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| Southern Connecticut volleyball triplets inseparable |
Sean O'Rourke
New Haven Register Staff
August 24, 2007 |
NEW HAVEN — There's not much the Coombs triplets — Ashley, Heather and Lauren — have done apart in their 20 years. If Heather is going on a date to the movies then you can be sure Ashley and Lauren, with boyfriends in tow, are going also. When Lauren got a leading part in an episode of the television show Rescue 911, both Ashley and Heather also stood in for scenes.
And when colleges were recruiting the trio as basketball standouts at Trumbull High all three decided to attend Fairleigh Dickinson. And, likewise, a year later all three decided to transfer together to Southern Connecticut State.
The triplets moved into the same dorm suite at Southern and started working toward undergraduate degrees in education.
Ashley and Lauren decided to play volleyball but Heather bucked the trend of togetherness when she chose to continue to play basketball.
"It was really different not having Heather with us," Ashley said. "We were working on her all year to come play volleyball with us."
Heather became an integral part of an Owls bench that won the NCAA championship under coach Joe Frager. She played in all 36 games and averaged four points in 12 minutes, time that was expected to increase this season.
"I love basketball and it was a fun year but it was tough not having my sisters with me," Heather said. "We love each other and I wanted to be with them."
So Heather made the decision to give up basketball and join Ashley and Lauren on coach Lisa Barbaro's volleyball team. Heather, who is 6-foot like Lauren, will be an outside hitter. Ashley, who is 5-4, is a setter for the Owls.
"Heather brings not only athleticism but her experience on how to win having been part of the national championship team," Barbaro said. "They all bring a lot to the table on the court and, off the court, they have raised the bar academically."
Ashley, the oldest of the triplets, had a 4.0 grade point average in her first year at Southern in 2006-07. Heather, born a minute after Ashley, and Lauren, born two minutes after Heather, both checked in with 3.9 averages.
"I'm more mature," joked Ashley, when asked about her perfect academic standings.
Ashley is the leader while Lauren is the jokester and Heather the athlete. All three are blessed with beauty and dabbled in modeling in addition to television careers as youths.
"We tried modeling but we always had bruises on our legs from playing sports," Heather said.
Plus, modeling meant a lot of waiting around for the trio.
"We would rather be playing basketball or hanging with the guys," Ashley said. "We were tomboys growing up."
Ashley would sometimes be confused for an older sister of Heather and Lauren when growing up.
"People would always ask ‘Are you twins?'" Lauren said.
Ashley said she likes being a bit different. In their dorm suite she has her own room while Lauren and Heather share a room.
"Ashley is definitely a lot more serious," Barbaro said. "But they are all very alike and they're all competitive. They're also very social, everyone knows them on campus."
Barbaro is entering her fourth season as the Owls volleyball coach and likely will have her best team. The young Owls finished 10-19 overall and 4-10 in the Northeast-10 Conference last season.
"Every year we've made improvements but we haven't been able to turn the corner to being a major contender in the conference," Barbaro said. "We were really young last year with a lot of talent and now those players have turned from freshman to sophomores. They now have a year of experience playing together."
The goal is to compete in the NE-10.
"We want to improve upon last year and get to at least .500 in the conference," Barbaro said. "But I think there are endless possibilities with this group. We have enough athleticism and talent to be competitive in the conference. It's just experience."
The Coombs triplets, juniors this fall, will bring that experience. All are expected to start for Barbaro and is hopeful Heather could be the missing link for Southern's success this season.
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