BUZZARDS BAY — Talk about a volleyball pedigree.
Melanie Appleman, who guided Barnstable High School to a pair of Division I Massachusetts state championships before embarking on a standout collegiate career at Bridgewater State University, was named Massachusetts Maritime Academy women’s head volleyball coach yesterday. Appleman’s appointment, which is effective immediately, was confirmed by Patricia O’Brien, the Academy’s Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator.
Former Barnstable High and Bridgewater State volleyball standout Melanie Appleman has been named the new women’s volleyball head coach at Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
Photo courtesy of Bridgewater State Athletics
A Hyannis native, Appleman helped lead Barnstable to an overall record of 62-7 during her career, as the Red Raiders captured back-to-back state crowns in 2007 and 2008 while advancing to the Division I South sectional final during her senior campaign in 2009. A three-time Old Colony League all-star as a setter and libero for legendary Head Coach Tom Turco, Appleman took her talents up the Cranberry Highway to Bridgewater State in 2010 and was a four-time all-Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference honoree and three-year team captain for the Bears, guiding her squad to a berth in the conference tournament championship match during her freshman and junior seasons.
“I’m so honored to be coaching at Massachusetts Maritime and to be involved with tremendous student-athletes that have great integrity and work ethic,” Appleman says of her new position. “I look forward to developing a new inspired culture for the volleyball program and to cultivate an enthusiastic environment, one that enables us to strive to get better every day, to set goals and to ultimately achieve them. This is an amazing opportunity and I’m very excited to get started.”
Appleman, who earned her degree in Strategic Communication and Nutrition from Bridgewater State in 2014, was a standout on the lacrosse field as well, earning a pair of all-conference accolades in 2012 and 2013 while leading the Bears to four straight league titles and berths in the NCAA Division III Championships. A select member of Bridgewater State’s Captain’s Council as well as the Bears’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Melanie was inducted into the National College Athlete Honor Society and selected for inclusion in Who’s Who Among College Students in America during her senior year, and she also earned MASCAC All-Academic team honors in volleyball and lacrosse while achieving a 3.86 cumulative grade point average.
“I couldn’t be happier to welcome Melanie to the Buccaneer family,” O’Brien says of Appleman’s appointment. “Her abundant energy and enthusiasm, coupled with her knowledge of her sport and of the Cape community, will serve her well in her new position, and our student-athletes will undoubtedly benefit from everything she brings to our program.”
A certified yoga instructor and strength & conditioning coach, Appleman has served in those roles at the Osterville Fitness and Wellness Center since last November. As a student at Bridgewater State, she was a sports broadcasting and public relations intern for the Cape Cod Baseball League and also developed and implemented a strategic outreach campaign for the Bears’ athletics department.
Appleman takes over for Christine Ratches, who retired from the position after a combined 10 years last fall. Ratches, who was the first all-conference female student-athlete in Massachusetts Maritime history, earned MASCAC Coach of the Year honors in 2005 and was inducted into the Buccaneer Athletic Hall of Fame last year.
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