Magruder High School

History of Magruder Volleyball

STATE CHAMPIONS:  2019

State Finalists: 2004, 2009

Regional Champions: 2004, 2008, 2009, 2019, 2021, 2022

Sectional Champions:  2015, 2016

County DIVISION Champions: 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022

Magruder Invitational Champions: 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022

MCPS Sportmanship Award: 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2017

Magruder High School opened in 1971.  At the time very few varsity girls’ sports were offered.  Additionally, the school opened with only 9^thand 10^th grade students, making fielding varsity teams difficult.  As a result Magruder didn't field their first varsity girls volleyball team until 1974.  At the time girls volleyball was a winter sport and the teams played only 8 best of three matches per season.  The coach during this inaugural season was Peggy Taylor.  While extensive research of school sources has yielded no records for this team, a 1974 school newspaper article refers to their season as a “trying year”.  Without a doubt this inagural group of student-athletes faced the challenges of playing a new sport for a relatively new school with little athletic history.  However, they were the trailblazers of what has become one of the stronger programs in Montgomery County. 

Throughout the 1970’s an 8 game schedule was the standard schedule.  All matches were best of three.  School records from this era are irregular at best with most results that have been found coming from old school newspapers and yearbooks.  Unfortunately if school records for athletic teams were kept they are not available at Magruder.  School yearbooks didn’t consistently post overall team records until the 1979 season.  All other records, partial or otherwise were found using old school newspapers.  1979 was the season Magruder began playing an 11 game schedule.  Later the sport was moved to the fall and a 14 game regular season schedule along with a tournament became the standard. 

The early girls teams also experienced coaching changes with great frequency. Peggy Taylor coached from 1974-1975 and in 1976 future Magruder Hall of Fame Athletic Director Rick Grimsley took over the team for one season.  In 1977 Chuck Bollweg became the varsity coach and served in that role through the 1980 season.   

 The 1981 season saw Paul Hassler begin the first of his two stints as a varsity coach at Magruder and also was the only season Magruder played their home games at  Redland Middle School .  The team posted a 4-7 record.  In 1982 Coach Hassler’s team posted the best record in school history to that point in time with a 7-7 season and made the regional playoffs for the 1^st time in school history. Coach Hassler continued as the varsity coach through the 1988 season (by this time the sport had been moved to the fall and a state tournament had begun). 

In 1989 Veronica McCall took over as the varsity coach.  Ms. McCall also coached the successful coed and boys volleyball teams.  Ms. McCall served as the girls coach for several years until Paul Hassler returned.  The highpoint of this time period was the 1995 season where Magruder posted a 9-7 overall record and advanced to the regional semifinals for the first time in school history.  At the end of the season Coach Hassler retired from coaching volleyball. 

For the 1996 season Scott Zanni was hired away from Einstein High School where he had been the girls varsity coach for 3 seasons posting a 25-20 record.  The first season was challening in many different ways, but this group of players set the building blocks for future seasons and success. The 1996 season started slowly with both the players and Coach Zanni getting used to each other. However, in the second half of the season, the team rallied to win four of their last 6 regular season matches. 

 Since that time Magruder has never had a losing season (26 consecutive seasons) and has posted 24 straight winning seasons.  That is the longest current streak for all sports at Magruder High School and the longest streak in MCPS volleyball.   Magruder is one of the strongest volleyball programs in  Montgomery County and the Washington DC area.  Magruder has consistently been ranked by various media outlets among the top teams in Montgomery County.   Since 2001 Magruder has won 14 county titles, 14 Magruder Invitational Championships, 6 regional titles, two sectional titles and the 2019 3A State Championship.  The 2019 team posted a perfect 25-0 season, losing only 5 sets all season.  They finished ranked #4 in the DC area.  The 2004 team posted a 22-3 record, winning the 4A West region and advancing to the first state final in school history. The 2009 team posted a 24-1 record (a school record at the time) and also advanced to the state finals.   Since 1996 over 40  players have received first, second or honorable mention all-county honors and 38 players have moved on to play at the collegiate level, while several others have played club volleyball for their college.