Dear UMBC Community,

On this Monday, I am feeling especially proud of our volleyball team and grateful to the entire UMBC community for supporting our student athletes.

The team's season came to an end on Friday night with a loss to Pitt in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was a terrific season for volleyball, which captured the America East Championship in late November. Winning has become a habit: the team has won the conference championship five out of the last six years! That is an astonishing accomplishment for any team, in any sport. My congratulations go out to the coaches and the team, and their families.

Winning, of course, is just one definition of success. UMBC really means it when we say "student athlete," and athletes come here because this is a place where they know sports matter, but academics come first. They also know—and I see it every day—that our faculty and staff are helping them succeed in the classroom and on the court. No athlete wins on their own. It takes teamwork in the largest sense, and that is what we have here at UMBC.

Sincerely,

President Valerie Sheares Ashby