By Christian Romo
Monrovia has hired former Pasadena High School coach Ashlee DiSalvo to be the head coach of the school’s girls volleyball team. DiSalvo will replace former head coach Wayne Teng, who left the position for personal reasons after nine seasons at Monrovia.
DiSalvo, who was named the 2016 Pacific League Coach of the Year, has spent the last four seasons coaching at PHS, adding a Frosh/Soph team to the school’s program during her tenure. “My immediate goal for the upcoming season is to build rapport with the students, parents, and administration by running a strong pre-season and introducing a strong coaching core for all three levels,” she said.
DiSalvo inherits a team that last year won the Rio Hondo league title and advanced to the CIF quarterfinals for the first time in the program’s history. “A lot can be done with a program once discipline and solid skills are established,” said DiSalvo. “I knew that would not be an issue walking in, and I plan to match [Wayne’s] intensity.”
“Ashlee inherits a solidly-built program,” said Monrovia athletic director Randy Bell, “and she struck us as the best candidate to take the keys to the bus and keep driving it.” The Wildcat’s five-set loss to Westridge in last year’s playoffs ended one of the program’s best-ever seasons, an accomplishment DiSalvo aims to improve upon in the fall: “My short term goal is a back-to-back league championship,” she said, “long term goal is a CIF run.”
