Nov. 16, 2008

The following story was published in the University of Maryland's Football Gameday program for the November 15 game against North Carolina.

By Joey Flyntz, Maryland Athletic Media Relations Assistant

As the daughter of two University of Maryland graduates, growing up in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. cheering for the Terrapins throughout childhood, Mary Beth Brown's college decision looked to be an easy one on the surface.

In reality, the choice was anything but a given. Brown, now a fifth-year player for the Maryland volleyball team at right side-outside hitter, not only didn't envision taking classes on the College Park campus, she never imagined a collegiate volleyball career, period.

"I was always a Terps fan, but didn't see myself staying so close to home," Brown said. "I wanted to go away to school, but the more I started looking at the program and seeing myself here, my mind changed."

Though she was a two-sport star at James Madison High School in her hometown of Vienna, Va., Brown always fancied herself a basketball player. And with good reason. Brown was the two-time district player of the year and a first-team all-region selection, finishing her illustrious career with 1,177 points.

Brown took official basketball recruiting visits to William & Mary, Lehigh and Boston University, but had to make a tough decision.

Former Maryland head volleyball coach Janice Kruger showed interest in Brown as a volleyball player after seeing her in volleyball camps and in club ball with the Maryland Juniors.

When decision time came, Brown chose the exciting and new.

"With volleyball, I saw what it could be and how much more I could learn from it," Brown said. "It was exciting to me. The potential and the thought of the unknown in college for four years was appealing. Whereas, with basketball, I was slightly nervous I'd get burnt out over time."

Although Brown said she was leaning toward Maryland by the final years of high school, Kruger remembered it being a tougher sell.

"I remember first seeing her at a volleyball camp and thinking here's this tall, strong, athletic individual and approached her about what she thought her future might entail," Kruger recalled. "She kind of gave me the `Yeah, I'm interested, but not really,' response and I think over time she saw the success we were having and the program we had. In the end, I think that, along with her Maryland ties, are what sold her."

No matter the determining factors in Brown's decision to choose Maryland volleyball, the program and the University have benefited ever since.

Joining a talented team in 2004, fresh off an Atlantic Coast Conference championship a year prior, Brown was told she would redshirt and willingly committed to five years of service to the program.

Brown suffered physical setbacks in 2004, including a broken finger that temporarily delayed her development. However, you wouldn't guess it based on her performance in 2005.

In her first year on the court, Brown made an immediate impact on the court, finishing third on the team with 123 blocks while also surpassing 200 kills as the Terps tied for their third consecutive conference title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

And the blocks have kept on coming the last three seasons. In an October 25 match at Wake Forest this year, Brown moved into sole possession of third place on the program's all-time blocks list.

While the accomplishment is impressive enough on its own merits, it's even more impressive considering the fact that Brown now sits behind only Rachel Wagener and Stephanie Smith, Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, on the blocks list. Brown played with Wagener and Smith as a redshirt freshman in 2005, making Maryland one of only five Division I volleyball programs to have the top three blockers in the history of the school all play together as teammates.

"It definitely makes it that much more special to be right underneath two amazing four-year starting middle blockers that taught me so much in my first two years here," Brown said. "I owe a lot of this to them."

As well-documented and impressive as Brown's athletic achievements are, her academic successes are equally, if not more, praiseworthy.

Brown served as student body president at James Madison and was also a member of the National Math and Spanish Honor Societies.

Since transitioning to college-level coursework, Brown has experienced no drop-off. Brown has twice been named to the ACC's Honor Roll and made the conference's all-academic team last year.

Brown graduated last spring with a degree in marketing and is now pursuing a second undergraduate degree in logistics, transportation and supply-chain management, which she is scheduled to complete this spring.

Although her primary job was to win volleyball matches, Kruger said tracking the academic and professional successes of her former players is one of the most gratifying things about her time in College Park. Brown is no exception.

"I think that not only the success they had in learning the game of volleyball, but to see these young women develop and go into careers and have success academically is something I am so proud of, probably more so than their volleyball accomplishments," she said. "Mary Beth committed to five years here, which is a really big commitment on her part and I think that, academically, she has been a real star for us in what she's accomplished. I really have high expectations from her in what we are going to see from her down the road. I think she could really do something big."

Brown has put herself in good position for post-college life the last two summers, interning for Maryland Sports Marketing and "Washington Post" Newsweek Interactive, respectively.

She couldn't point out a concrete path she wants to take in her career, but Brown plans on gaining additional work experience in the realm of marketing while she finishes her second degree in the spring.

"I want to figure out what angle in marketing I want to take, whether it be on a smaller scale like sports marketing here, or with a bigger company like the `Washington Post.'"

If anyone from Maryland Sports Marketing reads this, they might want to start recruiting now. It certainly paid off for Kruger and Maryland Volleyball when they did the same some five-odd years ago.