DENVER PIONEERS
Jessica Aschenbrenner serves as the Assistant Coach and Defense Coordinator for the Pioneers. She completed her fifth season at DU in 2021, helping the Pioneers to their 10th straight winning season, 21st in program history. Aschenbrenner joined the DU volleyball staff ahead of the 2017 season and served two years as the Director of Volleyball Operations. In early 2019 she was promoted to Assistant Coach of the Pioneers.
In the fall of 2021, Aschenbrenner transitioned to defensive coordinator and led the Crimson and Gold to a 23-6 record, earning wins over ranked USC and Iowa. Aschenbrenner assisted in leading the Pioneers to league-best numbers in Opponent Attack Percentage (.166), Opponent Assists (9.62), Opponent Kills (10.61), Opponent Service Aces (.99), Opponent Digs (11.92), Hitting Percentage (.263), Assists (12.67), and Aces (1.94). The Pioneers also ranked inside the NCAA top-40 in all the above statistical categories.
In the spring of 2021, Aschenbrenner was instrumental in her role as a second-year offense coordinator, helping lead the Crimson and Gold to a regular-season Summit League Championship with a 13-2 mark, including posting the first perfect undefeated road record (8-0) in program history. Aschenbrenner helped take a Pioneer team to dominant heights on that end of the floor, with the team ranking at the top of the Summit League in aces per set (2.28), assists per set (12.54), hitting percentage (.267), kills per set (13.48) and team services aces (114).
In her first year serving as an assistant coach, Aschenbrenner helped the Pioneers clinch their fifth Summit League tournament championship and sixth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. Under Aschenbrenner, Denver landed their first-ever Summit League Player of the Year and third all-time AVCA All-America selection in Lydia Bartalo following their 2019 campaign.
As the Director of Volleyball Operations at Denver, Aschenbrenner was responsible for providing administrative, logistical, and technical coordination for the volleyball program. Aschenbrenner manually coded statistics for all practices and competitions, while working with the coaching staff to analyze statistics for review with current players and prepare scouting breakdowns of opponents prior to competition.
AMERICAN VOLLEYBALL COACHES ASSOCIATION
Aschenbrenner continued her rise in the volleyball coaching world, being named an AVCA Thirty Under 30 winner back in April of 2021, which recognizes the top 30 assistant coaches in the country under the age of 30 in 2020.
In December of 2019, Aschenbrenner had the opportunity to speak at the AVCA convention as part of a statistics panel alongside Jeff Liu and Nate Ngo from USA volleyball.
Most recently, Aschenbrenner participated on an AVCA Assistant Coaches Committee Panel in May of 2020. She was one of four speakers selected to present a session on scouting and statistics.
USA VOLLEYBALL NATIONAL TEAMS
Aschenbrenner spent part of her 2018 summer coaching with USA Volleyball's Collegiate National Team program, serving as the Technical Coordinator on a tour of China. Over the 10-day trip, the U.S. finished 4-1 overall against professional teams from the Chinese Volleyball League. She also served as the Technical Coordinator for the USA Volleyball's Collegiate National Team in the summer of 2019 as they trained in Anaheim, CA where the USA Women’s National Team trains.
Aschenbrenner served as an Assistant Coach with the 2019 USA Girls Youth A1 Program. No stranger to the USA Volleyball pipeline, Aschenbrenner has also served as a Lead Tryout Coach and Evaluator for the USA Girls HP Program since 2019.
Most recently, she was named an Assistant Coach for the 2021 summer’s U.S. Women’s Indoor U20 National Team who placed 5th in the FIVB Women’s U20 World Championship. The team competed in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Kortrijk, Belgium.
ASCHENBRENNER WITH USA VOLLEYBALL
- 2018 USA Collegiate National Team – China
- 2019 USA Collegiate National Team – Anaheim
- 2019 USA Girls Youth A1 Assistant Coach
- 2021 USA U20 National Team Assistant Coach
Aschenbrenner comes to Denver after spending the 2016 season as a volunteer assistant for the Colorado Buffaloes. At CU, she was responsible for assisting with on-court training and video coordination, recording statistics, scouting opponents, creating social media graphics, and maintaining the alumni database and outreach efforts.
Before joining the Buffs coaching staff, Aschenbrenner was a head coach for TCA Colorado Volleyball Club 15s from 2012-14. As a player, Aschenbrenner was a libero/defensive specialist for the University of Colorado volleyball program with three Academic Pac-12 Honorable Mention selections, after enjoying a successful career on the court for Cherry Creek High School that resulted in a 5A Colorado State Championship in 2008.
PERSONAL
Aschenbrenner is a 2014 graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and a certificate in corporate social responsibility, and graduated with a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Denver in 2020. Aschenbrenner resides in Denver, Colorado.
