After four years of outstanding athletic and academic achievements, back-to-back volleyball state championships and being named the 2024-25 Maryland Volleyball Gatorade Player of the Year, Senior Ema Djordjević has been voted the RM Tide Girls Athlete of the Year for 2024-25. She has racked up several awards over her career, including being voted the MCPS Player of the Year for the second year in a row and being a two-time member of the 1st team All-Met Selection by the Washington Post, among countless other accomplishments. This is also her second consecutive year being voted the RM Tide Athlete of the Year.
Djordjević has been playing varsity volleyball at RM for all 4 years in high school and has been a captain for 3 of those years. Her volleyball career started well before this and will continue after her time at RM. Djordjević started playing volleyball around 9 years ago and has played for the MVSA Volleyball Club during that time.Through her success at Richard Montgomery and MVSA and her 4.85 GPA over her high school career, Djordjević has committed to play Division 1 Volleyball at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Volleyball was not the only sport Djordjević played growing up. She experimented with several and was very active as a child, but volleyball stood out. “Volleyball was the first sport I tried where I actually wanted to go to each practice and wasn’t just going because I already committed to something,” Djordjević said in an interview. The other reason that she decided to stick with volleyball is surprising for this decorated athlete. “I also wasn’t very good at it to begin with which I think presented a challenge in a fun way that kept me occupied,” showing the power that passion has in the sports world. “Now playing volleyball is like breathing air…I genuinely experience withdrawal symptoms from not playing it.”
Her stats, while flawless, are not the only reasons why Djordjević was voted Athlete of the Year by the RM community. She led the Rockets to a 24-1 record in her senior season, amounting 287 assists, 247 kills with a .555 kill percentage, a hitting percentage of .461, and 51 digs. Along with these impressive numbers, Senior Corinne Howard says that Djordjević has left “the most profound impact possible on the RM girls volleyball team.” Howard has played volleyball with Djordjević for all four years of high school, and was a co-captain with her for three of those years. “She is the most driven, smart, and competitive player and person that will ever grace that court…She truly embodies what RM Volleyball is and will be for years.”
Her leadership was crucial to the Rocket’s back-to-back state championship wins. As a team captain from her sophomore year on, Djordjević has gotten plenty of leadership experience. “I think being a captain from a younger age allowed me to learn what the most effective leader looks like with different teams and different people.” Djordjević said. Inspired by seniors on the volleyball team her freshman year, Djordjević isn’t afraid to “push someone to work a little harder for a goal we all agreed on,” a quality of an impressive leader.
When Howard was asked to describe Djordjević in one word, she said “Tenacious. She is so strong willed and dedicated to the game of volleyball, her teammates, her friends and family.” Djordjević’s tenacity is a trait that took her far at Richard Montgomery and will take her very far in her collegiate career and beyond.
