Mayda Garcia was promoted to associate head coach on March 11, 2026.
Garcia was hired as an assistant coach in February 2023 and has helped the Vaqueros volleyball team to abundant success in the last three seasons. She was instrumental in UTRGV winning the Southland Conference (SLC) regular season championship in 2025 and earning a postseason berth in the Women’s National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) in 2024.
Garcia oversees a multitude of tasks for the volleyball program, including operations, recruiting, and planning practices. She uses her deep knowledge of the game to scout opponents effectively, aiding the setters, hitters and servers with ball location. With Garcia calling spots when UTRGV is at the service line, the Vaqueros were the No. 2 serving team in the SLC last season and ranked 43rd in the nation averaging 1.74 aces per set. She helped the Vaqueros to a SLC-leading .275 hitting percentage in 2025, which is a new program record for single-season efficiency.
UTRGV has enjoyed two of the five winningest seasons in program history during Garcia’s tenure, winning 22 matches in 2025, which is tied for second-most in a season, and 19 in 2023, which is tied for fifth-most in program history. Under her guidance, the Vaqueros led the SLC in All-Conference honorees in 2024 and 2025. Isabella Costantini was a two-time SLC Setter of the Year and First Team All-Conference honoree. Last season, Martina Franco and Dimitra Nanou were named Newcomer of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively, while in 2024, Celianiz Cabranes was the Libero of the Year. In 2023, Garcia helped guide Kiaraliz Perez to Western Athletic Conference Libero of the Year honors.
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.
