Meet Our Coaches

14 Smack & 16 Gold

Coach Eduarda “Duda” Souza started her volleyball career playing in high school, club, served as the captain of the Amazonas State National Team in Brazil before continuing her athletic and academic journey in the United States. She played on the women’s volleyball team at Barton Community College and at Oklahoma Panhandle State University. She started coaching at Beach Cities VBC in 2024 and has been Head Coach and Assistant of the14U and High School Girls. Last Season Coach Duda, started the Volleyball Program as a Coordinator where she meets with players and parents monthly to provide guidance.

15 Carbon,  16 Black  & 17 Platinum Assistant

Coach Jonathon Woods began his volleyball career in Northern California, leading his team as varsity captain at San Leandro High School for three years and earned a West Alameda County All Conference Award as well as a Conference MVP award.  He also played on CSU Long Beach’s men’s club team.  Jonathon has been coaching for 10 years and is the current varsity head coach of the boys’ and girls’ teams at Harbor Teacher Prep Academy, founding their program in 2021.  He has led his high school teams to CIF championships and has led several of his Beach Cities teams to win Bronze Division (Open and National) medals.

New Waves

Coach Noely Sanchez began her volleyball career at Phineas Banning High School, where she played on the varsity team for three of her four seasons.  She is also Beach Cities alumnus, playing with us from 2019-2022.  She went on to play collegiate volleyball at Los Angeles Harbor College and has been coaching with our Future Stars program for three years.

16 Platinum & 18 Onyx

Coach Kristien Tanuvasa began his volleyball career at Narbonne High school where he played and earned a Marine League MVP award and made the All-City First Team and All League First Team.  He has an extensive 18-year coaching career including as the current head varsity coach of the boys’ team at Banning High School, current head varsity coach of the girls’ team at Carson High School, and the last seven years at Beach Cities VBC.  He is a former JV coach of the boys’ and girls’ teams at Narbonne High School.

13 Smack & 15 Platinum Assistant

Coach Desiree Hernandez played at Serra high school, under the late Coach Tony Mayrie and she is Beach Cities Volleyball Club alumni. Coach Desiree has an extensive coaching career, including as an assistant coach for the women’s team at Cuyamaca College, head varsity coach at St. Joseph’s Catholic School, former coach at North Torrance High School, and at St. Mary’s Academy.  She has also been both a head coach and assistant coach here at Beach Cities for the last 11 years.

18 Onyx Assistant

Coach Kofi Yankey has an extensive volleyball career and has been either playing or coaching volleyball for over 30 years.  He has been the head varsity boys’ coach at Beverly Hills High School since 2017, leading the team to the 2025’s semifinals.  He previously coached at San Diego High School as the head varsity coach of the boys’ program, which he founded in 1989.   He is also a former assistant coach of the women’s teams at Southwestern College and San Diego City College.

14 Carbon, 15 Vanta, & 18 Smack Assistant

Coach Cyrus has been coaching volleyball for over 23 years, including as a head coach, a recruiting scout, and as a club owner.  He played in several Iranian leagues and was selected to play on a Sanam Super League team and won a National Championship. He was also a starting outside hitter of his collegiate team winning three consecutive National Collegiate Championships.

14 Onyx & 15 Onyx

Coach Will Lub started his volleyball career at El Segundo High School and went on to play collegiate volleyball at El Camino College.  He is currently coaching at El Segundo High School, where his team has won a CIF championship and earned a State title. Will is starting his fourth season with us at Beach Cities.

13 Diamond, 16 Carbon, & 17 Platinum

Coach Alice Cunial began playing volleyball at the age of six in Italy, competing at the provincial and regional levels where she earned multiple tournament victories and team promotions. She later coached the 15U team at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and worked with Beyond Ball Hawaii as a clinic coach, assisting in training sessions alongside college coaches.  After moving to Los Angeles, she coached middle school teams at Sinai Akiba Academy, focusing on developing strong fundamentals and a positive competitive environment. Coach Cunial currently serves as the head coach for the JV team and assistant Varsity coach at Harbor Teacher Prep Academy.  She is also a head coach at Beach Cities Volleyball Club, where she leads the 16 Carbon boys, 13 Diamond girls, and 17 Platinum girls’ teams.

13 Platinum, 14 Diamond, & 16 Emerald

Coach Sophia Ahumada began her volleyball career at Narbonne High School and played collegiate volleyball at Cal State Dominguez Hills as a libero.  Her extensive coaching career includes 25 years as the head varsity coach for both the boys’ and girls’ teams at Narbonne High School, winning two CIF Championships, and a CIF Coach of the Year Award.  She has been coaching both boys’ and girls’ teams with Beach Cities for over 15 years.

14 Platinum & 15 Diamond

Coach Christiana “Tiana” Wightman played volleyball at Pacific Lutheran High School as a varsity player all four years, and at Palos Verdes and Triumph volleyball clubs. She has been coaching for over 10 years. From 2014-2018 she was the head girls’ varsity coach at Pacific Lutheran High School. She began coaching at Beach Cities Volleyball Club in the Fall of 2018, then started coaching at Peninsula High School in the Spring of 2019. She is currently the head coach for 14 Platinum and 15 Diamond at Beach Cities, as well as the girls Frosh/Soph coach and the boys JV coach at Peninsula High School.

13 Onyx & 16 Smack Assistant

15 Smack & 18 Black

Coach Max Garris led the Beach Cities VBC 2025 Boys 18 Black team to their Nationals Championship title in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He is Beach Cities alumni and went on to have an extensive volleyball career, playing at Concordia University (Irvine), Santa Monica College, and UC Santa Cruz, where his team was a NCAA National runner-up.  He holds the 2019 NCAA playoff record for the number of digs and placed in the top three players nationwide in digs per set.  He has been coaching at Beach Cities VBC for four years.

17 Black

Coach Reza Tahmasebi has been playing volleyball for over 17 years. He was a member of the Iran’s National Team, for both Asian
and World Championships, and is the recipient of multiple MVP and Best Outside Hitter awards while he played in the Iranian Senior
Super League. He is also the first Iranian male athlete to compete in US collegiate leagues, including NAIA (Campbellsville
University) and NCAA (Vanguard University). He has been coaching at Beach Cities for three years.

14 Smack, 16 Gold, & 17 Smack Assistant

Coach Hector Padilla possesses a bachelor’s degree as Mechanical Engineer and has an extensive volleyball career that includes playing collegiate volleyball in Mexico at Instituto Tecnologico de Saltillo and led his team as a captain to a regional championship and earned a Regional Most Valuable Player award. He also played in the North of Mexico Open Circuit representing the state of Coahuila. Hector has been coaching for over 5 years.

14 Carbon & 16 Carbon Assistant

Coach Ethan Hammond is starting his second year of coaching with Beach Cities and is currently playing collegiate volleyball on the men’s team at Long Beach City College. He played at North Torrance High School, where he earned an Offensive Player of the Year and made the All-Pioneer League 1^st team.

17 Carbon

Coach Martin Chiong brings 12 years of indoor volleyball coaching experience along with 4 seasons of beach volleyball coaching. He has been passionate about the sport since high school and was a member of a championship team at Santa Monica College in 2008. A proud United States Army veteran, Coach Martin now continues to grow in high school and collegiate strength and conditioning while sharing his knowledge and passion for volleyball with athletes of all levels — coach Martin is looking forward to a great season. 

14 Platinum & 15 Diamond Assistant

15 Smack Assistant

12 Diamond

Coach Stan Bailiff played basketball at Kearney High School when his team the CIF Championship in the San Diego Section. He was the Head Coach for the Girl’s Frosh Team at Banning High School from 2015 to 2024 and was the Assistant Coach for the Boys’ Frosh team at West High School from 2025 – 2026. He is currently the Assistant Junior Varsity Coach for the Girls at Torrance High School.

12 Smack, 14 Black, & 15 Black Assistant

15  Black

11 Smack

13 Black

New Waves

18 Black

13 Platinum & 14 Diamond

16 Onyx