About Us

We are so glad to have you here!

Hello Ace athletes and families! We are the Graves family and we are so excited to be working with you. We are locals to Folsom, Ca and have a growing love for athletics in this community. Being athletes and competitors ourselves, we aspire to give back to this awesome community by providing the opportunity for young athletes to grow and thrive in the sport of beach volleyball. We hope to continue to see this great sport grow and touch lives across northern California. We are committed to becoming a club athletes want to be apart of and leave stronger than when they came to us. Our vision is to someday see our own children go through this program and share our passion.

Meet the Coaches

Head Coach - Heather Graves

Coach Heather was born and raised in Chico, Ca (our neighbors to the north!) She began playing indoor volleyball at the age of 11 and picked up beach volleyball shortly after. She started beach volleyball before beach clubs in this area existed! Heather played both indoor and beach throughout high school but was recruited as a walk-on to play beach for former Olympic Gold medalist, Todd Rogers, at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, eventually earning herself a scholarship and the position of captain amongst the team. She feels blessed to have been part of a team that went through tremendous growth and became conference champions, a top 5 nationally ranked team and made it to the NCAA national championships in Golf Shores Alabama.

After graduation, she moved to Folsom with her husband, Dano and got involved with the beach volleyball community here in the Sacramento area. She coached and directed for Moxie Beach Volleyball for several years as well as developed their strength and conditioning program. Heather's background and passion outside of beach volleyball is in fitness and physical therapy. She strives to incorporate both backgrounds together as fitness and rehab are critical to elevating an athlete's abilities and longevity on the court!

Now the mom of a young girl, she looks forward to creating a positive beach volleyball environment in our area that generations to come can enjoy and thrive in.

Heather Graves - Head Coach

Coach - McKenna Towne

I have been around volleyball as long as I can remember. My mom was a coach at the local high school when I was in elementary school so I would watch her practices everyday. I played on my first club indoor team when I was 11. I played my first beach tournament when I was 12. I decided to pursue beach only and stop indoor when I was 15. I committed to play beach at The University of San Francisco before my senior year of high school. I signed in November 2021 on an athletic and academic scholarship. After arriving at USF I was named a freshman captain prior to season. At the 2023 hilltop awards I received the “Hill Top Excellence Award” which was awarded to one member of each other sports team at USF. I am currently finishing up my 2nd season as a sophomore captain. In addition to volleyball I am very passionate about my school work. I am kinesiology major with aspirations to become a physical therapist. My dream is to help athletes become the strongest, healthiest version of themselves.

Coach McKenna

Director - Dano Graves

Dano was born and raised in Folsom, CA, where he grew up playing almost every sport this great community had to offer. In high school, he helped Folsom’s football program win their first State Championship in 2010 and went on to play D1 football for Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. He and Coach Heather met in their time at Cal Poly and have always had a passion to stay involved with sports and their community.

After his Senior season at Cal Poly, the football program hired him on as the full-time Quarterback Coach. He spent three seasons coaching at Cal Poly, and during that span he recruited high school football athletes all throughout Northern, CA. He has a significant understanding in the recruiting dynamics between high school athletes and college coaches and aims to provide helpful advice in your recruiting journey.

To him, Beach Volleyball one of the most entertaining sports that provides a unique culture and enjoyable life style. His goal behind Ace Beach is to provide our athletes with year-round service to prepare them for the next level.