April 24, 2009

PITTSBURGH-Pitt Head Volleyball Coach Toby Rens announced the hiring of Eysha Ambler as an assistant coach for the University of Pittsburgh women’s volleyball team. Ambler joins Rens’ staff with experience in coaching and playing.

Ambler will start her first season at Pitt after serving as an assistant coach at Tennessee State the last five years. While there she led the Lady Tigers to two Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) titles and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance. During her time at TSU, she also served as a recruiting coordinator and volleyball operations director. She was instrumental in aiding the students with their academic progress and helping them develop quality tutorial programs, while organizing and balancing the volleyball program budget.

Prior to TSU she spent two seasons at OVC rival Jacksonville State as a graduate assistant. At JSU, she monitored the academic progress of student-athletes, organized travel and film exchange and managed home tournaments and match activities for the volleyball team.

Ambler has worked as the head coach for the Nashville One Volleyball Club and as an assistant with Impact Volleyball Club. During both tenures she prepared game strategies along with physical conditioning for teenage athletes.

Ambler played two years on the Gamecocks volleyball squad after transferring from Northwest-Shoals Community College. At JSU she made her mark in the history books as the all-time single-season leader for blocks per game (1.7). She finished her career ranked fourth and seventh in block assists in a single season (92 and 72 respectively) and third in solo blocks (31) in a single season.

Additionally, Ambler was the first three-sport letterman at Jacksonville State dating back to 1985, earning letters in basketball, track and field and volleyball. She graduated from JSU in 2001 with a B.S. in business management and later got her B.S. in education in 2004.