Volleyball Announces Signing of Hunter, Johnson and Vanlandingham

BALTIMORE — The defending America East champion UMBC Volleyball has signed Megan Hunter, Dasia Johnson and Elly Vandlingham, head coach Kasey Crider announced on Friday.

“We’re always looking for ways to upgrade after championship seasons – complacency is a reliable villain in stories of sustained success,” said Crider. “One of the easiest ways to upgrade is to add talent that fits your roster.  In respect to the incoming class of freshmen, we absolutely feel like we’ve done that.  We’ve added talent across the board, but more importantly, we’ve added good character, which is often the main characters in those same stories.” 

Megan Hunter

Setter

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Markville Secondary School

Pakmen Volleyball Club

Coach Crider: “Our program has found really good success recruiting internationally.  Megan continues that tradition.  We believe she’ll be able to step in immediately to fill the sizeable hole left by Serin Maden, a four year starter at setter for us.  She has excellent instincts and her experience competing for Canada’s various national team programs suggest she won’t be overwhelmed by the step up in level.”

Dasia Johnson

OH

Coral Springs, FL

North Broward Preparatory School

Wildfire Volleyball Academy

Coach Crider: “Dasia is an outside hitter that we spent quite a long time evaluating and recruiting.  We feel like we got a long runway to understand her as a player and at every stage of the process, we felt like she would be a huge value add.  She’s an elite athlete with excellent explosiveness as an attacker and blocker, and her history as a true six rotation outside hitter provides a particularly high floor from day one.  Add in the Florida state high school championship this year, and we’re getting an elite player with elite pedigree.”

Elly Vanlandingham

L/DS

Gaithersburg, MD

Quince Orchard High School

Metro Volleyball Club of DC

Coach Crider: “Elly is local, which is always a huge plus.  But adding her was never about checking a geographic box; it was about adding an extremely accomplished and solid defensive specialist.  She comes from a nationally renowned club program and won’t be intimidated by a tough practice environment or challenging schedule.”

The Retrievers are coming off of their fifth America East Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in the last six seasons.