During her time as the UA Head Coach, Coach Ashley has THREE State Titles, and one runner-up State Championship! 🥳
Coach Ashley is a 2010 graduate from UA, where she played water polo and swam all four years. She played water polo at UA from 2006-2009 and often attended the youth water polo clinics in middle school. During her time on the UA water polo team, the team won two State Championships and Two State Runner-Ups! While at UA she wore the number #12 and came from a long lineage of #12s! Her legendary Dad, Steve Neri, wore that same number while he played for UA (1980 UAHS graduate) and both of her brothers wore the #12 as well!
Additionally, Coach Ashley went on to play water polo all 4 years of college at Arizona State University. Coach Ashley attended Arizona State University where she got her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology and is currently working in the medical field.
Coach Ashley’s hobbies include: spending time outside in nature, photography, wood working and she loves a good diy project! Coach Ashley is the oldest in her family and both of her brothers attended UA - doing swimming and playing water polo. Water Polo runs deep in Coach Ashley’s family, as she is the the second in her family to coach Water Polo at UA. Her Dad, Steve Neri, was a coach for UA many years ago. (Interesting little tidbit: Coach Ashley’s dad coached some of the PARENTS of recent UA Polo athletes - As well as Coach Steve coached a beloved coach in our aquatics program when he played water polo in High School…Coach Todd Saltus! Coach Ashley has two dogs and recently got married! 😊
Coach Kendra played for UA from during the 2014-2017 seasons, claiming three state championships during that time! She was an Academic All American, won Dispatch Scholar Athlete during her senior year for Water Polo. Coach Kendra scored 99 goals during her senior year (1 shy of the record at that time!) Fun enough, Coach Kendra was the same number as Troy Bolton during her time on the UA Water Polo team (go 14!)
Coach Kendra is an expectant mother to two kittens. She loves to craft - needle pointing, crocheting, painting - you name it! She still enjoys getting into the pool and is doing an open water swim this fall in Lake Michigan. Additionally Coach Kendra has the longest wingspan in her family (but says she wouldn’t last a day as goalie - they tried). Coach Kendra went to Ohio University for undergrad and graduate school, and was a part of the Women’s Swim and Dive Team there - Go Bobcats! Some of her best friends are still teammates from her time with UA aquatics!
Coach Emily is a UAHS 2013 graduate where she played water polo and swam all four years. During her time at UAHS she was apart of 3 State Championships and 1 State Runner-Up in both water polo and swimming. In high school Coach Emily wore the #5 which is still her favorite number to this day! She went on to swim for the University of Findlay, graduating with a degree in Nuclear Medicine.
Coach Emily and her husband recently bought a home in Grove City. They have three adorable dogs: Millie a golden doodle, Otis a corgi and Willow a basset hound. Coach Emily loves being outside with her dogs, reading and baking. And recently discovered and fell into the sourdough trap!
We are so excited to have Coach Emily joining our team! Coach Ashley and Coach Emily are excited to share the pool deck again as they were teammates in high school! How fun to see teammates back together again! 👏🏻