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Volleyball Kevin C. Paige, MSU Athletics Communications

Preston Returns Home For Morgan/Towson Invitational

MSU Hall of Famer to coach her New Orleans squad at her alma mater.

BALTIMORE, Md. (Sept. 4, 2025)--Morgan State volleyball royalty will be in the building this Friday, when Lady Bear alum and University of New Orleans (UNO) head coach Ashley Preston brings her Privateers' squad to Baltimore to compete in this weekend's Morgan/Towson Invitational.

UNO will have just one match this weekend at Hill Field House, opening the tournament against Kent State at 2:30 p.m. It will be the first time Preston, now in her fifth year leading UNO, returns to Morgan's campus and coaches inside Hill Field House since 2014, when she was the head coach of crosstown rival Coppin State.
 
Preston credits Don Metil, the former Coppin State, Maryland Eastern Shore, and current Towson head coach, as the reason her return was possible.
 
"Don Metil is the reason I'm in this tourney. We go way back, and he runs a great tournament," said Preston. "Being able to play in my alma mater gym is the cherry on top. I'll honestly probably cry. Morgan has such a special place in my heart."
 
A 2023 Morgan State Hall of Fame (HOF) inductee, Preston's homecoming will not only end an 11-year hiatus since she's last been on campus, but it will also allow her to finally see her Hall of Fame picture in the main concourse of Hill Field House, as she was unable to participate in the Saturday festivities.
 
"I'll actually get to see my Hall of Fame pic for the first time since I had to fly out after the HOF dinner the next morning to go coach a match in New Orleans," said Preston. "Being inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame is still so surreal. I never thought I'd be inducted. It was such an amazing night with my family and friends. I'm so grateful to Coach [Ramona Riley-Bozier] and the committee for honoring me."

In her second season in New Orleans, Preston orchestrated the fifth-biggest win turnaround in the nation in 2022. The Privateers won 15 matches and had their best home start (9-0) in program history. UNO would also rank 13th in the nation in digs per set at 17.04.

In 2023, Preston led the Privateers to their first conference tournament victory, following a 3-2 win over UIW. UNO would again rank in the top 100 nationally in digs per set (15.08) for the second consecutive season.

Before taking over the helm at New Orleans, Preston spent six seasons as the head coach at Cal State Fullerton. In 2019, she was named Co-Big West Coach of the Year, becoming just the second coach in program history to claim the honor. The 12 total wins were the most for the program since 2012, while their four conference victories were the most since 2013. The team doubled its win total from the previous year, and Preston guided the team to a Top 25 national ranking with 17.44 digs per set. 
 
Before heading out West, Preston spent three years at Coppin State, where in that short time she became the all-time winningest coach in the program's history. In each of her three years with the Eagles, the team advanced to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament and ultimately reached the championship match for the first time in program history in 2013.
 
In just her second season at Coppin State, Preston led the Eagles to a then school-record 15 wins, including eight conference victories in 2013. Coppin State would win 10 consecutive home matches and record the program's first playoff victory since 1992, before eventually advancing to the MEAC championship match.
 
A year later the Eagles totaled 14 victories, the second most single-season win total in program history.
 
Prior to her stint at Coppin State, Preston landed her first head coaching job in 2011, leading Spelman College to nine victories, which established a school record for wins in a single season.
 
Preston's coaching career would get underway at her alma mater, as she served two years under the legendary Coach Bozier, before moving on to become an assistant coach for a year at Loyola-Maryland University in 2010.

Despite all the coaching accolades and record-setting accomplishments, Preston never considered a career in coaching. That all changed when her head coach allowed her to stay at Morgan State.  
 
"Absolutely not. I never thought I'd coach," said Preston. "I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I just happened to ask Coach Bozier if I could be her GA, and she said that she would make me her full-time assistant. And I appreciate her so much for it because I was able to get my Master's of Publication Design at the University of Baltimore through the Morgan tuition remission program."

Preston was a four-year starter at Morgan State as a libero. She finished her career as the school's all-time leader in digs with 2,066, a record she still holds, and she ranks second all-time in the MEAC for digs. She led the Lady Bears in digs throughout all four seasons and was a three-time first-team All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) selection during her first three seasons.

Preston set the school's single-season digs record as a sophomore with 640, breaking the previous mark of 525 she set as a freshman. As a junior, Preston was vital to the Lady Bears, having one of their best seasons in five years, helping Morgan State finish 23-9 overall, with a 10-0 MEAC North Division record and a trip to the 2006 title match. Preston again led the team in digs, finishing with 489, and ranked third in the MEAC, earning her third consecutive all-conference first team honor. 
 
"What's crazy is I came to Morgan to be an outside, but there was so much great depth of competition, and the libero position was still fairly new, so I decided to compete for that," said Preston. "I stepped on the court in my first match freshman year and didn't come off that court till senior night. I didn't chase accolades in my career, I just wanted to be the best libero for my team."

A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Preston was a three-time recipient of the MEAC Commissioner's All-Academic Award and received first-team honors on the Arthur Ashe Scholar list as a junior. After her junior season, Preston also earned the Elijah Rowe Award, which is given to the female athlete with the highest GPA at Morgan State.

Preston graduated in May of 2008 with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications and was honored that summer as Morgan State's representative for the MEAC Woman of the Year Award.
 
"I'll never forget being such a meek young woman coming all the way from Las Vegas, Nev. completely out of my comfort zone in Baltimore City; walking from Blount Towers to my first 5:45 am practice in Hill Field House with my new teammates Esther, Mandisa, Korinne, Lauren and Shay while it was pitch black and thinking, "What have I gotten myself into," said Preston as she laughed.
 
"I'm so proud of myself for never giving up when it got tough and I'm so blessed for the community I cultivated there and for Coach Bozier seeing in me a future in coaching. Oooo-Ayyyy!"
 
 
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Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.
 
 
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