Coaching Staff

About Erica:

• 4 years of VB at Butler HS (Ohio), MVP and Team Captain. Also lettered in basketball

• 4-2-4 College Transfer student--Wichita State University, Sinclair Community College, and 2 years at Wright State University; Academic All-American at both Sinclair & Wright State

• Assistant Coach, Auburn University, 2000-2002

• Founding Board Member of A5 Volleyball Club, 2005 

• Head Coach A5 16-1 (2x) & 17-1; led first Atlanta team to Nationals in the Open division & won Atlanta's first National Championship in any division

• Joined Pope Coaching staff in 2021. Three year record: 123-17. Region Champs: '21, 22, 23 & 24; State Champs: '22 & '24, State Runner-Up'23

• 2022: 6A Region 7 Coach of the Year, Cobb County COY, GACA COY and AVCA Region 3 COY

• 2023: GACA Region Coach of the Year

• Married 25 years to Benj (her favorite asst coach) & mother of 4 loves: Linkin-15, Kenyon-13, Anthem-11, Torin-9

About Katie:

• Grew up in Ypsilanti, MI and played varsity vb for 3 years. Also lettered in softball and basketball. Awarded the school’s Female Athlete of the Year scholarship her senior year

• Played club/AAU vb for Washtenaw Area Volleyball Association (WAVA) for 8 years

• Attended Grand Valley State University and has been teaching special education for 19 years - 4 of which have been at Pope

• Previously worked at Berkeley HS (SC) for 6 years where she coached JV volleyball. Also coached JV basketball at Hanahan High School

• Spent 6 years with Lexington Two Schools (SC) where she was awarded Teacher of the Year in 2015

• Lives in Canton and loves to hike, travel and spend time with her dog Maisy

About Micah:

• Grew up in Brooks, GA and attended school in Griffin, GA. Played both baseball and basketball

• Graduated from Kennesaw State University 

• Has taught at Pope for 6 years, currently teaching Special Education

• Executive Coach of the Girls Lacrosse Program at Pope

• Coached 9th grade basketball for 3 years and football for 2 years 

• Enjoys time with friends and watching sports

About Courtney:

• 4 years Varsity VB in high school, captain the last 3 years, received several county and state awards and recognitions, including senior Allstars 

• Played club for A5 and went on to play at West Point, where she studied Kinesiology with a focus in Exercise Science 

• Since then she has coached club teams of all ages in Texas and around the metro Atlanta area. 

• She currently works for Wellstar Health system as the Program lead for their Employee Wellness program. 

• Married to her husband Josh, for 11 years and has 3 children, Kennedy, Cooper, and Caden.

About Christine:

• 4 years VB in high school, captain her senior year

• Club volleyball at Tsunami and A5

• College VB at Oglethorpe University 

• Earned a Bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University & Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Clayton State University

• Over the years, she has coached high school & club across the metro Atlanta area. 

• Christine is a Licensed Professional Counselor and currently owns and operates a private practice. In addition, she works for Wellstar Health System as a Well-Being Coaching Consultant. 

• Christine is a Marietta local where she resides with her husband Seth, and her three children, Macklin, Everleigh & Shepherd.

About LA: 

• Playing Experience-

Mars Hill College Volleyball team member (2009 – 2011)

Led South Atlantic Conference in service aces (2009)

High Point University Volleyball team member (2008 – 2009)

West Henderson (NC) HS varsity team member (2005 – 2007)

• Coaching Experience-

2023-25: A5 Head Coach 12-1

2022-23: A5 Head Coach 12-1 -- USAV & AAU Champs!

2018-2021: A5 - Head Coach  15-2

*2021 USAV & AAU National Champs (USA & 15-Premier)

2017-2018: A5 - Head Coach 15-3

2016: A5 - Head Coach 14-4

2015-2016:  Reinhardt University, Assistant Volleyball Coach

2013-2016:  Columbus State University, Assistant Volleyball Coach

• LA lives in East Cobb with her husband, Sean (who is also the Pope Football Head Coach!), her son, Patrick, 4, and daughter Riley is 1.

About Leigh:

• Coached and taught health/PE in Fulton County for 32 years before retiring in 2010

• Spent 20 years as part of the Riverwood HS VB program before retiring in 2018

• Led Riverwood to 3 consecutive State Championship appearances as Head Coach, winning the State Championship in 2001

• Joined the Pope JV coaching staff in 2018 and helped to guide the JV team to the County Championship in 2021

• Led a very successful Pope Juniors Navy team in 2023

• Married to Keith Hudson for 40 years. Proud mom of KeLeigh and Kaci - both inductees into Pope’s Wall of Fame.

About Ava:

Playing Experience 

-Georgia State University (2020-2022)

-Pope Volleyball Alum 4 Years Varsity (2016-2020)

-A5 Volleyball (2013-2020)

Coaching Experience 

-Assistant Coach Western Carolina University (2024)

-A5 18-3 Scott Assistant Coach (2024)

-Pope Volleyball Varsity Community Coach (2023)

I have a younger sister who also played on varsity (Amanda Vlkovic) and she will play college volleyball at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin

I have a kitten named Peeka and I love spending time with family and friends!

About Kacey:

• Passionate about VB, Kacey has been around the sport since middle school.

• Coaching Experience-

2023: Pope Juniors Sky Head Coach

A5 Volleyball Club--

2017-18: 12-4 Assistant Coach

2018-19: 11-3 Assistant Coach

2019-2020: 11-3 Assistant Coach

2020-2021: 13-6 Head Coach

2021: AAU Assistant Coach 15-4

2021-2022: 13-4 Head Coach

2022-2023: 13-4 Head Coach

2023-2024: 13-3 Head Coach

North Cobb High School--

2019 & 2020 Middle School “B” Team Head coach

2021 Middle School “A” Team Head coach

• Enjoys taking her dogs on walks and doing yoga

About Jeff:

• Has coached in the Pope Juniors program for the past five years

• Enjoys teaching girls who are new to volleyball

• His love for volleyball started in college at Penn State and continued as his daughter played the sport from 4th grade through senior year of high school.

• Without a doubt, his favorite memory is his daughter’s Pope team winning the 2018 Georgia State Championship.

About Jola:

Jolanta Osoba-Olbrys

·  School of Physical Education, Warsaw (Poland) master's degree in Wellness and Recreation from Pilsudski University,

·  University of Warsaw (Poland), Social Work and Assistance, master's degree,

·  Warsaw Polytechnic University, Tourism and Recreation, bachelor's degree,

·  10 + experience playing Volleyball and 4 years playing professionally in Europe

·  8 years experience as a head coach for AAU travel team Tampa Titans (FL), ATL CAJ Cobb Atlanta (GA), The Walker School Middle and JV teams, Marietta (GA), Tsunami Volleyball (GA)

·   In 2018 my CAJ Cobb ATL team won “Team of the Year” award

I started playing volleyball in my home country of Poland when I was 10 years old. Volleyball is one of the most popular and important sports in Poland and in Europe.I fell in love with the sport. I played for a Club calls Padwa Zamosc. We travel a lot for national and international tournaments. In 1994 my team was ranked no.5 in Poland. I attended Jozef Pilsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Poland where I got my master's degree in 2001.