Coaches
Steve began playing volleyball in 1987 with USAV teams in the Chapel Hill/Durham area and soon moved to playing in the many grass doubles tournaments offered during that time. When he moved to Charleston in 1992, he discovered the joy of playing sand volleyball and quickly became a regular at the Windjammer courts on the Isle of Palms. Practicing during the week with some of the best players on the east coast and playing in tournaments on the weekend, sand volleyball became a real passion. In 1997, he started hosting tournaments on the Isle of Palms putting up as many as 15 nets on the beach to accommodate the many pools of play. Steve left Charleston in 2006 when his wife, Kate accepted a job at UNC. He quickly became involved in the local sand volleyball scene by assisting Oguz Degirmenci with his triangle beach volleyball group. In 2012 he created Blue Sky Volleyball to host junior and adult tournaments and provide instruction for juniors. Steve is Beach Impact and Beach CAP I certified and is also the Carrboro High School Varsity coach.
Played indoor volleyball with USAV teams in Raleigh-Durham area from 1987-1992, played outdoor doubles grass volleyball tournaments from 1987-1995. Played Sand volleyball tournaments from 1992-2012. Tournament director for Sand Volleyball tournaments in Charleston from 1997-2005. Created Blue Sky Volleyball in 2012 and continue to run beach tournaments through this organization. Coached Middle School Volleyball in Charleston from 2003-2006. Coach of Carrboro High School Volleyball from 2007-present. Coached CHAVC14-1 team in 2012 and the team won Gold Regional Championship.
Tristy spent five years as the Director of Staff, Director of Recruiting and Director of Player Development in addition to being a Head Coach with the NC Elite Volleyball Club. Prior to that she spent six years with the Triangle Volleyball Club as the Director of Staff, Director of the Volleyshop and 14 Black Head Coach. She has coached her teams to 6 Carolina region championships and 2 Atlantic Coast Power League Championships. She coached the 2014 16 & under AAU sand National Champions: Genna Simpkins and Kyle Grandy. As a Recruiting Director she has helped 72 student athletes achieve their goal of playing volleyball at the collegiate level, 34 of those athletes continued to the NCAA division I level. She is CAP II, Beach CAP and IMPACT certified with USA volleyball.
At St. Andrews Presbyterian College ('92-'96) she was a two-sport standout and earned all-conference honors in both volleyball and softball a total of seven times. Tristy, helped St. Andrews capture four consecutive conference titles, including a NAIA National Championship run in 1993.
Tristy is an avid sand player. In 2008 she represented the USA playing on a professional international tour in Turkey. The six week tour concluded with USA finishing second overall. In 2010 she had her best year ever winning a total of 23 outdoor tournaments including sand and grass doubles, coed, king/queen and triples. In 2012 she finished 3rd in the EVP world Championships. She finished in the top ten Volleyamerica Grand Prix rankings for 5 consecutive years ('11-'15).
Originally from upstate New York, Tristy was a three-sport athlete in high school. She earned two Empire State Games Bronze Medals in Volleyball. In October of 2016 she will be inducted into her high schools inaugural hall of fame class.
Linda Lang
Originally from California, Linda began coaching club volleyball with the Chapel Hill Spikers in 2000, and joined Blue Sky at its inception in 2012. She has coached club 18’s, 17’s, and 13’s, her teams winning the Carolina Region three times. She currently coaches club, high school beach, High Performance beach clinics, and Special Olympics. She has been the JV Volleyball Coach at Carrboro High School since 2009. She has coached numerous athletes who went on to play NCAA Div. I, II, and III. She is IMPACT, NCHSAA, CAP II indoor, and Beach CAP certified.
Linda's doubles playing career spans three decades and ten states. She has had numerous tournament wins in every format: sand and grass doubles, coed, reverse coed and king and queen, and was the female high point earner in that format for eight seasons. She and her team won a bronze medal in the indoor World Senior Games in 2013. Linda built a sand court on her property in 2000, which still hosts active pick-up play, and an indoor court in 2007, which is used for private lessons. She has a BS and MS in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and when she isn’t coaching or playing volleyball, you’ll find her playing the viola or hanging out with her donkeys, goats, chickens, and bees. What makes her happiest is seeing her players learning and loving the game, and giving their best to their teammates.
Willa Ma
Originally from Greensboro, NC, Willa started playing indoor volleyball at age 10 and beach volleyball at 13. She is a recent UNC-Chapel Hill graduate with a BS degree in Biomedical Engineering and currently works at the UNC School of Medicine as a research specialist in the Neuroscience Microscopy Core.
Maredith Devlin
Maredith is from Durham and played club volleyball as a right side and outside hitter for six years. She is currently a senior at UNC Chapel Hill. She is currently the president of the UNC Women's Club Volleyball team. In high school, Maredith was a five-year varsity starter at Cresset Christian Academy. She led her team there to three conference championships and earned three Conference Player of the Year awards. She also earned three All-State honors.
Maredith started playing sand 3 years ago and has trained under Tristy the whole time. She won 3 open level tournaments last year, has won College Club Beach (NCSVA) regionals twice, and came in 3rd at NCSVA nationals in California.
She is in her second year with Blue Sky and her fourth coaching at CHAVC, where she has coached teams at the 16s, 14s and 13s levels. Maredith loves filling her free time with volleyball - grass, indoor or beach - but also enjoys other outdoor activities like kayaking and hiking in the NC mountains.
Raquel Rooney
Raquel was first introduced to beach volleyball at the age of 14 when she came to a Blue Sky summer camp and instantly fell in love with the game. She made the switch from indoor to full-time beach her junior year of high school. In 2016, she was ranked #1 in the country for 16U in the USAV rankings; she and her partner also won team of the year for the Carolina Region. Raquel earned an athletic scholarship to play Division I beach volleyball at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She started all four years and led the team her senior year as captain and a member of the top team. This spring, Raquel graduated magna cum laude from UNCW with a degree in Biology and minor in Chemistry. She plans to further her education in Health Care Administration and to pursue the professional beach game. In the summer of 2019 she won 6 open tournaments within the Atlantic region. Raquel has been a member of the Blue Sky coaching staff for three years.
Andrew McMurray
Andrew was a standout three-sport athlete in high school. He started playing indoor volleyball his junior year. In just one year of playing he made the Carolina Region High Performance team as the starting setter and competed in the USA National High Performance Championships. He then went on to Appalachian State and earned a degree in Business Administration in 2015. After college, he moved back to the area and started to learn the beach game. Andrew rose through the rankings quickly; he is now a successful Men's Open player in the mid-Atlantic region and sits atop the rankings as of 2020. He has coached indoor volleyball for three years, and this is his first season coaching with Blue Sky.