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Volleyball coach Leanna Taylor returns home to Tampa Prep

 
OT_313696_WALL_volleyball_20 (11/21/2009 Lakeland) Plant volleyball coach Leanna Taylor guides the team to their fourth state championship in four years on Saturday against Winter Park. GAME SUMMARY: Plant High School plays Winter Park for the Class 6A state volleyball championship on Saturday, Nov. 21 at the Lakeland Center. [DANIEL WALLACE, Times]
OT_313696_WALL_volleyball_20 (11/21/2009 Lakeland) Plant volleyball coach Leanna Taylor guides the team to their fourth state championship in four years on Saturday against Winter Park. GAME SUMMARY: Plant High School plays Winter Park for the Class 6A state volleyball championship on Saturday, Nov. 21 at the Lakeland Center. [DANIEL WALLACE, Times]
Published March 15, 2017

TAMPA — The word "perfect" was how Leanna Taylor said she would sum up her new role as Tampa Prep's head volleyball coach.

The school's athletic director Mike Flynn announced the hiring of the 1995 Tampa Prep graduate in an e-mail Tuesday.

Taylor returns to the Hillsborough County high school ranks having led Plant to six state titles (five as head coach and one as an assistant) with an overall record of 185-20. Then she left to take the head coaching job at Queens College, where she also served as the school's associate athletic director for student-athlete performance/senior woman administrator from 2011-15.

"The whole, 'Who I am as a coach' at Plant, at Queens, comes from the background I have of being a player here at Tampa Prep," Taylor said. "I'm in complete awe to be able to come back to a place that has impacted so many Tampa Bay women — this is really the perfect thing for me."

Taylor was a member of three state championship teams as a player for Tampa Prep (1991, '92, '94), before playing volleyball at Georgia Tech and finishing her playing career and education at the University of Tampa.

"We are excited to have Leanna back home at Prep. As a Tampa Prep alum ('95), who won three state championships as a player, she has a unique perspective of the Tampa Prep volleyball legacy," Tampa Prep athletic director Mike Flynn said in a news release. "While her primary duties will be as varsity head coach, she will also be assisting with development of our middle school volleyball student-athletes as well."