Franklin & Marshall College Women's Volleyball

Former volleyball standout Mary Kate Salko '01 returned to Franklin & Marshall College in the fall of 2003 as the 10th head coach in Diplomats' volleyball history and has had a dramatic impact on the program. In 17 seasons, she has amassed 326 victories, passing Steve Coulson, who had 251 wins over a span of 12 seasons, on the programs all-time list with a 3-0 shutout of Scranton on Sept. 7, 2016. Salko is the only Centennial Conference (CC) coach to earn all 300 career wins in the CC era, notching her milestone with a 3-2 victory over Gettysburg on Oct. 10, 2018. Salko has guided the Diplomats to 15 winning seasons in her tenure, including three Centennial Conference (CC) regular-season titles (2012, 2013, 2018) as well as the 2010 and 2014 CC Championship - the fifth and sixth in school history. Following another historic campaign in 2018, Salko was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year for the first time in her career and earned Centennial Coach of the Year for the second time. The Diplomats earned the program's ninth NCAA Tournament berth, ending the season with a 23-8 overall record and a perfect 10-0 mark in Centennial Conference (CC) action.   The Diplomats became the first No. 5 seed to ever win the CC Tournament in 2014, taking down Muhlenberg with a 3-2 win. With a 24-6 overall record in 2013, F&M captured the most victories under the direction of Salko and the highest total since 2002. The Diplomats went undefeated in the Centennial Conference at 10-0 on the way to their second straight regular-season crown. Under Salko, the Diplomats have recorded 20 or more victories eight times and have had six All-Americans come through the program, in 2006 CC Player of the Year Margot Phelan (2006), Nicole Morano (2009), two-time CC Player of the Year Julie Harvey (2011, 2013) Ellie Ezekiel (2014),  2018 CC Player of the Year Grace Maggiore (2018, 2019) and Allison Franke (2018, 2019) Salko was inducted into the F&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013. A three-time All-CC setter (1999, 2000-First Team, 1998-Second Team), she completed her career as the all-time leader in assists (4,062) and is the only player ranked in the top 10 in career kills, digs, service aces, blocks, and assists. A 1998-2000 American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Mid-Atlantic Region Player, she averaged 10.19 assists per game to lead the Diplomats to a school-record 34-6 mark, a perfect 10-0 conference record, the Centennial Conference Tournament title and a "Sweet 16" finish in the NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament as a senior. During her playing career, she led F&M to the 1999 and 2000 Centennial Conference Championships and four consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament appearances while recording a 120-32 record from 1997-2000, the best four-year mark in program history. Co-captain of the Diplomats in 2000, Salko holds school assists records for a game (23, vs. Roberts Wesleyan, 10/27/00), a season (1309 in 1999), a career (4012) a four-game match (63, vs. Pomona-Pitzer, 9/15/00) and a five-game match (75, vs. Grove City, 10/3/98). Her 4012 career assists rank sixth in Centennial Conference history. A native of Wayne, Pa., Salko graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in the spring of 2001 with a degree in Business Administration.

Salko served as the head JV and freshmen men's volleyball coach at Lake Lehman leading the squads to perfect records and spots in the State Championship Tournament. Prior to his appointment at Franklin & Marshall, he served as an assistant coach under Joe Boland at Villa Maria Academy during the 2002 season.