Morgan State head volleyball coach Xiomara Ortiz\u00a0enters her fourth season at the helm of the Lady Bears in 2025. Hired in 2022, Ortiz become the program\u2019s seventh head coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am humbled and excited for the opportunity to lead the Morgan State University volleyball program. I want to thank Richard Epps and the entire search committee for trusting me to lead this program,\u201d said Ortiz. \u201cIn my role as head coach, my goal is to bring a \u201cCompetitor for Life\u201d mentality and attitude to the way student athletes view not only volleyball but their competitiveness in the classroom and in their professional careers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ortiz came to Morgan State after spending a year at Shippensburg University, where she spent the 2021 season as the full-time assistant coach. She began her tenure with the Raiders during the 2021 spring season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are excited to have Coach Xiomara Ortiz lead the Morgan State women\u2019s volleyball program. She brings a commitment to the Student-Athlete Experience, the holistic development of the student-athlete and a commitment to winning in the classroom and the court,\u201d said Morgan State Interim Vice President\/Director of Athletics\/Deputy Athletic Director, Erlease Wagner.<\/p>\n
\u201cMorgan State\u2019s primary focus was to identify someone who shared our commitment to the student-athlete experience, academic excellence, and winning culture,\u201d said Richard Epps, Director of Internal Operations. \u201cCoach Ortiz\u2019s work ethic, character, experience as a player and coach makes her an outstanding fit to lead our women\u2019s volleyball program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to her arrival at Shippensburg, Ortiz spent four seasons as the primary assistant coach at Lehigh University, working for coaches Alexa Keckler (2018-20) and Bob Bertucci (2017), as a defensive and libero coach with the Mountain Hawks.<\/p>\n
Ortiz also served as Lehigh\u2019s recruiting coordinator \u2013 serving as the school\u2019s first contact with prospects and club directors. Her national recruiting efforts resulted in 11 new commits to the Mountain Hawks over a two-year span.<\/p>\n
While at Lehigh, Ortiz emphasized first contact and defensive development. She was active with scouting reports and game preparation, including film breakdown, statistical analysis and video study. Ortiz also conducted the team\u2019s in-practice conditioning efforts.<\/p>\n
Outside of volleyball, Ortiz was involved in conversations with Patriot League coaches to initiate the Patriot League\u2019s Anti-Racism Commission. She was also an advisor to Lehigh\u2019s Student-Athletes of Color (SAOC) leadership group.<\/p>\n
Before heading to Lehigh, Ortiz spent three seasons as the primary assistant coach at Hartwick College. In addition to her coaching duties at Hartwick, Ortiz was the advisor for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and served on institutional and NCAA departmental awards committees.<\/p>\n
Ortiz has been an active club coach, including a stint as a head coach at Club Lehigh Power and Whirlwind Volleyball. She has worked several high-level summer camps and also has served as a camp director for Bob Bertucci Volleyball Camps.<\/p>\n
A native of South Setauket, N.Y., Ortiz had a stellar four-year career as a libero at Binghamton University. She set school records for single-season digs (551) and career digs (1,925) in 116 matches played.<\/p>\n
As a freshman, Ortiz earned America East All-Rookie honors and was named to the All-America East Second Team honors as a sophomore. She was also a three-time member of the America East Honor Roll.<\/p>\n
Ortiz graduated from Binghamton in May 2014 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in anthropological perspectives and received her master\u2019s degree in public administration from Binghamton in December 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3261,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"staff-type":[49],"class_list":["post-3260","staff","type-staff","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","staff-type-hbcu"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bringitusa.com\/ditsalainternationalcup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/staff\/3260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bringitusa.com\/ditsalainternationalcup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/staff"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bringitusa.com\/ditsalainternationalcup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/staff"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bringitusa.com\/ditsalainternationalcup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bringitusa.com\/ditsalainternationalcup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"staff-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bringitusa.com\/ditsalainternationalcup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/staff-type?post=3260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}