MEET OUR COACHES

Owner and Director

Coach Lucie Hunt has been coaching for 10+ years. She is currently the Head Coach at Ruston High School. Coach Hunt has led the Bearcats to multiple winning seasons, district championships, and playoff appearances. She is originally from Hot Springs, AR where she grew up playing volleyball. She has her Bachelor’s Degree from Louisiana Tech in Kinesiology and her Master’s Degree from Arkansas State in Educational Leadership. She can’t wait to see the program develop young players and help them grow the game!

This is Jessica Szymanski’s 5th season with RocketFuel Volleyball Club. She is the Head Coach of the RocketFuel 18s Team!

She’s from Seguin, TX, where she lettered in volleyball and basketball for four years at Seguin High School. She received her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from Texas Lutheran University (TLU) where she played 4 years as the starting middle blocker. She received her master's degree in Exercise Physiology from Auburn University in Auburn, AL.

Additionally, she is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. While at Auburn, Jessica worked with 18 Olympic sport teams (volleyball included) for 2 years as the first female Graduate Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach. She was Head Volleyball Coach at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA for 1 year and helped improve their previous season finish of 2-24 to 12-12. As a former All-American Middle Blocker at TLU and Hall of Fame inductee at both SHS and TLU.

Coach Amanda (Mandy) Cauley is the Head Coach for the Ruston 16s! Her family lives in Ruston and she is excited to return coach for the newly formed Rocketfuel 318 volleyball club during the 2022-23 season.

Cauley served as RocketFuel’s Head Coach and was a Director with the club for two seasons. She also coached the 2019-2020 RocketFuel Ruston 14U team that included her daughter, Harper, who is an avid volleyball player. Cauley’s daughter, Baylor, has also caught the bug!

Cauley herself is an accomplished and decorated volleyball player. She hails from East Texas where she played in high school and then went on to play Division I volleyball at LA Tech.

Coach Cauley spent four of her years in Ruston establishing and building the volleyball program at Ruston High School. She began the program in 2014 along side former ULM Volleyball Alumni, Stephanie Wardach. Following their inaugural season, Wardach moved to Dallas and Cauley forged onward with the program.

During her four years as Head Coach, she led the Bearcats to two undefeated district championships, and one district runner-up.

Cauley and husband, Nick, are the parents of three beautiful girls: Harper, Baylor and Josie.

Coach Des is our Shreveport/Bossier Director! She has coached all levels since being with our program! She is originally from Dallas, Texas where she began playing volleyball at 8 years old, she played not only school volleyball but travel volleyball since she was 11. Her first year in Travel Volleyball at just 11 years old she was named “Best Athlete in AAU.”

In 2014 she was recruited to play volleyball at Centenary College. Desiree was a 4-year athlete there where she made history by becoming the first Centenary volleyball player to record more than 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills in a career. While there she became the first volleyball player in program history and the second overall to be named All-conference. She also was named to the Louisiana Sports Writer Association (LSWA) All-Louisiana Second Team. In her senior season she led the team by playing in every match (35) and set (123) on the season, finished second in conference, and placed 60th in the nation with 401 Kills in one season.

Desiree graduated from Centenary with a degree in Business Administration and minor in Communication. Out of college she became the head coach at C.E Byrd High school where she led her teams to winning seasons.

Sydney is from Jonesboro, AR. She was a two-time Class 6A All-State selection at Jonesboro High School where she helped lead JHS to two 6A/7A East Conference Championships along with a Class 6A State Championship in 2013. She then was voted the 2013 Wendy's High School Heisman Winner and a member of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Prep First Team which then selected her to the Arkansas Activities Association Eastern All-Star team.

Out of high school, she played for Tyler Junior College in East Texas where she helped the team become undefeated in conference and end up top 4 in the nation for the NJCAA volleyball. Sydney transferred to Henderson State University after her freshman year where she earned Second-Team All-GAC honors and Honorable Mention. Recorded a HSU & GAC record for digs in a four-set match against Arkansas-Monticello with 54, most digs in a 3 set match with 38, and most digs tallying 54 in all of GAC.She then graduated with her bachelors and went on to pursue her masters and continued to help coach Henderson State to the finals where they finished runner-up in 2018. Sydney went on to become a head Junior Volleyball Coach and assistant senior high for Wynne High School where she finished out her Masters. She’s coached club for Arkansas Storm out of Jonesboro, Force Volleyball out of Lakeside High School, and Swarm out of Wynne.

She now has a Bachelor and Masters of Science in Sport Admin & currently is a personal trainer out of El Dorado, AR

Carrie Fontaine has been an assistant coach for four seasons, but she has been helping our program for years! (Her daughter, Sicily, is also one of our elite team players.) Carrie is assisting the RVC318 18s Team!

Carrie is originally from Littleton, Colorado. She received her bachelor's degree in teaching at Northwestern State University. She later went on to receive her master's degree in school counseling at LA Tech. She is currently an elementary school counselor in Bossier Parish.

Fontaine has been playing volleyball since she was 9 years old. She played 6 years for a club team Front Range Volleyball in Denver Colorado. She was also a starting outside hitter for her division 1 high school in Littleton, CO. In addition to high school and club volleyball, Fontaine was asked to play in competitive doubles tournaments in local and state competitions with her club volleyball coach for 2 years.

Holt, who played at the University of Pacific, comes from Cisco College where she served as an assistant coach for two seasons.

During her time at Cisco, Holt assisted in technical and physical training, identified prospective student-athletes, managed statistical operations and designed social media content across all platforms for the volleyball program.

Holt trained middle blockers, right sides and team blocking system at Cisco. In 2021, two student-athletes received all conference honors as the team produced an 18 win season.

Prior to coaching at Cisco College, Holt played at Pacific from 2014-2019, competing on both the indoor and beach volleyball teams. Holt was named the team captain in her final season with the Tigers. In her senior season, she played in all 29 matches and finished her career with 399 kills and 167 total blocks.

The Sacramento, California native graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social sciences and a minor in teaching professions in 2018. She received her master’s degree in the fall of 2019 in educational and organizational leadership from Pacific.

This will be Jenna’s first year coaching for our program and we are excited to have an energetic and knowledgable coach to add to our coaching staff!

I am from Lafayette, Louisiana and played volleyball all 4 years at St. Thomas More Catholic High School. During my time there, I earned STM 2 state championships. After leaving STM, I went on to play collegiate volleyball at Spring Hill College for a year. During my time there, I competed as a setter and a defender which helped my team win our conference. Leaving Spring Hill, I went to University of Louisiana at Lafayette to obtain my Bachelors in Kinesiology. While I was at UL, I led the women’s club volleyball team as well as competed on it for a year. I am now currently in pursuit of my doctorate degree in physical therapy at LSUHS.

When I moved back to Lafayette, I got involved in the coaching side of volleyball. I first got a call to help my former high school coach out. While I was there, I helped STM earn 2 state championships and a runners up. I have also coached for last 4 years for Louisiana Volleyball Lafayette. I ran setters training as well as helped out with several clinics.

Hi my name is Olivia Carroll and this will be my 1st year coaching at RocketFuel volleyball club. I have been playing volleyball since I was 13. Throughout high school, I was a utility hitter for St. Joseph’s Academy and played club volleyball for Red Storm in Baton Rouge. I attended college at Louisiana Tech University where I obtained my Bachelor’s in Kinesiology and Health Sciences. During my time in college, I played club and joined intramural teams. I’m currently pursuing my Doctorate degree in physical therapy at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport. I’m super excited to coach this season and continue to share my love of this sport!

We are thrilled to have Olivia coaching our younger age groups in the Shreveport area!

Hi, I am Grant DeGravelle. This is my first year coaching for Rocketfuel Volleyball. I have been playing volleyball for the past 5 years. Both beach and indoor was something I got into in college and played for the UL men’s club volleyball team. I am from Thibodaux Louisiana and currently in Physical Therapy School at LSU Health Shreveport.

We are excited to have Grant’s energy and enthusiasm on the court with our Shreveport teams!

Isabella has been coaching volleyball since 2010 throughout the South and East Coast with various ages and skill levels. She is currently the recruiting coordinator for Louisiana Tech University. She came to Ruston after she assisted Stevenson University’s Men's Beach Volleyball team in their debut NCAA Season and volunteered for the Stevenson University Women’s Beach team following their National Championship win in 2021, and was hired the following season as the full time assistant for both programs. Her club experience includes seasons with Va Juniors, Columbia Volleyball Academy, NC Coastal, Virginia Elite, NVVA, and 239 Florida with multiple USAV Nationals qualifications throughout. Additionally, she has coached indoor and beach camps with East Carolina University, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, West Point, Navy, and American University, just to name a few.

With over a decade of experience, her coaching philosophy is focused on giving student-athletes the tools they need to succeed in their educational and professional lives. She values and understands the differences in athletes’ learning styles and personalities in order to efficiently mentor and train them toward their goals.

She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. She is a four-year NCAA DI letter winner with two years in the AAC and two years in the CAA. While at UNCW, she competed as a top pair on the beach team, led the indoor team to a CAA Conference Championship, and competed in a first-round match-up with ACC rival UNC in the NCAA tournament. Outside of coaching, she likes to go to the beach to play volleyball. She currently lives in Ruston.

Kaylyn Brazzel is from Ruston, Louisiana and this is her first year on the coaching side of Rocketfuel Volleyball Club! She played for Rocketfuel Volleyball Club and Ruston High School for 5 years. In high school, Kaylyn made 1st team all district Middle and 2nd team all region in 2021, and 1st team all district in 2022. She continued her career to the college level, but has returned to her home town to pursue coaching instead. Recently, she has taken an assistant position coaching at Downsville Community Charter School. Kaylyn is currently majoring in Nursing at Louisiana Tech University, and she can’t wait to start coaching with RVC this year!

This is Chandler Harrison’s first season with Rocketfuel Volleyball Club. She is from Little Rock , Arkansas and has been playing volleyball since middle school. While she played, she was a setter and libero/ DS for Bryant High School and Joe T Robinson High school . She now attends Grambling State University, majoring in kinesiology with a goal of becoming an Orthopedic Surgeon.

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!

Coach T started her volleyball career at Evangel Academy in Shreveport, LA, while playing with NWLA Flying Aces. She then went on to further her volleyball career in college and played at Central Baptist College. Coach T has 6 years of coaching experience under her belt. She has coached for clubs in Little Rock, Houston, and Shreveport. She served as an assistant coach at Loyola College Prep for two years before becoming the Head Coach.

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!

My name is Luisa Hoffmann, I am a junior Middle Blocker for LA Tech. I am originally from Brazil but I have lived 2 years in Carthage, TX before coming here. I have played this 2 years at Panola College and received Honorable mentions in my freshman year and First team All-conference in my sophomore year. I have been enjoying my time here in the USA very much by getting to know this country and other cultures.

My major is business management and I am very excited to work with that in the future.

I can’t wait to work with the girls and help them achieve great things this season!