Invasion 10-Black

Head Coach - Katie Grusing
kgrusing @bssd.net
Bio coming soon!

Assistant Coach - Kirsten Erikson
This is Kirsten's third year coaching with Invasion. Kirsten was a standout player for Blue Springs High School's Missouri 4A State Tournament, including a State Runner-up finish in 2009. She earned First-team All-State honors her senior year and was chosen for the MO-KAN All-Star Game. Kirsten played eight years of club volleyball for Invasion and KC Extreme and was a four-year president's honor roll student and Academic All-State selection. She went on to continue her volleyball career at Pittsburgh State University for four years as an outside and right side hitter. Kirsten currently lives in Kansas City and works at Garmin.
816-547-9458
[email protected]

Head Coach - Amanda Guess

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Bio coming soon!

Assistant Coach - James Guess
Bio coming soon!

Head Coach - Codi Winslow
This is Codi's first year coaching and she is very excited to be joining the Invasion Family. Codi attended volleyball nationals her 15s, 16s, and 17s seasons of club. At the high school level, she was a part of the state team for two years. Codi has been playing volleyball since she was six years old and is now a member of the William Jewell College volleyball team. She is in her senior season at William Jewell while studying Psychological Science and ACT-IN. Codi has two wonderful-loving parents (Monica and Jim) and a younger brother (Coleman). She is currently a nanny, works at Sonic, and coaches volleyball camps and clinics.

Invasion 11-Blue

Head Coach - Mikayla Martinez
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Bio coming soon!

Assistant Coach - Kynnedy Myers
Bio coming soon!

Assistant Coach - Shelby Forman
Bio coming soon!

Head Coach - Kristen Elliot
[email protected]
Bio coming soon!

Assistant Coach - Taylor Gregston
Bio coming soon!

Assistant Coach - Emily Blais
The 2017-2018 season will be Emily's first year coaching. Emily played volleyball in High School, leading her team to two state championships. She was named 6A Second Team All-State by the Kansas Volleyball Association as a junior and senior, first Team All-Sunflower League after helping the Hawks to a state championship, and helped her team to a state championship as a sophomore and a fourth place finish as a freshman. Emily was an all-district selection in each of her four seasons, while playing in the MoKan All-Star game as a senior. She holds the school record for kills and aces. Emily is currently playing volleyball at UMKC and majoring in business.
 913-486-0595
[email protected]

Sojka is in her fifth year with Jennies Volleyball, first as a coach. She graduated in 2016 after a four-year career with the Jennies.  On the court, Sojka was a three-time All-American, and First Team All-American from both the AVCA and D2CCA as a senior.  In 2015, Sojka took home D2CCA Central Region and MIAA Player of the Year awards. She was a four-time All-Region selection and named to the All-MIAA team all four years as a Jennie, twice to the First Team. She was also twice named AVCA Hitter of the Week and eight times as the MIAA Hitter of the Week in her career. Sojka helped lead the Jennies to three MIAA Championships in her four seasons, and a 111-23 overall record, including a 65-9 record in MIAA matches.
After four years, Sojka is the Jennies all-time leader with 4,697 attacks. She is second with 1,860 total points and fourth with 1,664 kills. She ranks fifth at UCM in both career kills per set and points per set and she set a new UCM record with 22 career matches with at least 20 points.
A native of Blue Springs, Missouri, Sojka, earned her Bachelor’s Degree in sports management and is currently working towards her Master’s Degree in the same field.
816-255-0121
[email protected]

This is Amber's 10th year coaching. Amber played volleyball in high school and later went on to continue her volleyball career at Missouri Western as a setter and hitter. Amber has worked at Ford Motor Company for 20 years, has two children Carly 22 and Kellen 19.

Angela grew up playing volleyball from a young age.  She played club volleyball and was a varsity setter and libero at Ray-Pec High School.  This is Angela's fifth year coaching. Angela is currently a Physical Therapist Assistant student at the Health Science Institute at Penn Valley.

816-876-9346
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Tracy grew up immersed in athletics and had a special love for volleyball.  She played for North Kansas City High School while also playing club ball with Lawrence Juniors.  She earned a degree in Health from Missouri Western and a Master's Degree from the University of Central Missouri.  She went on to obtain an Education Specialist Degree in Guidance Administration. Tracy is currently in her 9th year working as a school counselor in the Blue Springs School District and is National Board Certified.  Last Spring, she accepted the Varsity Assistant position with Blue Springs South High School.  The Lady Jags had a successful season, which ended in a disappointing loss in the championship game at Sectionals.  Tracy currently resides in Lee’s Summit, Missouri with her husband John and their two children Brandon and Cameron. 

Club Coaching Experience:
Invasion Volleyball Club (2015-Present)

High School Coaching Experience
Blue Springs South High School (2016-present)
Record 30-3-1
2016 Conference Champs
2016 District Champs

This is Mallori's fourth year with Invasion, second as a Head Coach. She is a graduate from Blue Springs High School and was a member of the 2009 state runner-up volleyball team. Mallori graduated from Missouri State University with her Bachelor’s Degree and later received her Master’s Degree from the University of Central Missouri in Secondary Education. She is in her 4th season as the Junior Varsity Volleyball Coach at Blue Springs High School and 3rd year as a teacher in the Blue Springs School District. Mallori currently resides in Blue Springs, Missouri with her husband Mitch.

Invasion 12-2 (2014-2015)
Invasion 16-1 (2015-2016)
    Windy City National Qualifier Champions
    American Division Bid GJNC
Invasion 13-1 (2016-2017)
    American Division Bid GJNC
Invasion 14-1 (2017-2018)

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The 2017-2018 year will be Taryn’s 3rd year coaching for Invasion, and 7th year coaching club. 

Taryn is a 2010 graduate of Truman High School where she was a four-year, varsity starter in volleyball and soccer. During her time at Truman, she was a part of seven district championship teams, three of which were in volleyball. She earned numerous awards for both sports and ended her high school volleyball career by setting for Missouri in the 2009 GKCVCA Mo-Kan All-Star Match.

After high school, Taryn attended Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama where she played volleyball and majored in International Studies. As a four-year starting setter, Taryn led her team to two regular season Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) championships, one SSAC conference tournament championship, three NAIA national tournament appearances, and an overall, four-year record of 134-20. Other conference awards include SSAC Freshman of the Year, three-time SSAC Setter of the Year, and 2013 SSAC Volleyball Player of the Year. As a senior, Taryn was awarded the Spring Hill College J. Lambert Dorn S.J. Award for Academic and Athletic Excellence and the Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-American Player of the Year in Women's Volleyball (College Division). Taryn holds the record for all-time career assists at Spring Hill College and in the SSAC.

Taryn graduated from UMKC School of Law in May of 2017, sitting for the Missouri Bar Exam in July 2017, and will begin practicing business litigation in the Kansas City area in January 2018. 

21 years coaching

Teams Dave has coached have won the Denver Qualifier, 12th at Nationals (before the breakdowns, National, USA, etc.), 5th at American Nationals at 14s, 5th at American Nationals at 15s, 3rd in American at 17s. Dave played volleyball at Graceland University and was All-American.  He played on the over 50 National Team for 3 years as starting libero/outside and is CAP I certified by the USAV.  Dave is now retired with 3 grown children, 5 grandchildren (includes one on the way, Aug 2016)
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Craig Berg enters his 11th year coaching junior volleyball. He rejoins Invasion as the assistant club director and head coach of our 16 black team. Craig is a tenured Coach and Player with 25 years volleyball experience. 

In his 10 seasons of coaching Juniors Volleyball, Craig has coached ages 12-18, registering 13 National Qualifier wins winning 5 of those National Qualifiers consecutively.  In 2010 his 15 Open team won the 15 Open National Championships in Reno, NV.

As a player, Craig has 20 years of playing experience. Craig was a member of the 2005 Men’s AA team that finished 2nd and his 2006 Men’s team secured the AA Men’s National Championship where he was named to the All-Tournament team.

Craig is currently self-employed and he and his wife Christina have 3 children, Dallas 21, Genna 18, and Cade 15.
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This is Brehon's second year coaching for Invasion. Brehon has led his 18's team to a 3rd place finish at MLK Qualifier, 3rd place finish at MEQ, and a 3rd place finish at regionals in the 2016-2017 season. He played volleyball in high school, trained with the junior national team in the Bahamas, and is actively involved in the volleyball community here in Kansas City.  Brehon was orginally born and raised in the Bahamas. He finished his schooling in Tennessee and Oklahoma, receiving a B.S. in Biochemistry and a Masters degree in Forensic Science. Brehon has been employed at Children's Mercy Hosptial for seven years and is a Toxicology Lab Analyst.

Paige Cunningham was born and raised in Topeka, Kansas.  Paige attended Washburn Rural High School where she was a four-year varsity starter on the volleyball and basketball teams, and a two-year varsity letter earner on the soccer team.  Paige participated on two high school 6A State championship volleyball teams and one fourth place finish.  As a junior and senior, Paige earned first team 6A All State, All Conference and All City honors.  In addition, she was selected to the 6A State Tournament Team her senior year.  Paige was the volleyball team captain her junior and senior years. In addition to volleyball, Paige also earned first team 6A All State, All Conference and All City honors her senior year in basketball, including a third place 6A State finish.  Paige was the basketball team captain her junior and senior years and was named the female basketball city player of the year her senior year.  In addition to high school sports, Paige was also active in National Honor Society, Circle of Friends (mentoring students with disabilities), Fellowship of Christians in Action, Upward sports referee and church youth group.  Paige played club volleyball for Topeka Elite and Topeka Impact. 

Paige is currently a sophomore nursing major at William Jewell College and a starting member of the volleyball team.  While a middle hitter/blocker and passer in high school, Paige has played both middle and right side hitter for William Jewell, and also passed her freshman season. Paige was the kill and scoring leader for Jewell her sophomore season.

CJ has been coaching club volleyball for 13 years (CMVBC, Tiger Jrs, Southland Aces and Invasion) and high school for 11 years. CJ played high school volleyball at Lee's Summit North High School and went on to continue her volleybal career at William Woods University.  While Head Varsity coach at Archie High school (2008-2013), she has led her team to two district titles.  As Head Varsity coach at Cass Midway High School  (2013-Present), CJ has led her team to three district titles and two appearances in the quarter final round of sectionals.  CJ is in her ninth year of teaching and is currently a K-12 physical education teacher at Cass Midway High School where she is the head volleyball coach, assistant girls basketball coach, and assistant track coach.

This will be Sarah’s second year with Invasion.  Sarah played volleyball at all levels and has 1 year of coaching experience at the collegiate level and gave private individual and group lessons for 4 years. She left the coaching world to start a family and is ready to start coaching again competitively.  Sarah grew up in Olathe, KS and was introduced to volleyball at the age of 8 as her parents coached  her older sisters in volleyball. She started playing club volleyball in the 8 th  grade. She attended Olathe South High School where her senior year, she helped lead the team to win the 6A State Championship in 2006.  After high school, Sarah attended Allen County Community College where she was the starting outside hitter her freshmen and sophomore seasons. After graduating from ACC she transferred to Central Methodist University and again was the starting outside hitter her junior and senior seasons. Sarah graduated from CMU in the fall of 2010 and then coached the JV team for the 2010-2011 seasons. Sarah resides in Overland Park, KS with her husband Johnny and their 4 year old daughter Scarlet. Sarah works for Lockton Affinity as a Quality Assurance Analyst.