Munoz named Monroe volleyball coach
Published 11:14 pm Wednesday, April 23, 2008
It was certainly an eventful seven days for the Munoz family.
April Munoz on Wednesday was named Monroe High School’s head volleyball coach.
Six days earlier, on April 17, Kylin Munoz — April’s daughter — verbally committed to play volleyball for Brigham Young University. Kylin Munoz, a junior at Monroe High, was The Herald’s 2007 All-Area Volleyball Player of the Year. The high-flying outside hitter helped lead Monroe to eighth place at the Class 4A state tournament and received 4A all-state first team honors.
April Munoz, who replaces former Monroe coach Dawn Hanson after assisting Hanson the past three seasons, said she’s ready to get started.
“It’s just a neat opportunity to be able to work with the local athletes,” said Munoz. “A lot of them, actually, I have been coaching for years (at Monroe Middle School and Monroe Boys &Girls Club). It’s always a neat opportunity to be an influence in these kids’ lives.”
It’s the first high school head coaching job for Munoz, who was a prep volleyball star in Arizona and played two seasons at the University of Washington.
That’s one of two schools her daughter, Kylin Munoz, seriously considered committing to. But last week she picked BYU over the UW. It was a difficult decision, Kylin Munoz said, because she grew up rooting for the Huskies and lives so close to Washington’s Seattle campus.
But BYU offers a better combination of athletic and academic opportunities, she said.
Munoz took unofficial visits to both schools. She received athletic scholarship offers from both of them, and also got offers from Oregon State, Washington State, Arizona State, Oregon and Colorado State.
Munoz can’t sign a binding NCAA National Letter of Intent until November.
April Munoz hasn’t been Kylin’s head coach since Kylin was an eighth-grader. Kylin’s sister Kendal, a setter, will be a freshman at Monroe next school year.
“We’ve always been a volleyball family so I guess it won’t be that different because I’m used to talking about volleyball off the court,” Kylin Munoz said.
Said April Munoz, “I just have set boundaries. In the gym I’m coach and at home I’m mom.”
Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.
