MEET THE STAFF
& COACHES
Meet Dawn Jaqua
Co-Director
Dawn Jaqua graduated from Portage Central High School and went on to play at KVCC. While finishing her degree at WMU, she coached varsity at Otsego High School for 3 years and was the assistant coach at Kalamazoo College for 2 seasons. She continued her collegiate coaching career as an assistant coach at Western Michigan University under Coach Cathy George. She was the head coach at Portage Central High School for 20 years, where she had an impressive career including over 800 wins, 15 conference titles, 2 regional championships and 1 runner up finish in the 2009 state finals. She has run the national program for Dead Frog for several seasons and is now the Co-Director.
Meet Kenny Herbert
Co-Director & Club Operations
Kenny Herbert joined the Dead Frog coaching staff in 2022. He played club volleyball at Central Michigan University from 2013-2017 as an outside hitter. He then went on to coach JV volleyball at Beal City for 2 years and Port Huron Northern for 2 years before becoming the varsity coach at New Haven. He has 5 years of club experience with Michigan Elite and Blue Water at the national level. Last year he was our 18s national coach and has coached at Mendon for the last 2 seasons, winning a district title this year. This year he is our 16’s national coach and co-director.
MEET THE COACHES
National Coaches
Annemarie Bates
17 National
Annemarie Bates attended Portage Northern High School. She played collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh for former USA Olympic Silver medalist Sue Woodstra. During her time at Pitt, Annie won 4 Big East Championships and competed in the NCAA tournament each of those years. She was named First Team Big East All-Conference. While in Pittsburgh she also coached with Pittsburgh Nike Elite VBC. After graduating, she was an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky University. She then received the opportunity to come home and coach at Western Michigan University under Head Coach Cathy George, where the team won a MAC championship. Annie has coached with Dead Frog VB since 2014. She met her husband Clayton while working at WMU and they have two daughters Lyse and Sydney.
Madison Jaqua
17 National Assistant Coach
Madison Jaqua is a Dead Frog alumni and new to the coaching staff this year. She graduated from Portage Central High School, where she was a four-year varsity player. She then went on to play 4 years of Division I volleyball at IPFW where she was named Offensive Player of the Week, Academic All-League and Team Captain. She coached at Summit Volleyball Club for 3 years during her time in Fort Wayne. Madison works in the real estate industry and lives in Grand Rapids.
Kenny Herbert
16 National
Kenny Herbert joined the Dead Frog coaching staff in 2022. He played club volleyball at Central Michigan University from 2013-2017 as an outside hitter. He then went on to coach JV volleyball at Beal City for 2 years and Port Huron Northern for 2 years before becoming the varsity coach at New Haven. He has 5 years of club experience with Michigan Elite and Blue Water at the national level. Last year he was our 18s national coach and has coached at Mendon for the last 2 seasons, winning a district title this year. This year he is our 16’s national coach and co-director.
Erin Onken
15 National Light
Erin Onken is the Varsity Coach at Portage Northern High School. She has been coaching for 16 years and in her first three seasons at Northern, her teams won three District titles and this year a Regional Championship.
In her nine seasons as Varsity coach at Schoolcraft High School, her teams collected nine conference championships, eight Districts titles, three Regional titles and three State Runner Up finishes, while being named Regional Coach of the year twice. Before landing the Schoolcraft position, Erin coached at Parchment High School for three years and Fennville High School for two.
Erin graduated from Parchment High School where she competed in volleyball, basketball and softball. Then continued her education and played volleyball at KVCC and Lake Superior State. She resides in Schoolcraft with her family and dogs. Her daughter Kayla is a junior at Grand Valley State University and her son Beau works full time in construction. Aside from coaching, Erin works from home as an office administrator for her husband’s residential construction company.
Erin loves coaching at Dead Frog because of the high level of training all athletes receive, the level of energy and commitment, the collaboration of the coaching staff and being surrounded my players and coaches who are students of the game.
Lizzie Britner
14 National Light
Lizzie Britner is from Indianapolis, IN. In high school she played in the AAU National Championship with Team Indiana and a State Semi-Final with Roncalli High School. Lizzie then went on to play 4 years of Division I volleyball at IPFW where she was named Defensive Player of the Week, Academic All League and Team Captain. After graduating she coached with Team Indiana and Summit Volleyball Club before coming to Dead Frog in 2020. Lizzie has been with our national program as both an assistant and head coach. She also assisted the varsity team at Otsego High School in the 2023 season, which included a co-conference championship, District Championship and Regional Runner Up. Lizzie also works in the real estate industry and lives in Grand Rapids.
Kelsey Swoboda
13 National
Kelsey Swoboda is a Dead Frog alumni. She went on to play at Michigan State as a middle and right side for 4-years competing in back-to-back Sweet 16s, followed by competing on the track team for a season and the basketball team for a season as well at MSU. She teaches high school Special Education at Portage Northern High School and is the Varsity Volleyball Coach at Otsego High School. She just finished her 2nd season at Otsego and has earned a Conference title, District title, and Regional Runner-up there. She has been coaching volleyball at Dead Frog, ranging from U13 to U18, for the past 8 years.
Elite Coaches
Makenna Vallier
14 Elite
Wendy Spencer
16 Elite
Wendy Spencer is returning for her third year at Dead Frog where she’s coached 14s, 16s, junior frogs and camps of all ages. Wendy graduated as a four year varsity volleyball and track athlete from Marshall, Michigan where she was also valedictorian and all state in both sports. She continued on to the University of Michigan as a track athlete and graduated with an engineering degree. She’s also pursued the many facets of how to improve athletes overall wellness, becoming a licensed massage therapist and also holds certifications through NASM as a Youth Exercise Specialist, Yoga Teacher, Nutritionist and Life Coach. Wendy is the current varsity volleyball coach at South Haven High School. She’s a mom of 3 kids, with her daughter also a Frog athlete.
Makenna Vallier (Cupp) is from Mendon Michigan where she played 4 years on varsity as a right side hitter and setter. Two of those four years the team won state. Makenna played 7 years of deadfrog volleyball and was the 12u coach the last two seasons. Makenna is currently the junior varsity coach at Three Rivers and attends WMU for her degree in political science.
State Coaches
Mikayla Shell
Lead Coach (14-16)
Mikayla Shell has been coaching volleyball for 9 years at the AAU and USAV national club levels beginning at Michigan Elite Volleyball Academy. During her time there, Mikayla was a national level head coach, camp lead, training lead, and assisted athletes in the recruitment processes. Mikayla joined Dead Frog in the 2022 season as a national-level assistant, and will also be lead coaching for the Elite and State teams this season as well.
Mikayla also coached varsity volleyball at Sterling Heights for two years before making the leap to collegiate volleyball in 2019 at St. Clair County Community College (SC4). She was an assistant coach for SC4 where she helped turn the volleyball program around, and was key in recruitment, scouting, and training for the team.
Mikayla graduated from Croswell-Lexington High School where she played four years of varsity volleyball. She then graduated from Wayne State University where she was a four-year starting middle blocker and three year captain. In her senior season (2016) she helped lead the Warriors to a 19-11 overall and 10-7 league record and the team played in the GLIAC Tournament for the first time since 2012. It was the most wins for the volleyball program since 1999.
Mikayla holds a degree in Marketing and Communications, and now works as the Assistant Athletic Director at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Alysia Baznik
Lead Coach (13-14)
Alysia Baznik is an Illinois native and played 5 years at Sports Performance Volleyball out of Aurora. Alysia and team won the 18s Open division in AAUs where she was nominated on the all tournament team. Alysia continued her volleyball career at Western Michigan University. While there, Alysia has been named All Academic, Offensive Player of the Weem, and co-captain/captain for 3 years. Alysia has been with Dead Frog for 5 years and was Varsity coach at Loy Norrix High for 2.
Ellie Louiselle
13/14 Float Coach
Ellie Louiselle is from Charlevoix, Michigan. She was a four-year varsity starter for Rayder Volleyball and earned All-State Honorable Mention honors during her time there.
Following high school graduation in 2019, Ellie attended Olivet College and was a four-year Varsity starting Right-Side Hitter for the Comets. In 2020, Ellie was named the Olivet Comets “Rookie of the Year" during the school’s annual Ollie’s Awards Ceremony.
After graduating from Olivet in May of 2023, Ellie moved to Battle Creek. Ellie is the Physical Education teacher at Bellevue Elementary and the Varsity Volleyball Coach at Bellevue Jr/Sr High School.
Kasondra Mitchell
15 - Kasondra
Kasondra Mitchell is new to Dead Frog coaching staff this year. She is from Leonidas Michigan. Kasondra played 4 years varsity for Colon Michigan as a defensive specialist and then went on to play libero for Glen Oaks in 2003-2004. She started her coaching career soon after for Colon at the junior high level for 5 years and 1 year varsity. Kasondra has 6 Children who attend Mendon schools and loves to host exchange students from all over the world. She took the junior high coaching position in Mendon for 2 years and then moved into their Junior varsity coaching position 2 years ago. She continues to play rec. ball herself year round and is very excited to be a part of the program here at Dead Frog.
Amanda Nash
15 - Amanda
Amanda Nast is a Dead Frog alumni and also went on to play at Siena Heights University where she earned an All American honor. This is her third season with Dead Frog and she currently assists at the varsity level at Otsego. She serves as an administrator in the district as well, and has taught and coached at Otsego for 5 years now! She has coached travel for a number of years (MVA & Dead Frog) and has worked with athletes ranging from U13 to U17.
Kailey Canterbury
14 - Kailey
Kailey Canterbury is a Pennfield Alumni. She played three years of varsity volleyball. She played club volleyball at Redline Volleyball Club in Battle Creek. She went on to continue to play at Concordia University Ann Arbor. She is currently one of the middle school coaches at Harper Creek Middle School. This is her first year at Dead Frog and is super excited to be apart of this program!
Taylor Sarratt
14 - Taylor
Taylor Sarratt is a Portage Central alumna. She began coaching at Portage Central Middle School while she was attending the high school next door. She has coached both 7th and 8th grade volleyball, and 14U travel at Dead Frog, for a cumulative eight years. She returned as a Dead Frog coach last season after moving back to Michigan from Kentucky, where she earned her graduate degree from the University of Kentucky.
Jess Vanderlugt
14 - Jessica
Carly Smith
13 - Carly
Carly Smith is new to the Dead Frog coaching staff, but was a frog ever since she was 13. She played on the national teams and graduated from Portage Central High school, where she played in the volleyball program all four years as an outside/opposite hitter. She moved to Chicago for school and moved back to Kalamazoo Valley Community College to play volleyball for one last year. Carly is still in school on the way to getting a bachelor’s degree in architecture.
13 - Allie
Allie Brew
Allie has been a part of the Dead Frog coaching staff for four seasons. Allie played volleyball competitively for six years-- four of which were with Dead Frog. When not in season, Allie coaches players one-on-one in private lessons and assists with the Dead Frog youth camps. Allie graduated from Western Michigan University in 2019 and has worked in the real estate industry since.
Devin Jaqua
13 - Devin
Devin Jaqua is a Dead Frog alumni and new to the coaching staff this year. She graduated from Portage Central High School, where she was a four-year varsity player and 2x captain. Devin went on to play collegiate soccer at Michigan State University. She has coached volleyball at South Haven Middle School. Devin works in the real estate industry.
Halley Johnson
12 - Halley
Halley is from Lexington, Kentucky and is new to the Dead Frog’s staff this year. She has previously coached different age groups for boys' and girls' volleyball. Halley played at Lexington United Volleyball Club from 12U to 18U. She has been a starting outside hitter at Kalamazoo College for the last 3 years in a row and now is a junior there.
12 - Shaile
Shaile Lambarth
Shaelie Lambarth played volleyball for 4 years at Trine University, as an outside hitter, where she was a 2x captain and earned an Academic All American honor. This is her 2nd season with Dead Frog and she assisted the middle school program at Kalamazoo Christian. She has coached travel volleyball for a number of years and has also coached travel soccer over the past 10 years. Shaelie currently has 3 daughters that play for Dead Frog and she works in the Medical Device industry.
12 - Ryann
Ryann Jaqua
Ryann Jaqua is a Dead Frog alumni and new to the coaching staff. She graduated from Portage Central High School, where she was First Team All Conference two years in a row, a Miss Volleyball Candidate and team captain. Ryann continued on to play D1 volleyball at The University of Toledo for 5 years. She was named Second Team all MAC and is a 3x team captain. Ryann has run multiple camps at The University of Toledo while also helping out with local clubs in Toledo and high school teams.
