Coach Bios

Christa Faris

Christa is ‘a former Canadian National Volleyball Team Member and Indoor Professional National Champion. Her USAV AAA indoor team won a National Championship and she was voted to the All- American team in doing so. Christa is a very accomplished sand player. She has maintained an “Open” Level Sand Doubles rating for over 20 yrs. She played college volleyball at the Univ. of Georgia, a Div 1 top 20 team.

Christa was the head coach at Cibola HS from 2000-05, where she was voted NMAA Coach of the Year in 2005 and led her team to the State finals. Christa has coached many age groups in club and has led 5 teams on to become Regional Champions. Christa is proud to be one of the two founders of E3. Christa has 2 daughters (Hannah/Petra) who play for E3 and her son, Soren, is now involved the club.

David DesMaisons

David has been playing volleyball for 40 yrs and coaching for 35 yrs. He played 3 years at UNH, where he was voted All-New England all 3 years. He played semi-pro in Northern CA on the grass double tour. He played in the Newport, RI, Association of Volleyball Professionals tournament in 1986. This was considered the highest level of sand volleyball play in the country.

David has been coaching high school and club teams in New Mexico for 18 years. He is known for his skill in empowering student athletes to excel. As a Founder of E3, David shares Christa’s pride in starting E3. He is very happy with the growth and direction of the club.

Patrick Young

Patrick has coached at Cibola High School and at various middle schools in the Albuquerque area, over the past 30+ years. He has also played at various levels and aspects of volleyball, since the age of 16. Patrick started his crazy volleyball journey at Cibola, while they had a boys team. He was awarded a partial scholarship to BYU of Hawaii, but had already enlisted in the military, so onto the Air Force it was..

Patrick was a member of the Wounded Warriors team, while in the Air Force. His team medaled numerous times, while he was playing. He is currently a member of the USA Men’s National Sitting Volleyball Team. This team has allowed him to play against some of the best teams in the world. The team is presently ranked seventh in the world. Patrick made the team at the age of 47 and lists winning a silver medal at the 2019 Pan Am games, as one of his greatest accomplishments. His goals and hopes are up for making it to the Paralympics.

Patrick currently coaches at Eastern Christian Academy, which he has done over the past 8 years. He enjoys this job because it allows him to coach and honor his faith at the same time. Patrick joined the E3VB family this past season and we are very happy to have him. He enjoys the culture and the philosophies of E3VB and hopes to stay as long as we will have him. Patrick loves coaching and plans to do it as long as he can.

Janelle Torres-Groover

Janelle Torres-Groover has been playing and coaching volleyball for over 20 years. She is a former UNM Lobo Volleyball player that hailed from Albuquerque, NM. She played at St. Pius High School and led her team to a undefeated season and state championship her senior year and was named the 3AAAA player of the year. She went on to play for the Lobos , where she was a setter and broke the record for all-time career leader in assists. She currently 3rd in the UNM record books for all-time career assists and 1st in the UNM record books for single match individual record for assists with 82.

After her playing career she coached at Armstrong Atlantic State University, a DII school, in Savannah, GA. She has coached club volleyball in Florida, and New Mexico at every age level and has worked college volleyball camps all around the country. She has a master degree in Public Health and Social Work and currently works at UNM as a licensed social worker.

Doug Deming

Doug started his volleyball career over 22 years ago. He was a middle hitter for Purdue University on their NIRSA men’s team. Since then, he has played indoors, grass and sand competing at various events, including USAV Nationals and other large tournaments. Doug has coached at E3 for 3 years and enjoyed successes as Head Coach, with a very talented 13’s team last year.

We love his calm demeanor and ability to stay focused in high pressure situations. Doug currently has two daughters playing for E3 (Adrianna & Aleksandra), both of whom we are very excited to have with us.

Anthony (Tony) Perea

Juliana Todescan

Juliana is known in the volleyball circle as Jú, and she has been coaching for over 15 years. Ju began her coaching career at Ozark Juniors while earning her degree and playing volleyball at John Brown University (JBU), Arkansas. After earning her B.A. and B.S. Jú moved to Kansas to coach at Colby Community College for a year before she decided to move back to Arkansas to earn her M.A. in Spanish Literature and become a Spanish and Portuguese instructor at the University of Arkansas. While earning her degree, Ju had the opportunity to be a volunteer at the UofA volleyball program for a year. When Jú moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to earn her Ph.D., she was fortunate to coach at the club and high school level for 7 years. Ju has coached at Atrisco Heritage (2016), at La Cueva Bears (2017-2019), and at Sandia Preparatory School (2021). Jú also had the opportunity to develop her coaching skills at ARVC for 5 seasons.

While at JBU (2004-2006), Jú was a decorated All-American student-athlete, leading the Golden Eagle’s offense as a setter. During Jú’s years, JBU finished in the top 3 of their conference, winning the conference title in her senior year and breaking the school record with over 5,442 assists in 3 years. While at JBU, Jú won many accolades including MVP for region two years, and Setter of the Year awards for SEC and Region for three years in a row.

Currently, Jú is a Spanish instructor at Sandia Preparatory School. After taking a year off from coaching to focus on teaching and getting married (which she did!) Jú is ready to coach at E3. Mainly, Jú is thankful for another opportunity to learn from her peers as well as share her knowledge and love for the sport that gave her so many chances for personal growth.

Alex Tennison

Alex has had many injuries keeping her out of the sport she loves for stretches of time but she always rallied back. She became a physical therapist in order to help people get back to doing the things they love. Alex played semi-professional/open beach volleyball until injuries took her out again.

Alex loves volleyball, it is a way of life and she is excited for her daughter to be in love with the sport too. She is passionate about coaching and mentoring young athletes. She currently works as a doctor of physical therapy at the student health center on UNM’s main campus.

Craig Collins

Jorge Alarcon

Tiger Gutierrez

Grace Harris

Miah Alfaro

Maleah Alfaro

Maleah has now turned her focus to coaching. She coached for District 12 for the past 3 years and is now very excited to be joining the E3VB team of coaches. Maleah is very excited to have her daughter, Ariana, playing at E3VB this season.

Joseph Davila

Rob Pierce

Rob has taught high school for 25 years and has coached volleyball for 20. He was varsity assistant at Moriarty High, before becoming the head coach at Eldorado. Rob has coached seven years and just completed his third year back, after a five-year hiatus. From 2005-2008, he ran his own small volleyball club, with his wife Drichelle. They have two boys, 16-year-old Dax and 12-year-old Jesse (who just starting volleyball and now playing with E3VB).

Rob’s knowledge comes from years of playing and coaching experience, and his greatest strength — aside from having awesome hair — is teaching strong fundamentals and helping players break bad habits to reach their full potential.

Jenny Ross

Brittney Del Angel

Following high school, she attended Washington State and Auburn University on a volleyball scholarship.

At Washington State University, she coached the men’s intramural volleyball team and has been involved in coaching since.

She met her husband, Tony, at Auburn and the two moved to Albuquerque in 2007. They have four children.

The pair also operate Gonstead Physical Medicine, with two locations in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. They specialize in sports development and injury prevention.

Nate Casas

Cecilia Onetto

In 2001, Cecilia moved to the United States and went to Hallandale High school in Florida. In the same year she played All-Star Game representing Broward County.

In 2004, St Thomas University offered her a full scholarship. Her hard work and dedication paid off during her training in Peru.

In 2019 she worked as a coach assistant, and in 2022 she worked as a coach for the 14R team.In 2023 she coached volleyball for the Horizons summer program in Sandia Prep.

Cecilia is a proud military wife and mother of three.

Maria Hultquist

Maria coached throughout Albuquerque, include 10+ years with Albuquerque Rebels. She found success and satisfaction while coaching 14U and 12U teams. Maria enjoys focusing on sound fundamentals, encouraging problem-solving, and developing solid interpersonal skills. Her goal is to develop great players and even better teammates.

Maria has recently returned to Albuquerque after 9 years in the Midwest (Chicago, KCMO, and Omaha). In December she graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center with a MSPAS, she is now working as a physician assistant in interventional pain management.

Amilya Sandoval

Amilya has Masters from the NMSU in Social Work and Public Health, and works at the VA Hospital as the Chief Experience Officer. Amilya has three sons; her son Cael shares her love of volleyball and plays at E3.