Former Michigan City H.S. standout and University of Illinois all-time digs leader Ashley Edinger will join the Valparaiso volleyball staff next year as a graduate assistant, head coach Carin Avery announced today.

Edinger started every match in her career at Illinois at libero until suffering a career-ending injury in late October against Purdue.  Despite the injury, she concluded her Ilini career as the school’s all-time digs leader with 1,921 career digs, good for ninth all-time in Big Ten history.  She holds the top two spots on Illinois’ single-season digs chart, including a record 564 digs during her sophomore year.  A five-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, Edinger earned Academic All-Big Ten honors in each of her seasons with the Ilini.

Prior to playing at Illinois, Edinger was named one of the Top 50 “Senior Aces” and the top libero nationally in her class out of high school by prepvolleyball.com.  A three-time First Team All-State and All-Area Player of the Year selection, she played for the USA Volleyball Youth National Team that traveled to Chicago in the summer of 2005 to play in the U18 World Championships.  She also earned All-America honors stateside at the USA Junior Olympic National Championships.  Edinger concluded her career at Michigan City as the school’s single-season and career record holder in kills, hitting percentage, digs and service aces.

“We are so lucky to have found such a great person and player like Ashley to help us out next season,” said Avery.  “She will be a huge asset to this program and hopefully will help our team get to the next level.”

Edinger majored in molecular and cellular biology at Illinois and plans to pursue a master’s degree in education at Valparaiso.