![\"Libero](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SUT-L-mojo-0111-04.jpg\")
Libero Shannon Scully returns the ball during a Dec. 13 practice at Viejas Arena. (Ryan Young, San Diego Mojo)\nChanges all around<\/p>\n
Alisha Glass Childress has spent most of her life at the highest levels of volleyball.<\/p>\n
She won three NCAA championships and earned All-America honors at Penn State before embarking on a professional career that included a bronze medal victory in the 2016 Summer Olympics. She was named best setter at the 2014 World Championships, which ended with a 3-1 win over China for Team USA\u2019s first-ever world title in the women\u2019s game. As recently as 2024, she was named the Pro Volleyball Federation\u2019s Most Inspirational Player.<\/p>\n
So Childress\u2019 decision to abruptly end her playing career and step into the head coaching position for the San Diego Mojo was one she didn\u2019t take lightly.<\/p>\n
An imperfect decision for an athlete who has made a career out of dealing with imperfection.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe point is some days are going to be great here in the office and some days are not going to be great,\u201d said the 37-year-old Childress, who was named the replacement for Tayyiba Haneef-Park in August.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if I\u2019m willing to say, \u2018Hey, I wasn\u2019t great today, but I\u2019m going to be better tomorrow,\u2019 that\u2019s how human beings are. We make mistakes. We\u2019re flawed. It\u2019s the people that make mistakes, the ones that keep trying, the ones that stay gritty are the ones that are successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mojo (0-1) open their home slate at 4 p.m. Sunday against the Orlando Valkyries (1-0) at San Diego State\u2019s Viejas Arena.\u00a0 All Mojo matches are scheduled to be televised by one of a handful of broadcast partners \u2014 YouTube, CBS Sports Network, ViceTV and the Roku Channel. Sunday\u2019s home opener will be televised by KUSI, as will seven other matches of the 28-match season.<\/p>\n
Libero Shannon Scully returns the ball during a Dec. 13 practice at Viejas Arena. (Ryan Young, San Diego Mojo)
\nChanges all around<\/p>\n
Childress brought a completely new coaching staff with her and had a direct hand in December\u2019s draft and selecting the\u00a0training camp roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis team is really competitive,\u201d Childress said. \u201cThey really want great things for this season, and you can feel that in practice every day. There hasn\u2019t been a day where I\u2019ve had to nudge them. They\u2019re going hard all the time. We know if we continue to focus on the right things, we\u2019re going to continue to get better as we go through the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The league itself is one of the biggest changes.<\/p>\n
Gone is the Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF), which is now Major League Volleyball (MLV).\u00a0The PVF was about to lose its model franchise \u2014 the Supernovas \u2014 so the league\u2019s owners rebranded to remain one of three U.S. professional volleyball leagues for women alongside Athletes Unlimited (AU) and the upstart LOVB Pro league.<\/p>\n
The Supernovas finished No. 1 in the world last year in pro volleyball attendance for the second straight year. AU plays in the fall, but LOVB (pronounced Love) has a schedule in direct competition with MLV.<\/p>\n
The Mojo are one of nine teams in the MLV. Both MLV and LOVB have plans to expand by three more teams in 2027.<\/p>\n
The Mojo\u2019s roster continues to morph as well.<\/p>\n
Just two players return from last season\u2019s 11-17 team \u2014 outside hitter Maya Tabron and libero Shara Venegas. Gone are former La Jolla High School and USD star Leyla Blackwell; popular middle blocker Ronika Stone, who is expecting her first child with husband and Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love; and Kendra Dahlke, a Fallbrook High School grad and the franchise\u2019s all-time leader in kills.<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768075867_808_SUT-L-miller-1207-01.jpg\")
San Diego Mojo\u2019s Morgan Lewis, center, sets the ball as she and teammates go through drills during practice at Viejas Arena on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nBack home again<\/p>\n
Two players from the Mojo\u2019s 2024 team are back and both should make big impacts.<\/p>\n
Grace Loberg has been one of the pleasant surprises of camp and will push for a starting spot. And Morgan Lewis,\u00a0a 6-foot-3 opposite who prepped at La Costa Canyon before an All-America career at Oregon, is back in her hometown.\u00a0Lewis played for the Columbus Fury last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing like playing at home,\u201d said Lewis, who said her mom is inviting \u201ceveryone she knows\u201d to Sunday\u2019s match. \u201cLast year I really missed the environment of friends and family and seeing all the Mojo fans that are phenomenal. It\u2019s really great to be back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when I first found out there was going to be a San Diego team (in 2024). The excitement and possibility that I\u2019d be able to do this. And now that I\u2019m actually here living this dream, it\u2019s actually very cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mojo should be strong in the middle with Morgan Perkins, explosive veteran Kayla Caffey, Stanford grad McKenna Vicini, PVF All-Star Marin Grote and 12th-year veteran Taylor Sandbothe.<\/p>\n
The setting duties will be handled by Carly Graham and Marlie Monserez. Venegas and Kate Georgiades beat out draftee Gillian Grimes out of Penn State for the two libero spots.<\/p>\n
Three rookies will push for immediate playing time. Draftees Allison Jacobs (Michigan) and Hayden Kubik (Tennessee) are both powerful six-rotation arms.<\/p>\n
Perkins, fresh off an NCAA championship with Texas A&M, made the club as an undrafted free agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day I\u2019m getting better,\u201d she said, \u201cand that\u2019s all that I can ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacobs was an AVCA All-America honorable mention player last year at Michigan, recording double digits in kills in 25 of 33 matches. But her journey to make the final Mojo roster wasn\u2019t always smooth.<\/p>\n
Coming out of West Ranch High School, she committed to UCLA but wasn\u2019t the big player she envisioned there. She redshirted and underwent shoulder surgery before reinventing herself at Michigan.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s this competitive toughness environment that brings out her best, which makes her fit right in with the Mojo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that I can handle all situations that are thrown my way,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s all I want to do: Pour my heart out for these girls and for Alisha.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SUT-L-mojo-0111-03.jpg\")
San Diego Mojo coach Alisha Childress talks to a player during the team\u2019s Dec. 12 practice at Viejas Arena. (Ryan Young, San Diego Mojo)
\nGood mojo<\/p>\n
The future of the Mojo appears to be solid. Volleyball legend Kerri Walsh Jennings was the principal owner when the league began before selling the club to Gary Jacobs.<\/p>\n
A UC San Diego graduate, Jacobs is managing director of Jacobs Investment Company (JIC). The Mojo\u2019s training home is now Coast Volleyball Club in Sorrento Valley. Construction is being finalized on offices and locker rooms for the Mojo on the south side of the gym.<\/p>\n
Viejas Arena will host Mojo matches for the foreseeable future. Getting fans in the seats continues to be the focus, and the team is active in the community, particularly with youth volleyball.<\/p>\n
Free T-shirts await fans Sunday, and trucker hat and aloha shirt giveaways are planned through February.<\/p>\n
For Childress, her first season as head coach is certainly focused on wins. But the mother of three young daughters knows her responsibilities as coach and mentor go beyond the scoreboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool to create an environment where I feel like they\u2019re thriving while at the same time being representative of other women out there working and managing all those other things,\u201d Childress said. \u201cWith motherhood comes this idea that we don\u2019t have to be perfect, we just have to keep working to get better every day. That idea that I don\u2019t have all the hours in the world because some of my time is dedicated to (my children) and I want to show up for them the best I can and show up for the team the best I can.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t going to be perfect. It\u2019s going to be a little messy. But the effort and the intentionality is there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mojo (0-1) vs. Valkyries (1-0)<\/p>\n
When: 4 p.m. Sunday<\/p>\n
Where: Viejas Arena<\/p>\n
TV: KUSI<\/p>\n
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