MAVS COACHES

BEACH COACHES

Taylor Ho

Taylor enters his 10th year of coaching club volleyball in California. He was instrumental in helping lead multiple of his beach pairs to National Championships. In 2018-2019, he worked as a Volunteer Assistant Coach for NCAA UC Davis Beach Volleyball team and he also coached at UC Davis for Moxie Beach Volleyball Club.

CLUB EXPERIENCE:

Taylor competed at a club level for beach and indoor for over 10 years years. He played at Pacific Rim Volleyball Club and Bay to Bay Volleyball Club, where he trained as both a Libero and Setter. From 2010-2012, he was a three-time Libero for USA Volleyball Indoor High Performance A1 Team. Taylor also earned a Bronze medal, competing in the 2013 USA Beach High Performance Championships representing the A1 USA National Team. Taylor has been competing in beach volleyball tournaments across California for over 10 years. During this time, he also trained and represented USA Volleyball in international competitions.

COLLEGE:

Taylor played for OCC Men's Volleyball for two years, where he trained as a setter. He then transferred to UC Davis in 2017, where he competed for their Men's Volleyball team as an Opposite and Setter. While at Davis, he was named MVP and NCCVL All Conference First team during his Junior and Senior year.

PERSONAL:

Taylor is a San Francisco native, coming from a family of six. He has three sisters, all of which play volleyball. While he's off the court, he enjoys golfing, playing tennis, and listening to music.

Emmy Sharp

Emmy Sharp is entering her second year of division one collegiate beach volleyball at Stanford University. In her first season for Stanford Beach:

She made All Pac-12 tournament team
Pac 12 pair of the week
Set school record for most wins in a row by any pair.
Set school record for most wins by any pair in a single season
She of course made the Pac 12 academic honor roll.

Her experience in leadership includes team captain and MVP of Burlingame High School’s volleyball team as well as CCS all league MVP.

Her experience in coaching includes coaching for Encore Volleyball Club and coaching camps for Stanford Beach Volleyball.

Ella Sears

Ella Sears is entering her first year of Division I collegiate beach volleyball at UC Berkeley.

CLUB EXPERIENCE
• Played at Kleos Beach Volleyball club
• Part of the USAV A2 camp in 2018
• Participated in the USAV A1 camp in 2019

HIGH SCHOOL
• First Team All-Peninsula Athletic League in 2018
• Second Team All-Peninsula Athletic League in 2019
• Won CCS D2 in 2018 and 2019, while helping her team to second place at the state championship in 2018

Katie Wilcox

Katie was born and raised in the Bay Area and began playing volleyball at the age of 10. A Red Rock alum, she has played for 3 local clubs and at Menlo-Atherton High School and Foothill College. Going on her 4th year of coaching, she has held head coaching positions at her local middle school (7th/8th grade), Sequoia High School (Varsity and JV), Palo Alto Volleyball Club (14s, 16s), and Red Rock Volleyball Club (10s) and Red Rock Beach (14s).

In high school, Katie made the varsity team as a freshman. She played as a middle and an opposite for all 4 years (2011-2015), earning Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) titles her freshman, sophomore, and senior year; earning the title of CCS Division I Champions her sophomore and senior year; and as a captain her senior year, she led the team to NorCal Finals. She then went to Foothill College and played both indoor and beach volleyball under Coach Katy Ripp (2016-2018). She played all around as the team’s starting opposite hitter. As a captain her sophomore year, she led her team to first round playoffs and ended her final volleyball season making First Team All Conference.

After graduating, she transferred to UCLA for academics and graduated with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Applied Developmental Psychology in June 2020. In her free time, she loves gardening and going to the beach with her 4 dogs.

Paolo Castillo

Paolo was born and raised in the Bay Area and is entering his 5th year coaching club volleyball. In 2015, he graduated from San Mateo High School where he was a tri-sport and scholar athlete. In his senior year of high school, he was named MVP of both his water polo and his volleyball team. He spent his high school career playing both club and school seasons of water polo, soccer, and volleyball. He also played in many CBVA beach volleyball tournaments and grass tournaments around Northern California.

Paolo then graduated from UC Davis in 2019 with a degree in Human Development and Public Health with an aspiration to go to Medical School. He played for the UC Davis indoor team as a libero/DS all four years. Paolo also was a volunteer assistant coach for both the indoor and beach team at UC Davis. He also was a head coach at Moxie Beach Volleyball

Club located in Davis. There he helped athletes with their beach volleyball skills and helped a handful of athletes get recruited into Division I beach programs.

When Paolo is not playing or coaching volleyball, he is either studying to become a doctor and working as an Educator at Lululemon.

Nicki Ezatagha

Nicki was born in Toronto and raised in the Bay Area. Nicki has played both beach and indoor volleyball her entire career and recently graduated from Benedictine University Mesa with a bachelors in Psychology and minor in Business.

Nicki went to Cupertino High School where she played 2 years of Varsity as a Pin Hitter and won [coaches pick: tournament MVP]. Starting her collegiate career at Foothill Community College and finishing it at Benedictine University Mesa (NAIA DI). During her senior season at Benedictine Nicki shed 40lbs and increased her vertical 6 inches.

At Cupertino:

Coach's Tournament MVP

At Foothill:

2019 First round of Playoffs.

At Benedictine:

April 2021 Nicki won the Calpac Conference Championship for indoor and in May 2021 made it to the Conference Beach Championship Finals.

Experiencing a championship title herself, Nicki has devoted her life to coaching and empowering young female athletes, attempting to create an experience even better than her own. Nicki has aided a handful of athletes in the college recruitment process. Anyone can achieve what they commit and set their minds to.

During her free time Nicki enjoys running on the beach, reading a good book, or learning about other people. New Title

Kina Mirzapour

Kina played beach volleyball for Benedictine University.

CLUB EXPERIENCE:

2 indoor season with Aloha & 1 season with Titian as an assistant coach.

2 years head coaching beach volleyball in Arizona with the East Valley Juniors.

3 years of private beach volleyball lessons.