Mayda Garcia joined The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) on Feb. 6, 2023 as the new assistant volleyball coach.
Garcia is a 2016 graduate of McAllen Rowe High School. She was the 2014 and 2016 All-Valley Volleyball Player of the Year, the 2016 All-Valley 6A Female Athlete of the Year and a two-time academic all-state honoree. She went on to play NCAA Division I volleyball at Fairfield University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Communication in 2020.
Garcia filled many roles in her time with the Fairfield Stags, including middle blocker, defensive specialist and right side along with playing outside hitter, the position she was recruited for. She totaled 801 kills, 623 digs, 106 blocks and 32 service aces in four seasons with the Stags and was a two-time selection to the All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Second Team (2018 and 2019). She helped Fairfield win three MAAC Championships and advanced to the NCAA Tournament three times, playing at No. 15 Michigan State in 2016, at No. 2 Texas in 2017 and at No. 7 Minnesota in 2019.
As a junior in 2018, Garcia stepped up to lead Fairfield through an adversity-filled season with 325 kills, ranking third in the MAAC with 3.46 kills per set and fourth in the conference with 3.79 points per set. She posted 20+ kills in four matches that season, including a career-high 29 kills on .349 hitting with 26 digs against Niagara.
In nine postseason sets, Garcia tallied 10 kills, 10 digs and two aces, including a solid performance in the final match of her career against Minnesota in which she led the Stags with seven kills and recorded seven digs.
Garcia was a graduate assistant coach for McDaniel College volleyball from 2021-2022. She is currently working on finishing her Master’s in Kinesiology from McDaniel.
