Ashleigh Fitzgerald enters her sixth season with the Cowgirls and is the third winningest coach in program history. She has led McNeese to four consecutive Southland Conference Tournaments and has guided the Cowgirls to four tournament appearances in her five years at the helm of the program.Â
   The 2018 season wasn’t one that Fitzgerald was hoping for despite palying a tough non-conference schedule. The Cowgirls ended the season 10-22 overall, an 8-8 conference record, and the fourth straight SLC Tournament berth.Â
   In 2017, Fitzgerald guided McNeese to its most successful season since 2007 with 19 wins, the 2007 team also won 19 matches. Fitzgerald is associated with both teams as she was a Cowgirl assistant coach in 2007. McNeese also posted the most conference wins (10) in 2017 since 2007 when the Cowgirls finished second in the East Division with an 11-5 conference record.
   In 2016, the Cowgirls posted a 10-22 overall record and a 6-10 conference record, finishing in eighth place and making the conference tournament for the second straight year under Fitzgerald. The Cowgirls were once eliminated by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first round. Â
   In 2015, Fitzgerald guided the Cowgirls to a fourth place finish after being picked to finish ninth in the preseason polls. With its 15-18 overall record and 9-7 league record, the fourth place finish is the highest finish for the Cowgirls since the 2007 season. The Cowgirls also won their first SLC Tournament match since 2008, defeating New Orleans in the first round before falling to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the eventual tournament champion. Fitzgerald coached All-Southland Conference performers Rachel Cagnina, Malina Sanchez, Kelly Graham, Bridget Justis and Shanna Spree along with SLC all-tournament selection Amber Fryer. Sanchez was also named the Louisiana Player of the Year and ended her career as the third Cowgirls to record 1,000 career kills and 1,000 digs.
   Fitzgerald guided McNeese to a 15-17 overall record in her first season as a Division I collegiate coach and reached a milestone in her coaching career by picking up her 100th career win against New Orleans on Oct. 30, 2014.Â
  Fitzgerald, who from 2006-2008 helped coach McNeese to a Southland Conference East Division Championship and league postseason play all three seasons, was named the Cowgirls’ new volleyball head coach on March 26, 2014.
   Fitzgerald spent five seasons as the head coach at Drury University, a NCAA Division II school in southern Missouri, where she compiled an 87-74 career record and led the Panthers to the only three winning seasons in the program’s 20-year history.
   Fitzgerald guided the program to three Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournaments and led the team to its first conference tournament win in 2011. Â
In 2010, she led the Panthers to a school-record 22 victories. She coached numerous all-conference selections, the school’s first D-II Daktronics All-Region honoree, and an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-Region team member. Â
   Her teams have earned five AVCA team academic awards that recognizes teams that compile a minimum 3.30 team grade point average.
   Prior to her coaching stint at Drury, Fitzgerald served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at McNeese from 2006-08. Â
   During her previous stint at McNeese, Fitzgerald helped coach the Cowgirls to three conference tournament appearances while advancing to the semifinal match two times. The Cowgirls posted a 30-18 overall conference record in three seasons including a 12-4 mark and the Southland Conference Eastern Division title in 2006. The Cowgirls also finished second in the division in 2007.
   Fitzgerald was responsible for recruiting Priscilla Massengale, the Houston Chronicle’s 2008 Player of the Year and 2009 Louisiana Freshman of the Year. She also mentored an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American and the Southland Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year in Tiffany Baker as well as coaching six all-conference selections.
   The Chapin, South Carolina native was a member of the Ole Miss volleyball team for two years from 2004 to 2005 where she ranked fourth in the SEC in aces per game in 2004 and was fifth in the league in assists in 2005. Fitzgerald played her first two collegiate seasons at the United States Naval Academy and earned the Unsung Hero Award in 2001.
   Fitzgerald was an academic standout at Ole Miss, earning the SEC’s post-graduate scholarship for community service in 2006. She served as a volunteer coach for the Lady Rebels in the spring of 2006.
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2014-present -Â McNeese- Head Coach
2018- (10-22); SLC Tournament
2017- (19-13); SLC Tournament
2016- (10-22); SLC Tournament
2015- (15-18); SLC Tournament
2014- (15-17)
100th career win (Oct. 30, 2014) vs. University of New Orleans
2009-2013 - Drury University- Head Coach (87-74)
Three Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournaments; School record victories (22) in 2010; First conference tournament win (2011); Coached school’s first Div. II All-American
2013- (15-16)
2012- (16-17)
2011- (18-14)
2010- (22-13)
2009- (16-14)
2006-2008-Â McNeese-Assistant Coach
East Division Title (2006); East Division Runner-Up (2007); Three conference tournaments; Two SLC Tourn. semifinal appearances
2003-2006Â - Ole Miss
2001-2002Â - US Naval Academy
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