Duru Gökçen's Global Journey

Seven time zones from College Park, Duru Gökçen grew up playing a sport that was about to boom in national popularity. 

Maryland’s middle blocker is Turkish, one of two international Terps on the 2025 volleyball roster. Gökçen was ahead of the times, competing in a sport that would only truly become popular in Turkey after the national teams found a string of recent success, not unlike the triumphs Gökçen’s finding herself. 

She was named UMBC Tournament MVP after a 3-0 weekend in Baltimore, but with it came a Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week accolade that meant so much more to her. One that meant her gamble on herself and her complicated path paid off.

Her journey started years ago in a country not yet known for volleyball prowess.  

“When I first started playing volleyball, it was not so popular,” Gökçen said, who’s name is pronounced Doo-roo Go-ck-chen. “Not a lot of kids were playing. When the national team matches were going on, nobody really knew the players’ names. It usually wasn’t even on national TV.”

But then things changed on a national scale. Aside from the three junior championships Gökçen won — U14, U18 and U20 championships with Fenerbahce Sports Club — the national team started to win European championships, catching the eye of Turkey and sparking a dream in Gökçen.

“It was great to watch them,” she said. “It let me place goals for myself to be there one day.”

But she’d have to place a major wager on herself in order to get there. She’d have to move halfway across the world to a foreign country to compete at the collegiate level. 

“I always knew I wanted to come to the United States because in Europe, you don’t really have the chance to play volleyball and go to college without major sacrifice,” Gökçen said. “I always knew I wanted to come here because I always had good academics, so I wanted to keep playing volleyball, but also have a degree from a good university.”

She researched the best ways to go to college in the United States while being able to continue to play. She looked up what the best volleyball conference was, found the Big Ten, and bet on herself. 

“I wanted to be in a good conference, but I also wanted to play, so after talking to the coaches here, it looked like a great opportunity,” Gökçen said. 

That opportunity would require support and a team to take a chance on an international star. Maryland came knocking. 

“I remember the call,” head coach Adam Hughes said. “I think it was like a real late night for her. We finally found out we could have the scholarship opportunity, and called her, and she was in tears. It was just a cool moment to see someone who was so appreciative and excited.”

Prior to the 2024-2025 academic year, she flew nearly 12 hours to College Park to start her career as a terp. Aside from the typical challenges freshman student-athletes face in moving and finding a balance between athletics and academics, Gökçen had to adjust to a new culture and surroundings. 

“In high school, I was always a student who worked so hard for school and volleyball,” Gökçen said. “I had so many friends that didn’t care as much about academics, but I was always focused on both. When I came here, I didn’t struggle too much with keeping up with the classes and volleyball, but the language was sometimes a barrier.”

She leaned on her new teammates and a Maryland support staff that’s praised by student-athletes of many different backgrounds. 

“My teammates all helped me a lot,” she said. “The academic staff here helped me a lot. Whatever problems I had, they were there to fix. I never felt alone and I never felt like I didn’t have a support system.”

She moved to the United States with a scholarship and a dream, honed on earning Big Ten success and making her nation proud. Her new Terp family — as it always does — welcomed her with open arms. 

“I would have never thought that I would adapt this easily,” Gökçen said. “I don’t think it’s because of how I am; it was because of how my teammates were. The first week I came here, everyone was helping me a lot with moving, meeting new people, and getting used to the practices. I was shocked. My parents were shocked when I told them how great everyone was treating me here.”

Her freshman year, perhaps, wasn’t what she expected it to be. She appeared in just three sets in two matches, recording six total kills and two blocks. Still, she did enough in practice to make it evident that she’d be a major piece of the next rendition of Terrapin volleyball.

“Last year, we knew that we were returning an All-Conference player at middle — along with Eva Rohrbach, who's played for us for two years — and so we told Gökçen there'd be a learning curve, but it would give her an opportunity to kind of grow within the program,” Hughes said.

She jumped at the chance to improve and establish herself as a major contributor to Hughes’ program. 

“We have the ability to re-watch all of our practices, and even though she wasn't playing a lot of matches last season, she had the ability to tag us as coaches on practice clips to ask for feedback,” Hughes said. “So even though she probably didn't see herself playing a contributing role last year, we knew that she was taking her own personal growth very, very seriously and that showed her commitment behind the scenes.”

Just like her bet on herself to come to the United States, her offseason work paid off immensely. She’s been at the forefront of Maryland’s success so far in 2025. She’s tallied 55 kills through nine matches — a personal-best 12 of them coming in a win at Coppin State — and 54 blocks, consistently leading the Terps match after match. 

“I was working a lot to earn my chance to play this year, doing extra reps and stuff,” she said. “I really thank Hughes and Kyle Thompson, and all of the staff for giving me the chance to play and letting me prove myself. It feels amazing. I don’t even know how to describe it.”

Winning an accolade in the conference she found and was so determined to compete in was a personal milestone that reminded her she can accomplish the success shehad  traveled so far to achieve. 

“It felt great,” Gökçen said. “I couldn’t even believe it at first. Tournament MVP was cool, but my name coming up with the Big Ten just felt amazing. Last year, I never would have thought that would happen for this season, especially in one of the first weeks.”

But, understandably, celebrating the award with those important to her poses a challenge. College Park sits seven or eight (depending on the time of year) time zones away from her family and friends back home. 

“I usually can’t talk or call any of my friends or my parents after practices,” Gökçen said. “I can’t usually find the time during the day, either, because I wake up, go to classes, go to meetings, lift and go to practice. I actually have time after practice, but they’re not awake then. That’s sometimes hard, but it’s okay.”

It’s a reminder both of where she comes from and who she’s playing. A bittersweet nudge that her support, while distant, is strong enough to span the Atlantic Ocean.

With each passing performance — each seeming to surpass its predecessor — she’s gaining confidence, rhythm and, of course, recognition.

“I play better when I feel confident,” Gökçen said. “In the first week, I was really nervous, so I wasn’t feeling so confident. But as I kept playing, I saw that I can do some things a lot better than last year and that my teammates and coaches trust me. That made me feel more confident and play better.”

She’s becoming a leader in her own sense, one that can push and propel and elevate Maryland volleyball along its rise. 

“Duru is someone who is incredibly driven,” Hughes said. “She’s very humble. She’s almost stoic in nature. Our teammates talk a lot about how much of a presence she is, just by being so consistent. She's not the most vocal student-athlete by any means, but her work rate is consistent. I just can't describe her. She's just a unique and great representation of our program.”

As the Terps approach Big Ten play, Gökçen gets closer to more opportunities to make her name known in a dominant conference whose prowess can be found continents away.