The AVCA Two-Year College Success Stories initiative provides an opportunity to shine a light on some great volleyball competitors, and even better people, who are products of the two-year college community. This year we highlight Cinthia Angus, Isabel Martin, and Michelle Glass who all have enjoyed great success both as collegiate athletes and professionally and personally since they graduated from two-year college institutions.

Nominations are accepted annually in the fall, and the stories are reviewed by a selection committee before being released early the following year. This year’s selection committee included: Yvette Ybarra of Glendale College (committee chair),  Jayme Frazier of Linn-Benton Community College, and Kailee May of Weatherford College.

Cinthia Angus

Cinthia came from Sao Paolo, Brazil and she quickly acclimated to our program and team at Salt Lake Community College. School was not easy for Cinthia initially especially with it being her second language but she persevered.

Cinthia was a very accomplished student athlete at Salt Lake Community College and was named Second Team All-American in 2007 and was recruited to finish her academic and athletic career at the University of Utah. Cinthia was a starter for the University of Utah during the 2008 and 2009 seasons, where she and the Utes enjoyed a great run that saw them win the Mountain West Conference in 2008 and advance to the NCAA Sweet 16.

For the 2025 season, Cinthia served as Co-Interim Head Coach for the CSU-Bakersfield women’s volleyball program.  Prior CSUB, she was at Saint Mary’s College of California starting in 2022, where she made significant contributions to both the women’s indoor and women’s beach volleyball programs.  She arrived on the west coast after spending two years at Loyola University of Maryland.  Hired in March of 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program played just six matches in a very abbreviated 2021 spring season before shining in the fall of 2021 with a 17-10 overall record and a 9-7 Patriot League record.  The program’s best conference record since 2013.  Two athletes landed on the All-Patriot League teams, including Libero of the Year award winner Katie Forsythe, who won the award in four consecutive years.

Prior to her time at Loyola, Cinthia was an assistant at Barry University in Miami Shores for four seasons, where she helped the Buccaneers to a pair of NCAA DII Tournaments. She was a two-time nominee for the AVCA Assistant Coach of the Year during those tournament runs, and she coached five All-Americans, and seven All-Conference award winners. Barry University also won four AVCA Team Academic Awards and had a CoSIDA Academic All-American during that stretch.

Previous coaching stops for Cinthia include a head coaching role at Snow College in Utah during the 2015 season, and a stint at East High School as their head volleyball coach.

Also as a fun side note, Cinthia competed on the AVP Next Beach Tour, finishing fifth and ninth in a pair of 2018 beach tournaments.

Cinthia earned a degree in recreation and tourism in 2011 from the University of Utah, and then earned a Master’s in Management with a focus on international business from Durham University in the United Kingdom.

Cinthia embodies effort and energy as it relates to her move to America, her prowess as a student-athlete and her dedication to learning the coaching side of volleyball by putting herself in situations that have grown her and stretched her. She is on a path to becoming a very influential woman and is a beautiful face for overcoming adversity and a great example for young women of all races and nationalities.

Finally, she may be most proud of the fact that she is married to a wonderful husband, Danny Angus and they have one son.

Isabel Martin

Isabel was a tremendous player at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida.

Isabel led the program to a 6th place finish at the 2019 NJCAA DI Women’s Volleyball National Championships in Hutchinson, Kansas. She was named player of the year in the Florida Region and 1st Team All-American, after hitting an amazing .308 with 619 kills and 4.59 kills/set in 41 matches.  Isabel also demonstrated versatility with 44 service aces and 392 digs for the team that finished with a 32-10 record.

She then endured through the covid season, 2020-21, playing in 18 matches. Despite the challenges associated with the pandemic, the team persevered with Isabel hitting .264 with 238 kills and 3.66 kills/set.  She earned DI Florida College System Activities Association Athletics (FCSAA) All-State as well as NJCAA All-Region VIII honors following the 2020-21 season.

In two years at HCC, she played in 59 matches, a total of 200 sets registering 857 kills (4.29 kills/set) with a .295 hitting percentage, and 542 digs (2.17 digs/set).  She posted 27 double-doubles, and notched double figure kills and digs a total of 49 and 27 times, respectively.

After HCC, she chose UNLV.  Playing in eight matches in 2021 and collecting 126 kills.  Isabel took over Mountain West Conference women’s volleyball in 2022 and 2023, earning 2022 Mountain West Player of the Year and 2023 Mountain West Co-Player of the Year.  She was also recognized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American in back-to-back years (2022 and 2023).  In three seasons at UNLV, Isabel played in 71 matches and 258 sets with an astounding 1,075 kills during her time with the Rebels.

From UNLV she transferred back to the Sunshine State where it started at HCC to join SEC power, Florida, to complete her eligibility as a redshirt senior. In her one season in Gainesville she started all 31 matches and played all 117 sets finishing with double digit kills 16 times.  For the 2024 season, Isabel was named to the AVCA’s Division I Player of the Year Award Watch List presented by Nike Volleyball, she earned AVCA All-Southeast Region Honorable Mention, and proved herself as a double threat athletically and academically by earning a spot on the 2024 SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Isabel headed to the professional ranks and in 2025 she competed with the Indy Ignite recording 23 kills in 54 sets before landing with the newly minted Dallas Pulse franchise of Major League Volleyball for the 2026 season.

The Munich, Bavaria, Germany native completed her undergraduate degree from UNLV and earned her Master’s in Sports Management from the University of Florida; graduating in the Fall 2024.

Isabel shows that the NJCAA can be a growth and development stepping stone to the highest levels of competition.

Michelle Glass

Michelle Glass, played for Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington during the 2010 and 2011 seasons under Coach of the Year, Beth Donnelly. The OC Rangers won their conference and qualified for the NWAC Regional Tournament in 2011 where Michelle was nominated as an All-Star pick for the Northwest Region, and voted as OC’s Defensive Player of the Year. As a two-sport athlete for the Rangers in both volleyball and track and field, Michelle became an All-American in the high jump, placing 2nd at the NWAC Regional Championship.

As a transfer from Boise State University to the University of Jamestown in 2013, Michelle followed her passion for volleyball to the next level as a student assistant coach where the Jimmies would win two NSAA Conference Championships and qualify for their first NAIA National tournament in 2014. Glass would also qualify for two NAIA National Championships for track and field in the high jump for three total National Championships her senior year finishing 11th overall during the outdoor season.

From there Michelle had stints as an Assistant Varsity Coach at Borah High School and Head Varsity Coach at Canyon Ridge High School in Idaho before landing a head coaching position at the NJCAA DII level in 2018 at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa. She has helped turn the Blackhawks program around with five 20+ season wins and has qualified for six Regional Tournaments in the ICCAC. The 2023 campaign was their most successful with 24 wins, 4 National leaders, 3.37 fall team GPA, and 3 consecutive weeks of National Votes. She has transferred over 20 student-athletes to the four-year level between NCAA DII, USCAA, and NAIA.  Michelle recently transitioned to the College of Idaho beach volleyball program as an assistant coach.

“Being a student-athlete at the two-year level taught me to be disciplined and committed both in the classroom and in sport,” Michelle said. “I knew it was going to be a step by step process if I wanted the dream of being a coach to come true. My two-year college coach changed my life a decade ago and inspired me to follow that path. I would tell anyone to not just follow their dreams, but to chase them. Any student-athlete can use what they learn in sport to be successful in whatever they so choose and I can only hope that my service at this level impacts our future generation to lead from within.”