MEET OUR COACHES

Owner and Director

Coach Lucie has been coaching for almost 15 years. She is the former Head Coach at Ruston High School. Coach Hunt 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!

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.

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.

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!

I am from Richmond, Texas and played volleyball all 4 years of high school and am currently playing for Lousiana Tech University while working on my Bachelors in Kinesiology and Health Sciences. I am a sophomore at Tech and have been playing volleyball for 11 years now. When I was younger, I was an outside and set for school, but from 14s and on I’ve been a libero. I played club at Houston Skyline Juniors for 5 years before coming to college. Last year I played as a DS and this past season I was the libero. Over the summer, I help out and coach at Skyline with any age group to help build their knowledge and skill about the game. I’m super excited to coach this season and continue to share my love for the sport!

Paige Phillips enters her fourth season as the head volleyball coach at Grambling State University. 

Phillips came to Grambling State from North Carolina Central University, where she served as an assistant coach since the 2018 season. 

In 2021, Phillips assisted in North Carolina Central recording 11 victories and nine wins in conference play, the most in the Division I era for the Eagles. In addition, with her guidance, the program secured its first-ever win in the MEAC Volleyball Championship as the Eagles reached the quarterfinals. 

Phillips served as a graduate assistant coach in the 2018 season before being elevated to assistant coach in 2019. 

As a player for the Eagles, Phillips racked up 1,896 career assists, which remains a Division I-era record at NCCU and is fourth all-time in the program. She averaged 5.75 assists per set over four seasons, which also ranks seventh all-time at NCCU. 

Phillips graduated from Vestavia Hills High School in Birmingham, Ala., where as a junior she collected 1,184 assists, 208 digs and 46 service aces on her way to being named the Birmingham News South Player of the Year.  

Phillips graduated from North Carolina Central in 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, with a concentration in pre-med. In addition, she obtained her Master’s degree in Biology and Biomedical Sciences from NCCU in 2020. 

Daniel Cabrera was named assistant coach on Head Coach Paige Phillips staff after serving as head coach at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

He led ULM’s indoor volleyball program in 2024 after joining as an assistant the previous season.

Prior to ULM, Cabrera served as head coach for both the men’s and women’s programs at Olivet Nazarene University.

In 2020, he led the women’s team to a 20–2 record, a conference title, and a national tournament berth, earning Chicagoland Coach of the Year honors.

He also launched the ONU men’s team, which reached a national top-20 ranking and finished as NCCAA runner-up in 2022.

Cabrera’s resume includes stops at Culver-Stockton College, work under Olympian Caren Kemner, and coaching for USA Volleyball’s Iowa High Performance program.

As a player, he competed at Hannibal-LaGrange and played professionally for the Great Lakes Lightning. A Chicago native, he starred at Saint Patrick High School, leading his team to a top-50 national ranking.

Coach Swanier is a New Orleans Native, wife, and mother with over 20 years of experience in the world of volleyball. Her passion for volleyball began at the age of 10 playing in a church league and continuing to play competitively throughout school, on multiple club teams, and even in some adult leagues after graduating college where she earned a degree in early childhood education. 

Having captained multiple teams across various leagues, she deeply understands the demands and rewards of being a student-athlete. Her coaching philosophy is rooted in F.A.I.T.H.: Fostering Accountability, Integrity, Team cohesiveness and Hard work. Perfection is impossible; however, Excellence is not. Her passion and commitment is to the development of each individual as a whole. 

She has experience in Clinical & Developmental coaching, coaching in a middle school league and is currently the Head Volleyball Coach at Caddo Magnet High School. She is extremely excited to be a part of the Rocketfuel Family for another season.

Coach Lexi began her volleyball journey at age 9, competing with NWLA Flying Aces. She played as a libero at Evangel Academy in Shreveport and later continued her club career with Wrecking Crew VBC in Longview. With 3 years of coaching experience, she is now in her 2nd season with RocketFuel and recently finished her 3rd season as Assistant Coach at Loyola College Prep, where she is dedicated to helping players grow their skills and passion for the game.

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!