10s Program

Tessa  is from the St. Louis area and went to Cor Jesu Academy. She played  four years as a Setter for the Chargers. She served as a team captain  her senior year. Tessa played club volleyball starting at the age of 8,  playing for Team Momentum 15s-18s winning bids to the national tournament every year. She went on to play collegiate volleyball at Rockhurst University her freshman year. 

This  will be Tessa’s second season coaching with Team Momentum. She is  passionate about helping players develop skills both on and off the  court. 
 

Contact Information: buchheitta@gmail.com

Lisa played college volleyball at Southeast Missouri State University  and has formerly coached both high school and club volleyball.  She has  spent over 30 years as a teacher and elementary principal and now serves  as an Educational Consultant.  

Lisa has two daughters who played for  Team Momentum, including 13's head coach Tessa.  She is passionate about  helping others learn and grow as individuals and as a team. 

Lisa has been a part of the Team Momentum family for many years and we are excited to have her as a coach this season!

Contact Information: lbuchheit@incarnate-word.org

I was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico, (yes, I'm fluent in Spanish). When my family moved to the Kansas City, MO area when I was in middle school, I got my first taste of volleyball in 8th grade. I quickly fell in love with all sports. It wasn't until high school that I tried out for a volleyball travel team. I was a multi-sport athlete as well as involved in orchestra, choir, and student council. But you couldn't keep me away from the volleyball court. I went on to play 4 years (right side) at Missouri Baptist University. When I was at MBU, I started coaching club. After graduation, I coached 2 years at Tower Grove Christian, followed by 4 years at Westminster Christian Academy with Heather Cumbee. Throw in about another 10 years of club experience at the competitive level with High Performance VBC.

Four years ago, my husband and I moved our family to Nashville, TN to pursue his musical career. He is a free-lance drummer. During that time, I took a break from coaching to support my husband's dreams and raise our little kids in a new city. My daughters are Charlotte (7) and Cora (4), and my son, Julian, is 9 month-old now. I'm happy to be back in the gym after a long break.

I'm most looking forward to coaching this younger age group since my previous experience has been with older kiddos. But the game doesn't change and these skills are fundamental. But most importantly, the life skills that young athletes can learn from sports can never be replaced. I'm thankful to God for the years I was allowed to play and now I love to see young athletes gain confidence and life skills through sports.

I am excited to coach your daughter and help her learn to love the game! 

Contact Information:  erica.pitchers@gmail.com

 Alyssa is from Farmington MO, and has  played volleyball since she was 10 years  old. Wilson played as a 5-1 setter since middle school. Alyssa started playing with a local club and then played for Team Momentum at 12U.

Alyssa  played high school ball for Farmington Senior High and made it to the  Elite 8 her senior year. Alyssa was named an All District player 3 years of  being on Varsity. Alyssa decided to not play at the collegiate level and to  focus on my career. 

Alyssa  attended Mineral Area Community College where She received my Associates  Degree. Alyssa now attends Missouri Baptist University where she will earn her  Bachelors Degree in Biochemistry. 

This  will be Alyssa's first year coaching volleyball. Alyssa is excited to share the  skills that she has learned and excited to build relationships with the girls!

Contact Information: anwvb12@gmail.com

Grace was born and raised in Pacific Missouri. She grew up playing volleyball. She played CYC, club and high school volleyball, a few seasons for Team Momentum. Grace was also a multi sport athlete running cross country in high school. 

Grace is currently at UMSL pursuing her BS in Nursing. Along side school, Grace is a freshman coach at Pacific High School. Grace has also coached a 10U program. This is Grace's first season coaching with Team Momentum.

Grace is most excited about having the opportunity to coach for a club that made such an impact on her. She is excited to teach and help these girls grown into better athletes and people. Grace's passion for the sport allows her to make incredible relationships with her kids and reach them in a special way. 

We are so excited to have Grace on the coaching staff this season. She was an excellent player and will be a terrific addition to our staff. 

Contact Information: gracesmiley510@gmail.com

This will be Ron’s 15th year coaching competitive club  volleyball. Ron spent his first 10 years coaching in the Saint Charles  area where his success as a coach began.

In addition to club volleyball, Ron has been coaching CYC volleyball for the past 15 years.

This will be Ron’s 5th year with Team Momentum. He has coached the  15s, 16s, 13s and 12s the past four years wining many local tournaments. Ron  has worked a lot with PlyoCity the past few falls working with athletes  around the area in fine tuning their fundamentals.

Ron’s favorite part of coaching is being able to challenge his  players to excel in the game of volleyball through teamwork, hard work  and perseverance.

Contact Information: ron@iconcontractinginc.com 

Melanie currently attends St. Joseph's Academy. Mel started playing volleyball in  third grade for CYC, and she fell in love with it. Mel began playing club  volleyball my 11s year at Momentum for Heather. Over the years Mel quickly became one of the top setters in the area. She have been  fortunate enough to go to Nationals four times in the years I have  played club, two times at USAV nationals and two times at AAU nationals.  Mel is excited to be coaching at the club where she began playing  volleyball, and hope to pass on her knowledge and love for volleyball to  players. 

Contact Information: mjbeers915@gmail.com

This is Renee's first season coaching for Team Momentum. Renee has been part of the momentum family for the past 8 years as a mom of two daughters who both earned college scholarships to play volleyball. Renee has been teaching for 27 years, everything from Pre-K to 12th grade in some capacity. Renee has coached both softball and volleyball for Pacific High School. Renee is currently coaching freshman and assisting JV and Varsity at Pacific. 

Renee's motto is kids don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. 

We are excited to have Renee join our coaching staff this season!

Contact Information: sportsmom9x3@gmail.com

  Gabby was born and raised in O’Fallon, MO where she attended Fort Zumwalt West High School. She spent all four years in the volleyball program there, earning three seasons as a setter on the varsity squad. Upon graduating in 2013, she had earned spots on the Top 10 Career Leader Boards for service aces, assists, and number of suicides ran for talking while the coach is talking. Gabby continued her career into college where she played four seasons at Westminster College in Fulton, MO. Throughout her time at Westminster, Gabby started a collegiate match in every position besides middle blocker. Fulton is where Gabby began her coaching career and her philosophy about teaching volleyball really began to take shape.

This will be her 9th year as a club volleyball coach and her third with Team Momentum. Gabby has coached age groups ranging from 13s through 18s and has really found a love for the middle school age groups during that time. She not only believes in training her players to be the best they can be at their particular positions, but training them to be well rounded volleyball players who have a deeper understanding of the sport and how the team as a whole, functions as one. It is always her goal to instill her athletes with confidence by showing them how much they are capable of. She believes in pushing the girls past the mental limits they set for themselves and allowing them to be the best volleyball players and teammates they can possibly be.

After graduating college in 2017, Gabby moved to St. Louis, MO where she currently lives with her husband, Brad. She now works at Mercy Hospital St. Louis as an ICU nurse. When she isn’t working or coaching, she likes to spend her time on the golf course. Golfing has been a hobby of hers since she was 8 years old and is something she is excited to spend more time doing once she is finished with school again.

Contact Information: glarose020@gmail.com

Bio Coming Soon 

Contact Information:sweet95m@gmail.com

Lexi is from Imperial, Missouri where she attended Windsor  High School. There she earned many accolades as a 6-rotation outside  including 2x Character Athlete, 3x All-Tournament, 4x All-District, 4x  All-Conference, Conference Player of the Year, 4x Academic All-State,  All-State, Regional Radio Dream Team, All-Metro, and became the first  owl in program history to record 1000 career digs and 1000 career kills.

Lexi  has been a multi-sport athlete ever since her elementary school days.  She played club soccer for 10 years, and in high school, she earned  All-Conference honors for soccer.

Lexi has spent 3 years of club volleyball playing for Team Momentum and had her first coaching season in 2022!

She  is now playing indoor and beach volleyball at Lindenwood University.  There she is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological  Sciences.

Lexi loves coaching just as much as playing and is excited to help the future of volleyball!

Contact Information: leximenne@gmail.com

From Imperial MO, Emma is a 2023 Windsor High School graduate. Currently  a freshman Student-Athlete at Missouri Baptist University playing  volleyball in the fall, and track and field in the winter and spring.  Emma started her volleyball career at age 10 but eventually found her  home at Momentum at 16 and played until the 18s club season. Emma's  first year coaching was in 2022 with 12 South with Lexi Menne (former  teammate) beside her.

Emma was a Middle/  Right side all throughout her life until college where she plays as an  Outside Hitter/ DS. In high school, Emma has had the privilege to play  on an amazing team that has won numerous tournaments and conference  titles while having the highest kill percentage on the team. In high  school track and field, Emma went to state 2 years in a row for Javelin  and disc, and now holds a high school record in javelin and placed 6th  at state in disc. 

Some things  that Emma loves are weightlifting/powerlifting, multi-sport athletes,  and coaching. This will be Emma's 2nd year coaching and can't wait to  get started!

Contact Information: emnlawson@gmail.com

 Born and raised in the greater St. Louis area Susan played soccer, volleyball, and basketball. Even though Susan played 4 years of high school volleyball as a setter, she ended up earning a scholarship to play soccer at St. Louis Community College – Meramec for the 2001 & 2002 seasons. While at Meramec, Susan and her team made it the National tournament both years and Susan earned NSCAA All-American in 2002. After her time at Meramec, Susan continued her education and athletic journey at Lindenwood University in St. Charlies, MO. Once again, Susan and her team found themselves in the National spotlight by qualifying for the NAIA National tournament in Santa Barbara, CA for the 2003 season. 

Susan found her way back to volleyball once her daughter, Lexi, sparked an interest at a young age and has found a new appreciation of the sport on the sideline as a parent and as a coach. Susan coached the St. Joseph’s Lady Hawks for the 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 seasons. Susan assisted with bringing 4 division championships, 2 district championships, and made one Archdiocesan showing in 2016.

Contact Information: susanmenne17@gmail.com

Roman was born in the Ukraine and moved to the United States at  the age of 4 and raised in St. Louis MO. He is the third child with 5  siblings, two older sisters and one younger, two younger brothers.

Romans volleyball philosophy is that it is forever evolving. As a  player he learned a vital aspect to success. Once the jersey goes on,  the individual ceases to exist and the team is everything. Balaban  believes that even though the skills and leadership levels vary, each  player serves a role that is unique and vital to the success as a whole.  As a coach, it is our job to unlock and nurture the potential in each  player. Helping them find their role and purpose on the team which will  lead to success on and off the court. 

Throughout elementary and middle school, Roman played baseball,  basketball, and soccer. Freshman and sophomore year he played volleyball  and soccer at Eureka High School. Junior and Senior Year he played  varsity volleyball and soccer at Parkway Central. In 2007 his varsity  volleyball team lost to the eventual state champions, St. Mary’s, in the  State Semi-Finals. Roman still plays sand and court volleyball and  golfs often.

Roman is the Varsity Head Coach at Parkway North High school.  After graduating from Parkway Central he coached both the boys and  girls at all levels. Balabans teams found success with three boy’s state  championships in 2014, 2017, and 2018. This will be Romans 7th season with Team Momentum coaching multiple ages ranging from 11U-17U.  Roman also is a Master Coach with Team Momentum and PlyoCity.

Contact Information:  rom54321@gmail.com

Mattie grew up in a small town in Iowa and attended high  school at Waverly Shell Rock Senior High. At Shell Rock she was an  outside hitter, receiving All-Conference awards both years. Gray’s high  school team made it to State all four years, winning the state title her  junior year, and making it to the semi-finals her senior year. After  high school Mattie attended Southeastern Community College (SCC). While  at SCC Gray was a 6 rotation outside hitter, receiving NJCAA Player of  the Week, All-Conference, All-Region, and 2nd Team All-American. Also  while at SCC, Gray was the Head Coach for the 16s team for BVC. Her  sophomore year she transferred to Iowa Central Community College where  she continued as a 6 rotation outside hitter, receiving 2 time NJCAA  Player of the Week, All-Conference, MVP All-Region, she was a member of  the 1st Team NJCAA National Team and 2nd Team All-American. Gray’s team  made it to the National Tournament and finished 10th overall. Gray then  transferred to Rockhurst University as an OH/RH to finish out her  volleyball career. In both Mattie’s junior and senior seasons, Rockhurst  made it to the NCAA National Tournament. Gray was a team captain as a  senior and made 1st Team All-Conference. Mattie graduated Rockhurst with  her bachelors in Psychology and currently pursuing her master in HR  management at Webster University. She has a passion for developing and  building the same love she has for the game in young athletes. 

This will  be Mattie’s 4th year with Team Momentum and we are excited to have her!

Contact Information:  gray.mattie@yahoo.com

Ally was raised in Lake St. Louis, MO. She attended Timberland High School, where she was a Libero.
Ally  started playing volleyball around 11 years old. She joined her first  club team at 13 years old, where she played for Net Force. She stayed  with Net Force all the way through her 18s season. During the summers,  she participated in PlyoCity training.

Ally graduated  from Missouri University of Science and Technology with dual bachelor  degrees in Civil Engineering and Architectural Engineering. She held  various jobs through her academic career refereeing volleyball, and  played on multiple recreational teams.

Returning from  college, Ally was restless to get back into competitive volleyball. She  is so excited to be coaching with Team Momentum. 

Contact Information: aschulte2199@gmail.com

Dan was raised in Wentzville, MO where he graduated from Timberland  High School in 2019. While at Timberland, he competed in tennis for 3  of the years as Timberland did not yet have a boy’s volleyball program. 

Dan  first became interested in volleyball in high school through playing  sand with friends, but it wasn’t until joining the Missouri S&T  Men’s Club Volleyball team his freshman year of college that he fell in  love with the game. During his time with the S&T club team, he  worked his up from playing B-team his freshman year to achieving 2nd  team All-Conference honors as a middle blocker his senior year. 

Dan  will graduate from S&T in December 2023 with a degree in Chemical  Engineering and is excited to move back to the St. Louis area to  hopefully help others realize the underlying beauty of the game of  volleyball.

Contact Information: dgnisbet0718@gmail.com