With Maliyah you have to really be impressed with the way she plays when she suits up for club ball. She attends high school at Maryland School of the Deaf, so I will assume that she is hearing impaired. I’ve played and coached players who are hearing impaired and it is not easy when they play with those who are not. They have to work twice as hard to succeed because those that hear sometimes forget that her hearing is impaired.

When watching her play left side for Liberty she put some heat on the ball. Despite her 5’9″ height she still puts the ball down hard to the floor. When you are hearing impaired being undersized is the least of your problems.

For the Maryland School of the Deaf she averaged 5.4 kills per set with a hitting percentage of .335. Her 534 kills were tops in the state of Maryland, exceeding that of Caydence Doolan. When I first say that stat my first reaction was that “she plays for Maryland School of the Deaf. What could her competition be.” When you watch her play she is legit. A solid six rotation player.

Maliyah debuted at number 148 in our rankings. Now that she is on the radar I can only see that movement going up.