Beach Volleyball | 10/9/2025 1:31:00 PM
MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Director of Volleyball, Leonid Yelin, announced today that Vanessa Phyakeo will join the staff and work directly with the Barry University women's beach volleyball program. The West Coast native joined Barry in September of 2025 and will lead the Buccaneers in their third year as a program.
Phyakeo comes to Barry after a one-year stint at San Diego Mesa College as an assistant coach for the women's indoor program. The Olympians went 26-2 last season, going 16-0 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference, winning the conference title. The team advanced out of the SoCal Regional to play in the 3C2A State Championship Semifinals.
In 2023-24, Phyakeo was a volunteer assistant coach at her alma mater, Grossmont College which also competes in the same conference as San Diego-Mesa and went 27-2, leading yet another team to go undefeated in PCAC play and a conference title. Throughout her time helping the Griffins, she managed and created social media content for the team's Instagram page, helped run daily operations, recorded and analyzed statistics, and assisted with all travel logistics.
Outside of the collegiate scope, Phyakeo has now joined local club Miami Wave Volleyball, where current Associate Head Coach Steven Soriano also works. Prior to this, she worked at the East County Volleyball Academy (ECVBA) in California as a head coach and social media manager. This past season, the ECVBA 18-1 Girls team had two top-10 national finishes at the Las Vegas Classic and AAU Nationals, while being an NCVA Sierra national qualifier. The ECVBA 15-1 Girls team finished as the silver champions in the Red Rock Rave and was the consolation Division B champions at AAU Nationals.
As a player, Phyakeo was a two-sport athlete playing both indoor and beach volleyball throughout her collegiate career. Throughout her indoor career, she played as a utility filling the position as both pins, the middle, and as a defensive specialist. As a freshman at Grossmont, she led the indoor team to a runner-up finish at the CCCAA State Championship. In her sophomore season the Griffins finished third in the state. Combined in her two years, the team went 59-7 and 29-1 in PCAC play. Phyakeo won conference titles for both indoor and beach.
After transferring to Cal State Dominguez Hills, Phyakeo only played indoor for the Toros. She tallied 226 kills, 219 digs, and 33 blocks in her two years throughout 48 matches.
"I am truly excited to be part of this new program and look forward to the journey ahead," said Phyakeo. "A heartfelt thank you to my new coaching staff, family, and previous mentors for their unwavering support and encouragement— this new beginning means the world to me!"
Phyakeo graduated with her bachelor of science degree at CSUDH in health care management in 2020.
The San Diego-native received her high school diploma from Olympian High School where she was named the San Diego Union-Tribune Scholar-Athlete her senior year. Her club career consisted of playing on the EPIC & San Diego Volleyball Club.
