SALISBURY, Md. – Five members of the Salisbury University volleyball team were selected for the
2026 All-Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) Teams, including two players who were each picked for the fourth time, as revealed by the league office on Thursday afternoon.
Setter
Julie Altieri and right-side hitter
Kiley McTaggart landed on the All-C2C First Team, making history as the first Sea Gulls in a decade to ever make four consecutive all-conference teams. Joining them on the First Team was libero
Sophia Blaufuss, while outside hitter
Elizabeth Gordon and middle blocker
Sophia Tapia were christened Second-Team All-C2C.
Altieri (Sr. – Hillsborough, N.C.) is a First-Teamer for the third time in her career (2024-25) after making the Second Team as a freshman (2023). Once again the league's best distributor, she leads the C2C with 635 assists (9.20 A/S) along with 200 digs (2.90 D/S), 49 kills, 19 blocks, and 19 service aces. Altieri is one of four SU setters all-time with over three thousand career assists (3,427) and one thousand digs (1,037) and has added 10 double-doubles to her career total of 59.
McTaggart (Sr. – North Wales, Pa.) joins Altieri as a First-Team three-timer to go along with a freshman year Second-Team nod. She leads the team and ranks top-four in the conference in kills (242) and kills per set (3.36) while notching 145 digs (2.01 D/S), 51 blocks (14 solo), and 22 aces. McTaggart, who earned her seventh career C2C Offensive Player of the Week award at the beginning of the year, set a new career high with 25 kills in a Sept. 12 road upset of then-No. 21 Tufts and currently ranks ninth in Salisbury history with 1,175 kills.
Altieri and McTaggart join
Kara Kowalski (1998-2001),
Chelsea Glowacki (2009-12), and
Katie Stouffer (2013-16) as the only Sea Gulls to ever earn all-conference laurels in all four of their seasons and are SU's first-ever four-time all-league teammates.
Blaufuss (Jr. – Frisco, Texas) took over the libero jersey midseason and racked up top-three conference numbers in digs (361) and digs per set (4.25), plus 75 assists (0.88) and 19 aces. A three-time C2C Defensive Player of the Week, she eclipsed 20 digs in a match four times on the year, including a career-high 30 digs on Oct. 17 at Rowan.
Gordon (Fr. – Nokesville, Va.) emerged as the breakout star of the Gulls' freshman class, hammering down 140 kills (1.65 K/S) at a league-best .347 swing rate with 51 blocks (14 solo), 21 digs, and eight aces. She won back-to-back C2C Offensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 5 and Oct. 12, putting up 40 digs at a .667 efficiency over the four matches that earned her the prizes.
Tapia (Jr. – Tenafly, N.J.) becomes a back-to-back All-C2C Second-Teamer after building on her reputation as one of the conference's true brick walls. She paces the league in total blocks (83, 27 solo) and blocks per set (0.98) while also recording 170 kills (2.00 K/S) at a .332 clip, 50 digs, 24 aces, and 15 assists. Tapia has put up five or more blocks 10 times this season and has hit over .400 on 11 occasions.
Salisbury rode its five All-C2C laureates to another strong regular season, going 15-9 and locking down the second seed for this weekend's C2C Tournament in Fredericksburg, Va. The Sea Gulls will battle third-seeded UC Santa Cruz in the semifinal round on Friday at 1:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship match.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming), Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse), State University of New York Athletic Conference (field hockey), and Colonial Women's Golf Conference (women's golf). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have won a combined 23 team national championships, 26 individual national championships, and 213 conference championships, and have produced 54 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
