Francis Marion University athletic officials recently announced that former women’s volleyball player Crystal Poskey Ashley (’02), former women’s soccer standouts Katie Roberts Chapman (‘04) and Kerri Williams (‘00), and former administrator and golf coach Dr. Rufus R. Hackney Jr. are the newest inductees into the FMU Athletic Hall of Fame for 2017.
Poskey Ashley lettered four years as a setter between 1996 and 1999, earning All-Conference accolades three times, in addition to being named the Peach Belt Conference Co-Freshman of the Year in 1996 and the PBC Player of the Year in 1998. She earned a B.S. degree in biology in 2002.
She is a winery ambassador with Willamette Valley Vineyards, and resides in McMinnville, Ore., with her husband and their new son.
A native of Clarkston, Wash., she ended her career with totals of 427 career sets played, 4,984 assists (fifth-best in PBC history), 1,133 digs, and 170 services aces. She helped the Patriots to a four-year mark of 111-23 record, including a 42-8 record in PBC matches, and to a pair of Peach Belt regular-season championships, two PBC Tournament titles, and the program’s first NCAA Division II National Tournament appearance in 1998.
She was named to four regular-season All-Tournament Teams, garnered Peach Belt Player of the Week honors on three occasions, was selected to the PBC All-Tournament Team three times (including being named the MVP in 1998 as a junior), and earned FMU team most valuable player recognition twice.
In 1998, she led the Peach Belt in assists per set (11.50) and ranked second in service aces per set (0.50). She compiled a .388 hitting percentage, averaged 3.11 digs per set, and tallied 59 total blocks, while guiding the Patriots to a 27-6 record, including 13-1 in the PBC play, a berth in the NCAA Tournament, and garnering both PBC Player of the Year and All-Region recognition.
After graduation, she began a coaching career that included stops as junior varsity coach at Clarkston (Wash.) High School, varsity coach at South Florence High School, assistant coach at Appalachian State University, head coach at Radford University, and assistant coach at Georgia Southern University.
