Five Lady Shark Volleyball Players Land Scholarships
After winning a national title, five Miami Dade College volleyball players are being offered scholarships to continue their collegiate volleyball careers elsewhere.
Naimir Garcia will be attending Florida National University; Deborah Constanzo will be a student athlete at Missouri Valley College; Pamela Jaime and Yamilet Velazquez have both committed to Columbia College in Missouri; Alexia N. Clepf Sousa is attending Wiley College in Texas.
The Lady Sharks had an outstanding season and won the National Junior College Athletics Association Division I title. The team was talented, but even more important was getting the right mix of players to work together.
“I can bring a lot of good players, but it depends on the chemistry,” said Lady Sharks head coach Origenes “Kiko” Benoit. “This year we had great chemistry. Personally, I think that’s why we won.”
The departures will leave a significant void in the Lady Sharks. Constanzo and Jaime were two of the top three blockers on the team. They averaged 0.68 (Constanzo) and 0.53 blocks (Jaime) per set.
Garcia, an outside hitter from Venezuela, was third in kills per set (2.17) for the Lady Sharks and racked up a total of 141 kills during the season.
Sousa, a setter from Brazil, is the second leading player in assists per set (4.96) and has also contributed with 0.17 serving aces per set.
“It was a huge learning experience for me,” said Garcia, an outside hitter. “I’d never been away from my country or my family for so long, but each one of these girls became a part of my family.”
Fortunately for the Lady Sharks, consistent contributors like Massiel Matos and Camila Hernandez will be staying around for another season.
Matos led the team in kills per set (4.72) and racked up 411 kills last season alone. Hernandez led the team in digs per set (6.94) and was able to contribute 465 digs for the Lady Sharks this past season.
The end is bittersweet for the Lady Sharks who are moving on.
“I’m leaving this team with some great memories and experience,” Jaime said.
