Former Northside volleyball standout Dynasty Andrews playing at the Division I level

Dynasty Andrews was ready to put her playing career in volleyball behind her and transition right into coaching the sport. However, the chance to play one more season of volleyball – and at the Division I level at that – was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

So Andrews – who played her high school volleyball at Northside – will be suiting up one final time, as a graduate student for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore program. It continues an odyssey where she played at the junior college level (Odessa College in Texas) and the Division II level (Bluefield State University in West Virginia).

Andrews had one more season of eligibility due to getting a medical redshirt during her junior year at Bluefield State, missing most of that season with a variety of injuries.

“I decided to commit to UMES for several reasons, with the most important thing being to further my education,” Andrews said. “My decision to go to UMES is a reflection of the coaches and their genuineness.”

Following her senior season at Bluefield State, Andrews had just taken a job as an assistant coach in the junior college ranks at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. She was already into the mindset of moving on from playing to coaching. But two weeks into her new job, Andrews got a call out of the blue from UMES. The coaches there remembered her when Andrews was playing at Odessa College.

“I was honestly taken aback for many reasons,” Andrews said. “First, I had completely evolved into the coaching mindset that actively being in the transfer portal was something I had lost sight of and was reminded of upon that encounter. Second, UMES reached out to me during my time at Odessa College and I am unsure of what caused me to lose sight of them in that time but the contact was lost, so for them to follow up a second time after some years had passed led me to truly believe that the encounter this time was meant to be. The rest is history.”

As a senior last season for Bluefield State, Andrews, a 5-foot-11 middle blocker and right-side hitter, recorded 129 kills, 10 coming in her final match. She also had 58 digs and 25 blocks. But it was an important season for Andrews in coming back from her injury-ravaged junior year.

“After extensive training and figuring out ways to stay as healthy as possible, I was ready to compete for my senior year, giving everything for my team, not knowing if my medical redshirt would come to use or not moving forward,” Andrews said. “My senior season at BSU was also a year of growth and development for me as an individual player and for the betterment of my team. I led as one of the team captains, showing up every day ready to work and work towards our goals of winning conference titles and making our way to the national tournament. We were a couple of wins shy of each of those goals, but we made statements for our school’s program that will leave a lasting impression on those after me.”

Following graduation from Northside, Andrews spent her freshman and sophomore seasons at Odessa College. Andrews transferred to Bluefield State in the spring of 2024, having come off extensive knee surgery following her sophomore year at Odessa.

“I spent most of my time doing rehab and learning the new culture of this institution,” she said. “The season came, and I missed the first preseason tournament or so due to medical reasons and eventually got to play in our home tournament, ‘The Big Blue Classic,’ where I earned All-Tournament Team, having what felt like a good start to my collegiate career at the Division II level.

“After a couple of games played during this preseason, my junior year of playing volleyball came to a halt as I endured a lot of different medical adversities that eventually led me to make the difficult choice to medically redshirt, allowing me to obtain eligibility for another potential season.”

And that eventually led to Andrews using that one final season to play at the Division I level. UMES is a HBCU (Historically Black College or University) that competes in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

“Because two coaches believed in me and my playing abilities to lead their program as a veteran player, they also emphasized how important my education is to them, as it is to me,” Andrews said. “They wanted me to have a career at the end of all this and showed that although I would be a great asset to their team, they also want me to be successful in my career and believe that through their guidance, care and love, I’ll be able to achieve such success even after volleyball is over.”