News

Former East standout returns to alma mater as volleyball coach

By Molly McGowan Gorsuch, Published: March 16, 2016

Former East Henderson High High School and Montreat College standout Lauren Owen Ashe has returned to East Henderson as head volleyball coach, high school administrators announced Wednesday afternoon.

Ashe is currently in her first year as a business teacher at East Henderson, and served as an assistant volleyball coach last season. This season, she will be stepping into the role recently vacated by Elizabeth Pippin-Phillips – who coached Ashe while she was still a high school student at East.

In addition to playing four years of varsity for East Henderson, Ashe played four years of club volleyball and three years at Montreat College. While in high school, Ashe was named All-Conference three times and was ranked among North Carolina’s top ten in kills and blocks during her junior and senior years. She also added a state ranking for aces her senior year.

Ashe was named to the All-Appalachian Athletic Conference Freshman Team her first year at Montreat, followed by AAC All-Conference and All-Academic placements her sophomore and junior years. Ashe did not play her senior year at Montreat, instead opting to take the head coaching position at Charles D. Owen High School. Her coaching experience also includes two seasons at Xcel Volleyball Performance in Hendersonville.

“I am excited and honored to be able to return to the place my volleyball career began,” Ashe said. “I look forward to offering these ladies the same opportunities presented to me at their age: the opportunity to become a better teammate, a better student-athlete and to form life-long friendships.

She said, “My high school teammates were part of my larger family, and I look forward to seeing my teams develop those same type of friendships.”