Baltimore is known as a city that produces basketball talent, but the area is also home to strong talent in the college volleyball world.
Coppin State and UMBC won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the America East Conference titles, respectively. The Eagles (27-4) face No. 1 seed Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Dec. 1, while the Retrievers (17-7) are set to take on No. 8 seed USC the same day. Towson went 24-6 in the rugged Coastal Athletic Association, earned the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and made it to the finals before falling, 3-1, to No. 2 seed Delaware.
UMBC second-year head coach Kasey Crider is among those to give credit to all teams in the area, even at the Division III level. Johns Hopkins is one of those teams, winning the Centennial Conference and punching its ticket to an Elite Eight berth with a 3-0 victory against 16th-ranked Wesleyan University in the Sweet 16. The Blue Jays have a 28-4 record on the season.
“I think Baltimore is a basketball town and then probably a football town after that as it currently stands and rightfully so,” Crider said. “The tradition and history in those two sports here is pretty special. I want to point out the job Matt [Troy] has done at Johns Hopkins is incredible. … There’s a lot of really good volleyball programs in this area, and that’s not even including the ones down in D.C.”
Local volleyball teams have earned plenty of accolades this season, beginning with Coppin, which won the MEAC for the first time in program history. Redshirt senior Andrea Tsvetanova (Bulgaria) was named as the Setter of the Year in the MEAC, while Eagles head coach Tim Walsh was named the conference’s Coach of the Year.
Then there’s Geraldyn Palacios. The senior middle blocker from Colombia has been a key piece for the Eagles in 2023. She has posted 271 points (2.49 per set), 207 kills (1.9) and 84 blocks (0.77) per set this season.
Palacios is one of several middle blockers in the Baltimore area making a mark on their teams’ seasons. They all present strong, diverse skill sets and comes from backgrounds that shaped them into who they are as people and players today.
Palacios believes her hard work this offseason paid off, having been named to the MEAC All-Tournament Team.
“When I came here in August, we started doing the preseason and we practiced two times a day,” Palacios said. “So, I think it was really tough, but at the same time it was good because I had the opportunity to make new relationships with my friends, with my teammates.”
Walsh expressed the need for his team to come together by embracing its differences. The team has athletes from four different countries (Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia and the United States), seven states (California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Ohio and Texas) and Puerto Rico. Three languages are spoken (English, Spanish and Bulgarian) on the team.
Regardless of the outcome of Coppin’s game against Pittsburgh, Walsh likes the way that his team has gelled this season. They’ve gone shopping and eaten at restaurants together, building the chemistry that they play with in the gym.
“I think it improves, almost daily,” Walsh said. “We learned how to grow on and off the court — embracing each other and our differences, culturally and just personality-wise and how to talk to different people. I think all that’s super important for culture.”
During Michela De Marzi’s time at UMBC, the Retrievers have won the America East championship four seasons in a row. The redshirt junior middle blocker from Milan, Italy, has seen a ton of success in her own right. She is in the midst of a season in which she has recorded 157.5 points (1.88 points per set), 114 kills (1.49) and 85 blocks (1.01).
De Marzi’s coaches have held the team accountable each day. The staff is asking players to watch tape of practice and pick each others’ brains about what they could improve on. It’s been an important process for her individual success and team success, culminating in a 3-0 win against Binghamton in the America East championship game on Nov. 18.
“I feel like it’s different from last year because last year the coaching staff was new. This time, it basically came from the work that we’ve been doing with them,” De Marzi said. “I feel like last year … the coaching staff got here in March. We didn’t really have a lot of time to work together, but I feel like this season was actually the first time that we had an entire year in the spring and then in the fall to work together because I feel the win that we had on Saturday came from all the work that we did during the spring more than anything else in the fall.”
Crider’s team traveled to Binghamton for the America East tournament last year, taking down No. 3 seed Bryant, 3-1, and No. 2 New Hampshire, 3-0. UMBC continued its winning ways in postseason play this year despite some changes to the lineup, knocking off No. 4 Bryant and No. 3 Binghamton by 3-0 scores.
It was all the more sweet for the Retrievers to win the title in front their home crowd at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Catonsville.
“We were really good in both matches and that was enough,” Crider said. “It just felt different from last year — equally as fun, equally as gratifying and enjoyable. The one thing I will say is pretty cool is that we did it at home this year.”
Towson senior middle blocker Aayinde Smith completed her season with 238 points (2.27 per set), 162 kills (1.54) and 124 blocks (1.18) and was a second-team All-CAA selection. Her 124 blocks lead the conference; the next closest player is William & Mary’s Olivia Esposito with 112.
“I’ve been focusing on my blocking,” Smith said. “I don’t really know the statistics, but I think I’m one of the top blockers in the CAA and my goal is to be the No. 1 CAA blocker. I can give [credit] to my head coach Don Metil and our coach and our former coach, Terry Hutchinson. Being coached by them, they honestly just helped me evolve and honestly that’s kind of why I play the way I play now.”
As a Black American volleyball player, Smith is looking to inspire other young athletes who look like her to play the sport. Especially considering the success of Coppin State and individual players around a city that is predominantly Black, she is thrilled to set a strong example for players in the area.
“It definitely excites me,” Smith said. “And then I’m just glad that we can be an inspiration to girls who look like us.”
Photo Credits: Coppin State Athletics/TagTheShooter Photography and Courtesy of UMBC Athletics