Delmarva Christian volleyball prepares for 2025 season under new head coach
GEORGETOWN, Del. – Fall 2025 marks the start of a new era for Delmarva Christian volleyball with the program’s first season under new Head Coach Kelly Duffy.
Duffy played high school volleyball at Padua Academy before moving on to compete at the college level with Shenandoah University, then beginning her coaching career in 2007 after graduating.
She takes over a program that has finished 9-8 in consecutive years with 2nd round exits in the state tournament. In 2022 the Royals made a run to the state semifinals, and they’ve traditionally been a volleyball powerhouse in the ESIAC.
After six players graduated from the program last year, Coach Duffy now leads a young team with only three seniors on the roster.
Excited for the chance to lead the Royals, Duffy said, “I’m super fortunate to step into a long history of successful volleyball programs here. I get the opportunity to work with a great group of kids, that’s the most exciting part of this.”
With more than two weeks until their September 8th season opener at Cape, Duffy said, “We’re looking to be defensively strong. I don’t think we’re ever going to be the biggest team in the state by any means, but, we can definitely improve on our defense, and just building chemistry among teammates so that our offense is more smooth and our transitions are smoother.”
“We have some great athletes here who are dedicated to their sport, and they work year-round on their skills. So just putting all of their skills together and making sure they complement each other well,” Duffy said.
One of the few seniors on the team, defensive specialist Riley Barto talked about the process of the new group gelling, saying, “We definitely have a lot of younger girls coming in, but they have good experience, you know, some of them have played for club teams and then we have the returning players. So we’re all starting now–pre-season is just a time for us to all get chemistry together, you know, learn our strengths and weaknesses and then help grow those strengths.”
“We’re all kind of just like relying on each other right now. Counting on our defense and then our setters and our hitters. But right now, definitely the setter-to-hitter connection is what is being formed,” Barto said of the team’s progress.
