(RMC Athletics release)
BILLINGS – Rocky Mountain College volleyball head coach Laurie Kelly has announced the signing of student-athletes Maranda Koch and Miranda Gallagher to a National Letter-of-Intent to become part of the Rocky Mountain Volleyball program for the 2018 season.
Koch is a 5-foot-10 outside hitter from Kaycee, Wyo. As a senior in high school, she averaged 22 digs, three blocks and 16 kills as she led the Lady Bucs to the state championship match. She was named all-conference and all-state two years in a row and was named 1A Northeast Conference Player of the Year. During her freshman season at Sheridan College, Koch tallied 197 kills at 2.07 kills per set, 67 digs and 15 blocks to help Sheridan finish 4th in the conference. Her sophomore year she recorded 213 kills at 2.03 kills per set, 88 digs and 35 blocks helping Sheridan College to finish runner-up in Region IX. Koch earned academic all-region team in both seasons. Last season she was named third team Academic All-American.
Gallagher is a 6-foot middle hitter from Spearfish, S.D. where she attended Lead-Deadwood High School. In high school, Gallagher totaled over 1,000 career kills and earned all-conference and all-state honors. She was a finalist for South Dakota’s volleyball Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior. During her freshman season at Sheridan, Gallagher tallied 197 kills, 67 digs and 92 blocks. She was awarded all-conference and academic all-region honors. As a sophomore at Sheridan, she recorded 183 kills, 128 digs, 114 blocks at 0.90 blocks per set. She was named to the all-conference and all-tournament team.
“Miranda and Maranda will add some experience to this already excellent team from last season. They come from a competitive program at Sheridan with excellent coaching. They are both suburb student athletes studying pre-med and Biology,” commented Kelly.
Rocky is coming off a 23-11 season and the finished the year with a No. 23 national ranking. The Battlin’ Bears will return a number of seasoned players that played key roles with the team last season.
