A high school volleyball court measures 60 feet long by 30 feet wide whether you’re in South Carolina or Massachusetts. Amherst senior Amalia Martin sought its familiar confines when the foundations of her life shifted.

The University of South Carolina fired her father, Frank Martin, after 10 seasons as its men’s basketball coach in mid-March.

“There was always like, are we moving? Are we staying? What’s going to happen?” she recalled.

UMass hired Frank Martin on March 25. His wife Anya Martin scrambled. Which of her closest girlfriends would take her in for the year? Or maybe they just get an apartment in Amherst and she stays in Columbia, S.C. with the kids?

Amalia initially wanted out.

“She’s the only girl and close to her dad,” Anya said. “‘They hurt my daddy, I’m ready to go. I want to get out of here. Let’s go where dad’s appreciated.’ Those were her initial thoughts. It kind of blew us away.”

As the months passed, the reality coalesced for Amalia. She was leaving the home she knew best — academic accomplishments, extracurricular and a sterling athletic career, losing friends, losing everything she knew. 

“Knowing where I was going to be next year wasn’t where I have been was upsetting for me, but knowing for sure gave me a little bit of stability going forward,” Amalia said.

The Martins relocated in August. Amalia had visited Amherst when her mother, a decorated track and field athlete at UMass in the late ’90s, donated a locker room for the women’s track and field program. Her parents regularly praised UMass and talked about how great it was. But Amalia wasn’t going to be attending UMass.

“What was the high school like? What were sports like? How would I fit in as a teenager in Amherst?” Amalia wondered. “I didn’t really know much about it.”

Her parents contacted members of Amherst’s administration to get in touch with volleyball coach Kacey Schmitt. She met the family and connected Amalia with some of her future teammates. Within a week of the moving trucks pulling away from their new Amherst home, Amalia was on the court with the Hurricanes for the PV Juniors summer league finale.

“Volleyball is No. 1 in my heart,” Amalia said.

The Hurricanes accepted her quickly. She walked into tryouts “like a member of the team already,” Schmitt said.

“It was amazing how upbeat and positive she was and how she had made some connections already,” Schmitt said.

Volleyball gave her a constant in a life that changed so much. It became a lifeline for her parents. Even when Amalia didn’t want to talk about them, she would talk about volleyball.

“At last now she doesn’t feel like she’s drowning,” Anya said. “Volleyball in Amherst and her team and her coach, it saved her.”

Amalia didn’t need an adjustment period on the court. She slid into the Hurricanes lineup as a second setter and one of their best hitters. The Daily Hampshire Gazette Girls Volleyball Player of the Year was the only Western Massachusetts athlete named to the Massachusetts Volleyball Coaches Association Division 2 All-State team. She led the area with 303 kills and contributed 242 assists, 166 digs, 93 aces and 35 blocks.

“She’s quick, she’s powerful, and yet she’s controlled. Obviously she has played a lot of volleyball to where her skill set is really good. One thing I admired about her skill is her ability to see the court,” Schmitt said. “She has so many kills pushing the ball to the back corner or dumping it at the right time, knowing where the other team was and not feeling like she had to always power the ball and could finesse it putting it right where they aren’t.”

Amalia relished playing in front of packed student sections at Amherst and raucous environments on the road. There were volleyball powerhouses in South Carolina, but she didn’t attend any of them.

“It put things in perspective for me. South Carolina has talent in volleyball, and Western Mass. has a lot of talent,” she said. “Being able to play some of the most intense, all around best games I’ve ever played really made me feel like I could not just be here but really exist and transfer who I am from South Carolina to Massachusetts.”

The Hurricanes’ mid-October trip to South Deerfield galvanized both Amalia and the team. They fell to Frontier Regional in five sets but gave the eventual Division 5 state champions all they could handle in a rowdy Goodnow Gymnasium.

“The rest of the season was so fiery, so fierce, that game gave our team an identity and gave me an identity,” Amalia said. “Having that Frontier game lit a fire under us.”

The Hurricanes ripped through the Western Mass. Class A tournament and claimed their first championship since 2016. Amalia didn’t fully appreciate the revenge factor beating Longmeadow after last year’s finals loss, but she was glad to be able to excel in front of her family. Both Anya and Frank attended as many matches as they could. It’s part of why he wanted to live in Amherst and for their two high school-aged children to attend Amherst Regional, so their games would be a short drive away once he left practice.

“Everyone hears my mom because my mom is the No. 1 supporter at all times and I love that about her,” Amalia said. “Even though my dad may be quiet, he just enjoys watching me play. For me to give him that enjoyment makes my heart feel so warm.”

Amherst reached the MIAA Division 2 Round of 16 and fell against Duxbury. Schmitt pulled Amalia aside after the season-ending defeat.

“I told her after the loss to Duxbury that her and her family were a blessing to the team,” Schmitt said. “I really wish I’d had more time to coach her.”

The blessings flowed both ways.

FIRST TEAM ALL-STARS

Jillian Apanell, senior, Frontier

Maggie Barr, senior, Easthampton

Jaycee Beaulieu, senior, Smith Vocational

Liza Beigel, junior, Amherst

Rhina Cortez Rodriguez, senior, Holyoke

Caroline Deane, junior, Frontier

Eve Dougan, senior, Frontier

Kaylie Downie, junior, Easthampton

Erin Gauthier, senior, Holyoke

Lauren Joy, junior, Amherst

Amalia Martin, senior, Amherst

Vivian Ross, sophomore, Belchertown

Sydney Scanlon, senior, Frontier

Ava Shea, junior, Belchertown

SECOND TEAM ALL-STARS

Samantha Baker, senior, Frontier

Audrey Bowen, senior, Amherst

Katie Collins, sophomore, Belchertown

Kaelin Damon, junior, Easthampton

Brooke Davis, senior, Frontier

Heidymar Diaz Lopez, freshman, Smith Vocational

Jaylen Kulas, sophomore, Smith Vocational

Raquel Losty, sophomore, South Hadley

Annabel Ogden, junior, Amherst

Gissel Santos Ruiz, senior, Holyoke

Erin Teague, junior, Easthampton

Michelle Zaluga, senior, Belchertown

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