Player of the Week and two CAA Rookie of the Week award winners.

Reynolds is married to his lovely wife, Brenna and has three daughters, Keylee, Kaysen and Kyndal.    Email Rick


Dennis

Board Member Dennis Sunderland developed a passion for volleyball while serving in Air Force for 23 years. He has been playing indoor, outdoor- doubles, 4-man, grass and beach since 1988.

Highlights include Air Force USAFE Champions 1988, second place AMC Championship 1995; Several top 3 finishes in regional men’s open tournaments 1991-1998. Base Level Setter from 1994-2000. He has played tournaments in seven different countries. His coaching experience includes: Air Force Squadron Coach from 1993-2010 with two Base Championships, never finishing below 5th place, ever.

In 2017-19, Dennis was the Colorado Mesa University Head Coach for the Men's and Women's Club Programs. In 2017, his CMU Men's team finished 5th in the Region.

Email Dennis 



GRAND JUNCTION

Michelle and WyattCoaches Michelle and Wyatt Smith met because of volleyball and have continued to play, officiate, and coach ever since. They have three adult-ish children: Lukas, Jessica, and Katie, all played college soccer. Katie is now playing professionally. 

Michelle played college volleyball as a setter and opposite hitter. Currently, she is a USA Volleyball National Official and Trainer. Wyatt would play anywhere on the court they would put him. He put his defensive skills to work later in life when he took up soccer.

As coaches, they want to help their players get better technically and raise their volleyball IQ. Play hard and have fun! This year, Michelle and Wyatt are coaching United's 13-1 team. Michelle is the Lead for 14s and 13s age group in GJ. 

Email Michelle



Lindsay is awesomeCoach Lindsay Clayton was a setter and outside in HS in New Mexico, which turned into playing for two seasons on the Adams State College volleyball team in Alamosa.


Lindsay began her coaching career in Shiprock, New Mexico in 2010 as the JV coach for the Lady Chieftains, and ended the 2011 season as the head varsity coach.


Relocating to Grand Junction brought a new focus, and Lindsay coached at Central High School from 2012-2015, manning the freshman squad. Lindsay is now the Head VB Coach at Caprock Academy and is the MS Dean at Caprock Academy. Lindsay is the United VBC Lead for the 12s age group in GJ - there are 4 teams this year.

Email Lindsay


Nick

Coach Nick Hazlewood is the 14-1 Head Coach with his long time partner, Ashley Emery as Assistant. Nick has coached for United since 2017 and has coached 14s, 16s and 17s. In 2017, he was as an Asst to the United 17 National Team that finished 5th at the Crossroads Nat'l Qualifier.   

In 2018, Nick coached an 18s Beach Team of Kassie Luce and Cambell Atkins to a Gold Medal Round in Siesta Key, FL at USA VB Beach Nationals. This is the first year United finished in the Gold Medal Round at Nationals. 

Nick runs the GJ United Beach Program with Ashley Emery and last July at USA VB Beach Nationals, they had three teams in the Gold Medal Round finishing with two 5ths and one 9th in the nation! The best of any Beach Club in Colorado.

Nick is the Head Coach for the Colorado Mesa University's Club Womens Program.   Email Nick 


Nick

Coach Ashley Emery -  runs the GJ United Beach Program and last July at USA VB Beach Nationals, they had three teams in the Gold Medal Round finishing with two 5ths and one 9th in the nation! The best of any Beach Club in Colorado. Ashley is the Asst for 14-1s Team. 

Ashley Emery played for United (Glenwood Springs) for four years, and signed to play college vb in Vermont. She is currently finishing her Bachelors at CMU.  
Email  Ashley


Nick

Coach Ian Leui is a new addition to the coaching staff. During his playing career, he played high school volleyball for all 4 years in his hometown of Carson, CA where he was a middle blocker and had a varsity record of 64-24-1. He won the Division 1 City Section title in his senior year and was runner-up for the Division 3 State Title that same year. He then went on to play club volleyball for the University of California, San Diego as a setter. The team was undefeated and ranked 8th in the nation prior to the season ending prematurely due to COVID-19, bringing Coach Ian to Grand Junction!

Most recently, Ian coached at Grand Junction High School where he is the JV Head Coach. In his first year, he coached the Tigers to an 11-7 season (a major turnaround from the team's previous 1-16 record). He takes major inspiration from LBSU Coach Alan Knipe's brand of volleyball and the idea of always striving to get "1-2% better." This year at United, he has very high aspirations and believes there is a great group of athletes that are going to do a great deal of improving over the course of the season. Email Ian


KeliCoach Shaylee Ten Eyck  is new to the coaching world, but not to volleyball. She has been playing and watching volleyball for nearly 20 years. She played setter in high school and club and took pride in being a leader and role model for her peers. She was named to the UHSAA 3A Volleyball Academic All-State team and graduated salutatorian of her high school class in 2010.  Shaylee earned her Doctor of Pharmacy from Creighton University in 2016 and now works as a Clinical Pharmacist at the VA. 

Shaylee enjoys being a smiling face on the sideline for her players. One of the biggest reasons she became a coach is because of the valuable life lessons learned through playing volleyball. Our time on the court may come to an end, but the lessons learned will stick with us for life. 

When Shaylee’s not at the United Facility, she likes to spend time with her husband, Seth, and their 2 dogs, Loki & Winnie.

Email Shaylee


KeliCoach Chelsea Jones 







KeliCoach Matt Jones







KeliCoach Katie Byrne







KeliCoach Christa Harvey







 


KeliCoach Brenda Dady







KeliCoach Keylee Reynolds








KeliCoach Rachael VanWinkle was born and raised on the Western Slope. Her love for Volleyball started at a young age tagging along to practices with her dad, Tom Haas, for Orchard Mesa Middle School and Lady Knights Club.

Rachael played volleyball in the valley for nine years from 4th grade through her Freshman year of college at CMU, where she played with the club team under United GW Coach Dennis Sutherland.

Her love for coaching started at a young age when she was able to help with elementary school camps in high school. Rachael's real coaching career started spring of 2019 coaching 13's for West Co VB. She Coached 2 seasons (Fall '19 & Fall '22) of 7th grade volleyball at Orchard Mesa Middle School. She has been the JV volleyball coach at Central High School since fall 2023 and has been with United 13's for two years.


KeliCoach Matt Klouzek










GLENWOOD SPRINGS

jasonCoach Jason Obreque has played both the Setter and Libero positions with different teams at different levels of play from high school through collegiate winning many championships along the way. He developed his love for the game at a very young age from his father and has continued to surround himself with the game in one way or another. In 2007, Jason was a libero / setter practice player for the Argentinan National Team.

“I love that moment when one of your players pulls off a play that we have been practicing, in a game, and looks over to you on the bench with a huge smile as if to say “Nailed it”; makes all the hard work, time and effort put in, worth it.”

This year, Jason is the United VBC Lead in Glenwood Springs.   Email Jason


KeliCoach David Chadbourne










KeliCoach Asia Arellano is coaching 14s in Glenwood. She is from Southern California where she played four years of high school volleyball and played club.

Asia had the opportunity of learning from many different coaches and will bring my knowledge and help grow this upcoming team’s abilities and passion for this sport!   
Email Asia


JennCoach Jennifer Dority played Middle Blocker at NCAA D1 Bradley University in Peoria, IL from 1994-1998.  

Jenn was Asst Coach at Roaring Fork High School for three seasons. Roaring Fork was a State contender in two of those years. Jenn became Head Coach from 2013-2015. In 2016, she stepped down to make United a higher priority.

Jenn started her coaching career with United as a Middle Blocker Coach in 2015. Since then she has head coached 13s, 14s, and 15s teams in Glenwood.  Email Jenn

 

JennCoach Larisa Gray played at Mesa State College (now Colorado Mesa University) as a Setter and Defensive Specialist. She's won numerous doubles tournaments in Colorado, including Steamboat Doubles and Vail King of the Mountain at the A level. Larisa coached 17s and 14s for Western Colorado Volleyball Club and Fruita Monument JV.

Since then, Larisa has been busy raising her own kids. Larisa is an Assistant Principal at Rifle High School.
 

Email Larisa