Samantha Calisto is in her third season as the assistant coach of the Pirates’ Beach Volleyball program in 2024. She came to Ventura College with six seasons of collegiate volleyball coaching experience, most of that time in Santa Barbara as an assistant coach at Westmont College under Patti Cook (2014-15) and Santa Barbara City College under Ed Gover and Lisa Gera (2015-16). 

Calisto has played an integral part in the rise of the Pirates' beach volleyball program into a state power. VC is 38-9-1 in her two years with the team with a Western State Conference crown and a state runner-up finish in 2023.

During her time at Santa Barbara, Calisto helped the SBCC women’s indoor volleyball team finish with an undefeated Western State Conference record and league in 2016.  She was the head coach of the Vaqueros' beach volleyball club team for two seasons (2017-18) and one season as an official sport (2019). During those three years, the Vaqueros finished with a 19-20-1 overall record.  Calisto was mentored by two-time world beach volleyball champion and and International Volleyball Hall of Fame coach and player, Kathy Gregory, the Queen of the Beach. 

In addition to college volleyball, Calisto brings 10 years of experience as an elite level club volleyball coach for Montana Volleyball Academy (Missoula, MT) and Rise Volleyball Club (Ventura, CA).  She led three teams to junior national championship appearances and finished in the Gold Division of SCVA for five consecutive club seasons.  She also spent three seasons as head coach of Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai and led the Wildcats to the CIF-SS semifinals for the first time in 18 years in 2018.

As a player, Samantha excelled in the gym and on the sand.  Indoors, she was a three-time team MVP, first team All Santa Barbara County, and first team All CIF-SS Division 4 as a setter and outside hitter at Dunn High School.  She went on to play NCAA Division I collegiate indoor volleyball at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo as a defensive specialist in 2009 and 2010 when they finished second in the Big West Conference.  She finished her indoor playing career as the libero for the University of Montana Grizzlies in 2012, completing the year with 347 digs. 

Samantha’s heart truly belongs at the beach.  Since the time she started walking, she was playing beach volleyball on the legendary East Beach in Santa Barbara, which produced beach volleyball greats such as Karch Kiraly, Tod Rodgers, Kathy Gregory and more. She earned the highest beach volleyball rating (AAA) in the California Beach Volleyball Association at age 16, and currently competes at the Open and AAA level across California. 

Samantha graduated with a degree in Organizational Communication with a certificate in Entertainment Management from the University of Montana.  Apart from coaching, she works part-time as Director of Clubs and Programs for Starlings Volleyball, USA, a nonprofit organization whose mission is "to positively impact the lives of at-risk youth through the sport of volleyball." Her father, Mike Maas, was an All-American indoor men’s volleyball player at UC Santa Barbara where he won two NCAA National Championships and was inducted to the UCSB Hall of Fame in 2016.

In her spare time, Samantha enjoys playing piano, painting, cooking, and especially loves spending time at the beach with her husband, Antonio, and 6-year-old son, Orion.