Alaska Volleyball Camps
Coaching Staff

Mallory Larranaga
Alaska Volleyball Associate Head Coach

Mallory Larranaga joined the Alaska Nanooks coaching staff in the spring of 2011.

The Alaska volleyball program's only All-American and a 2010 Nanook Hall of Fame inductee, Larranaga returns to her alma mater alongside her former mentor and head coach Phil Shoemaker.

A native of Bend, Oregon, she donned a Nanook jersey from 2001-2004. During that time, she amassed the Nanook career record for kills (1,363) and finished second in digs (1,269). She finished second in match kills (31) against Western Oregon in her senior season.

She finished fifth in GNAC history in career kills and points (1,543) and third in attack attempts (3,862). She set records in conference kills (1,110), points (1,250) and attack attempts (3,120). She is second in conference games played (277).

In 2003, she became Alaska's first volleyball All-American. She was a first team all-conference player in 2003 and 2004, a second team all-region player in 2004, and an AVCA selection in 2003 and 2004.

The three-year captain was an all-star off the court too, making the GNAC Academic Team in 2002 and 2004 and garnering UAF's Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award as a senior. She was also Alaska's NCAA Woman Athlete of the Year nominee her senior year.

After graduating from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a bachelor's degree in psychology and nutrition, Larranaga began her coaching career as the girls varsity head coach at Lathrop High School.

She continued honing her coaching skills with a three-year stint for Rimrock Volleyball Club's 18's Edge Team and numerous camps in the off-season, including the Oregon Suns/Park & Rec. Camp. She holds accreditation from USA Volleyball, the governing organization for all levels of volleyball in the United States.

In 2008, she took the reigns of the Mt. View High School girls varsity program and started GRIT Elite Athletic, coaching and training athletes of all ages to better nutrition and fitness levels.

Larranaga and her husband Efren, who played hockey for the Nanooks from 1999-02, have two sons - Canyon and Harper.

Jamie Foland
Volunteer Assistant Coach

Jamie Foland completed her sixth season as the Alaska Nanooks Media Relations Director and volunteer assistant coach for the women's volleyball team in 2010-11.

She was named the Media Relations Director in August of 2005, after serving for one season as the department's intern with responsibilities for the men's hockey program. She also began volunteering time with the women's volleyball team on a part-time basis at the same time.

An Alaska Volleyball alumna, Foland played for the Nanooks from 2000-02. During her three-year career at Alaska, she was named to the Daktronics All-West Region 2nd team, led the team with 258 digs, was a Who's Who Among College Students (2001), was first in the GNAC in digs and digs/game(3.75), and was a member of the 2002 GNAC All-Academic Team.

She holds a GNAC record for aces in a five-set match (eight) and is ranked sixth all-time for service aces (140), third for aces per game (0.53) and 18th for digs per game in GNAC matches (3.82).

Prior to her career with the Nanooks, Foland attended San Diego Mesa Community College for two years where she played for one season, earning MVP of the Pacific Coast Conference as a freshman.

After completing her athletic eligibility at UAF she studied abroad in Guanajuato, Mexico, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Sevilla, Spain during a multi-country semester experience. She graduated from UAF in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in Hispanic Studies and a Linguistics minor.

Foland enjoys staying active at the university and in the Fairbanks community. In addition to helping the Nanook volleyball team for the past two years, she has helped with the Alaska Volleyball Camps for seven summers (2002-06, 2008-09) and served as a "Big" with the Fairbanks Chapter of Big Brothers, Big Sisters from 2005-07.

She and her husband, Randy, live in Fairbanks with their daughter Isabella.

Court Coaches

Current and former Alaska volleyball players, along with local coaches from Alaska will serve as court coaches.  All court coaches have extensive playing backgrounds and/or coaching experience.  Their main goals are to teach the technical aspects of the sport by demonstrating what the skills look like.  Campers will have a front row seat to demonstrations held throughout each camp and also see a scrimmage between Alaska Nanooks players.  What brings our coaches the most joy is creating a fun and challenging atmosphere for each camper.