Maike Bertens and Mikalah Curran, two outside hitters honored by the MAAC, during their suc- cessful win against Marist this past season.
GOJASPERS/COURTESY
By Mary Haley, Asst. Social Media Editor
Following their fall 2023 season, Mauro Miletic, head coach of the Manhattan College women’s volleyball team, and two of the team’s outside hitters Mikalah Curran and Maike Bertens were recognized for their success by the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) on Nov. 16. Miletic received the honor of MAAC head coach of the year, Curran was named MAAC rookie of the year, and Bertens was honored by the all-MAAC second team.
The process of selection of honorees of these titles from the MAAC starts with a selection by the individual college or university in the conference, where sports administration submits player and game statistics, and the reason why an individual deserves recognition. These selections are then sent to the MAAC with selections from other schools. Once they are sent, players and coaches are voted on by MAAC officials for their titles.
Curran explained to The Quadrangle how Miletic’s support brought him this title and what pre-game rituals he set in place to prepare the players for games during the season. Miletic and their fellow coaches prided their season on communication between them and the players.
“At the beginning of the season, we always had a team meeting and then individual meetings [where we would] write down our goals and what we need from the coaches and what the coaches need from us,” Curran said. “At the end of the year, everyone had an individual meeting just to close out the season and talk about the good things and the things we need to improve on.”
As for Curran herself, being named MAAC rookie of the year was very exciting and felt like a warm welcome into the Manhattan community. According to maacsports.com, Curran had a spectacular season, being recognized by the MAAC twice before this past fall.
“Curran finished her first season in Riverdale with 276 kills, 28 service aces, and 18 blocks for a total of 314.0 points. Her total kills ranked sixth on the MAAC charts while her total points were the fifth-most among league scorers,” according to maacsports.com.
Although Curran has seen much personal success this past season with three recognitions from the MAAC, she attributes a lot of her success to her team and the group effort they put in. She believes that these honors from the MAAC for her and her teammates and coach reinforce a sense of confidence throughout the team and make them enthusiastic about their future seasons.
“I think motivation comes from within yourself and the people around you, and you can give [motivation] to other people,” Curran said. “There’s just an energy that we bounce off of, and it makes you want to be better and want to win and I think it’s really cool, and we have a lot of that [energy].”
Bertens is a junior transfer student from Santiago, Chile, and spoke with The Quadrangle on what being honored by the MAAC means to her in these new environments.
“Personally, it helps me a little bit to be like ‘ok, I’m doing good,’” Bertens said. “Sometimes I just forget where I am and what I’m capable of doing because obviously, I am never going to be 100% in my comfort zone, since first of all, this is not even my first language. It’s like [sitting myself down] to be like ‘You deserve this, you have worked so hard for this since you were a kid.’ It’s about seeing that all the stressful moments were worth it.”
Since starting her volleyball career at 13 years old, Bertens has worked extremely hard to get to this point and bring success to her team’s games. She is grateful to Manhattan’s volleyball program for giving her a chance to be recognized along with her coach and her fellow teammates.
Bertens has very high hopes for the upcoming months with her team and performing in her final season at Manhattan next fall.
“I know we’re done and we didn’t finish as we wanted,” Bertens said. “Obviously [the MAAC honor] is going to motivate me, but I think it’s going to motivate my teammates as well… to come up strong in the spring and perform in the fall.”