| Previous College Sports Played: | Volleyball |
When Maina Heming stepped on the Independence Community College campus for the first time, she was new to the United States and spoke little English. Little did she know that her experience at ICC would change her life forever. Heming went on to be a part of the best two-year stretch in Lady Pirate history as they went 62-21, including a school-best 40-9 mark en route to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament in 2004. She was named the Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division Freshman of the Year in 2003 and was the conference Most Valuable Player in both 2003 and 2004. As a sophomore, she was also named First Team All-Region VI, First Team All-American and was a member of the NJCAA Division II All-National Tournament Team. After completing her two years at ICC, Heming transferred to the University of Central Florida, where she competed in Conference USA for two seasons. She quickly made an impact with the Golden Knights as she started 26 matches as a junior and appeared in 99 games, averaging 3.2 kills per game. Upon completing her playing career, Heming, who is also a certified USA volleyball official, coached at the Orlando Volleyball Academy for two years. That was just the start of her coaching career as she is currently in her first season as an assistant coach at Blinn College in Texas, where she was reunited with former Lady Pirate coach Erin (Brown) Mellinger.