Coaches

Justin Deblasio

Personal:

Justin DeBlasio comes to 949 Volleyball Club with over 17 years of playing and coaching experience. Justin Started playing beach volleyball at the age of 13 in 1992 during a summer camp. He quickly found a love for the game and made it his primary sport moving into high school.
Playing:

Justin (OH) was a 4 year Varsity starter for Coach Eddie Rapp at Santa Margarita HS from ’93-‘97 leading his team to a CIF Championship in 1997. In 1995 Justin earned 2nd team all-league honors as a Sophomore. As a Junior he was named Sea View league MVP in 1996 and 1st team all CIF. And his senior year he was named 1st team all League and 1st all CIF.
Justin played club Volleyball for 5 years and earned 2 bronze medals (’93 & ‘94) and a silver medal.  Justin was named to the Junior Olympic all tournament team twice (93 & 95)
Justin played at the University of the Pacific his freshman year where he earned a starting position half way through the season.
His sophomore year he transferred and played at the University of Arizona where he studied Graphic Design and played on the 1999 NIRSA National Championship team.
Coaching:

Justin started coaching in 1998 during summers in between school years.
After college he found coaching to be a great way to stay involved in the sport.
Accolades:
2005 14’s Open Gold Medal – Head Coach
2006 16’s Open Bronze Medal – Head Coach
2007 17’s Open Silver Medal – Head Coach
2009 18’s Open Gold Medal – Head Coach

Brandon Taliaferro

Personal:

Brandon was a four-year varsity volleyball letterman for Coach Mike Hurlbutt at San Clemente High… Four-time first-team All-American, three-time All-CIF and all-league selection… Led San Clemente to the 1995 CIF finals… Two-time Jr. Olympics gold medalist (1995 and ’96) Finals MVP ’96, 4 time All American… 1996 Los Angeles Times Orange County Player of the Year… Member of the U.S. Jr. National Team… Brandon quit volleyball in 2003 due to chronic lower back pain. He bought A to Z Leak Detection in 2004 and still runs the company (www.atozleakdetection.com)… Credits the Egoscue Method for relieving his lower back pain and allowing him to return to the U.S. National Team when it moved to Anaheim, Calif., in the spring of 2005… Has played beach volleyball on the AVP and FIVB tours…

Major International Competition:

2008 - Alternate for the Beijing Olympic Team (Gold Medal) FIVB World League (Gold Medal)… Four Nations’ Tournament (Gold Medal). 2007 - Pan American Games (Silver Medal)… FIVB World League (Bronze Medal). 2006 – FIVB World Championships. 2001 – World League… Americas’ Cup. 2000 Alternate for the Sydney Olympics -1999 – Pan American Games… World University Games. 1997 – World University Games.

International Highlights:

2008 – Was an alternate for the Olympic team… Helped U.S. Men win the FIVB World League gold medal… Helped U.S. Men win the Four Nations’ Tournament in Liepzig, Germany. 2007 - Taliaferro helped the U.S. Men win the silver medal at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil… Taliaferro started the first seven U.S. matches at World League before moving to the backup role. In World League pool play, he was credited with 156 running sets, 374 still sets and two faults for 532 attempts and an average of 3.47 per set. 2006 - At the World Championships, Taliaferro played in three sets during a five-set loss to France in the first round… Played three sets in a five-set loss to Germany in the final round… Also subbed briefly during a five-set victory over Canada.

College Highlights:

2000 – Earned First Team AVCA and Asics Volleyball Magazine All-America honors…Also voted to the All-MPSF First Team…2000 Volleyball Magazine Player of the Year…Led UCLA to the NCAA National Championship…Named the championship Most Outstanding Player and named to the All-Tournament Team…Named UCLA Player of the Year…Holds the UCLA individual career record for most set assists with 6,840. 1999 – Earned First Team AVCA and Asics Volleyball Magazine All-America honors…Also voted to the All-MPSF First Team…Ranked second in the league with an ace average of 0.58 per game…Led the Bruins with 50 total aces…His 117 career aces ranks third on the UCLA charts…Served a season high of five aces at UCSB (2/19)…Also recorded seven matches of four aces…Dug a season best of 17 balls vs. LMU (4/9)…Ranked 12th nationally with an assist average of 16.6 per game…Ranks second on the UCLA career charts with 5,040 assists, 118 behind Stein Metzger…Recorded a season high of 97 assists vs. LBS (3/3)…Recorded a career best 10 blocks vs. LMU (1/30)…Missed several matches and parts of others because of a stomach ailment. 1998 – Led UCLA to an NCAA National Championship…Earned First Team AVCA and Asics Volleyball All-America honors…Also named First Team All-MPSF…Earned AVCA and MPSF Player of the Week (4/13) after recording his first career triple-double (71 ast, 13 digs, 11 kills) vs. Pepperdine (4/10)…Recorded 1,848 set assists, breaking the single season UCLA record…Ranked seventh nationally with a 17.6 assist average and second in league at 17.7…Set a single match UCLA record with 110 assists in the NCAA semifinal vs. Lewis…Ranked first in MPSF serving with 37 aces…His .578 league ace average ranked second…He ranked fourth nationally with an overall average of .486…His 51 aces for the season ranks third on the single season UCLA charts…Served a career high six aces vs. UCI (2/26), tying the single match school record. 1997 – Earned MPSF and Volleyball Freshman of the Year honors…Also named AVCA Second Team All-American and Third Team All-MPSF…Set a UCLA freshman record of 1,707 set assists, just 89 shy of the school single season record…Broke Stein Metzger’s 1995 single match set assists record of 95 with 99 vs. BYU (3/27)…Recorded 80 or more set assists in five other matches, including a match of 92 vs. Lewis (3/4)… Recorded a career-best 12 kills and three block solos vs. BYU (3/27) among seven total blocks…Dug a career best 20 balls vs. UCSB (1/31) and ranked second on the team with 222 total digs and a 2.06 dpg average.

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Brett Simpson

Personal:
 
Brett comes to 949 Volleyball Club with over 14 years of playing and coaching experience. Inspired by his brothers’ volleyball achievements at San Clemente High School, Brett started playing volleyball at the age of 8 and played in his first Junior Olympics at the age of 11.
 
Playing:
 
 
-High School: Brett was a 3-year varsity volleyball letterman for Ken Goldstone at San Clemente High School…Two-time South Coast League Champion (’02-’03)…Two-time First-Team All-South Coast League (’02-’03)… First-Team All-County and CIF (‘03)… CIF Finalist (’03)
 
-Club: Brett played eight years of club volleyball (’96-’03)…Three years at Laguna Beach Volleyball Club (’96-’98) and 5 years at Balboa Bay Volleyball Club (’99-’03)…He played in 7 Junior Olympics and earned 2 Bronze Medals (’02-’03)… Two-time All-American (’02-’03).
 
-College: Brett played five years of volleyball for coach John Speraw at UC Irvine (’04-’08)…He first traveled his sophomore year and contributed as a Libero/Serving Specialists (’06-’07)…NCAA Division 1 Men’s Volleyball National Champion (’07)
 
Coaching:
 
-High School: J. Serra and Foothill High School’s summer camps (’04 & ’05)…Assistant Coach to Scott Simpson and League Champions at Foothill High School (’09)
 
-Club: Assistant Coach to Scott Simpson at Balboa Bay Volleyball Club and Boys 15’s Club Silver Medal (’04)

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Andy Jaeckle

Born in upstate New York and raised in Florida and Virginia Beach, Virginia, Andy Jaeckle played volleyball at First Colonial High School and and in the Virginia Beach JO program in Virginia. During that time he earned first team All-district, All-region, and All-state honors. While in JO’s, he earned First team All-region twice. Andy went on to play at the University of Arizona as an OH/LIB, where his team earned 3 NIRSA National Championships and one 2nd place finish. He has been playing volleyball since 1995.
After retiring due to back injury, Andy went on to Head coach and run the Arizona Women’s Club program, leading the team to over a dozen Regional tournaments in 3 years and one top ten National tournament finish. Additionally, he head coached the Arizona Men’s JV team, leading the squad to their first D3 NIRSA National Championship.  In 2009, Andy coached the Riptides U-17 team and helped lead them to 1st and 2nd place finishes at the Boys Invitational and Classic respectively.  Andy has been coaching around the country in High School, JO’s and University level for 9 years.