A native of Ypsilanti, Michigan, Ashley Donnelly was hired to the Gator coaching staff in May 2017.
Donnelly arrived in Meadville with an extensive coaching background, having most recently served as assistant volleyball coach at Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan for three seasons. She assisted with player development, practice planning, and film analysis, while also running the team’s offense and defense during matches. She also had a number of administration duties, including organizing travel plan, recording statistics, and scouting opponents.
She spent the 2013 and ’14 seasons as the assistant coach for Club Cougars 16U in Ann Arbor, helping to manage all team scrimmages, practices, and team activities, while developing practice plans and one-on-one analysis and skill development.
Donnelly played collegiately at Thiel from 2009-12 during the most successful run in the team’s history. An outside hitter, she helped the Tomcats amass a record of 87-42 during her four-year career, including a mark of 52-13 in Presidents’ Athletic Conference play, with the squad reaching the PAC tournament championship finals three times. A biology major, Donnelly was a two-time selection to the PAC’s Academic Honor Roll, while she was an active member of the Thiel Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
During her playing career, she worked at a number of youth camps held at Thiel, while she also served as an official for the Ohio Valley Region, an organization comprised of club teams from three states. She officiated over 160 matches during her four-year tenure with the OVR.
Donnelly is a graduate of Huron High School, where she was a three-year letterwinner, and was named team MVP and earned All-Conference honors while serving as a team captain during her senior year.
