As Steve Aird took over Maryland’s volleyball program in the early months of 2014, the first step in building the Terrapins into a Big Ten contender was always going to be the most challenging.

How does a program that barely registered as a threat in the ACC --- anything but a volleyball powerhouse --- become a contender in the country’s deepest conference? That answer was easy: Talent. But getting that talent was the tricky part, and the first step was merely getting players to visit.

Aird knew his first full recruiting class, a group of six athletes who will debut Friday when the Terrapins meet Eastern Michigan in the Maryland Invite as part of a three-game opening weekend, would be crucial to laying a foundation. And as a former assistant for national power Penn State, he’d already had early conversations with high-profile members of the class of 2016.

NELL DRUMMEY

MEGAN McTIGUE

GIA MILANA

KATIE MYERS

AYLIN SARAN

TAYLOR SMITH

"We all share the same mentality and I could see they were good people and that was something I thought stood out compared to other schools I was looking at."

- Nell Drummey

"[Coach Aird] wants to be something big and build a program and that’s what I want to do, too."

- Katie Myers

“Steve and the coaching staff did such a great job not only trying to get good athletes, but also great people.”

- Megan McTigue

“I really believe that in the next couple years, this will be one of the best teams and I’m so happy to be part of such a program.”

- Aylin Saran

"It was like everyone does this, you practice and you do this and you’re a number in the program. I wanted to build something more than myself as an athlete. I wanted to make history. I wanted to help this program go out into the world and make a name for themselves. I wanted to be part of building something big, and I know it’s going to be built because I know Steve will not stop until it is."

- Gia Milana

"[Coach Aird] was just so good at communicating his vision and being able to express just how badly he wants this and how badly everyone around here wants this for the volleyball program. That was really exciting."

- Taylor Smith

The heavy lifting starts with building awareness. Considering Maryland’s last NCAA tournament appearance came in 2005 and the program’s recruiting focus shifted after Aird’s hire toward the Midwest --- volleyball hotbeds conveniently located in the heart of Big Ten territory --- awareness was the first priority.

“I’d never heard of it before,” freshman setter Taylor Smith said. “Coach Aird saw me at a tournament and he called me and said ‘This is what’s actually happening at Maryland.’ He was just so good at communicating his vision and being able to express just how badly he wants this and how badly everyone around here wants this for the volleyball program. That was really exciting.”

Smith would become Aird’s first class of 2016 commitment, but not the last.

Katie Myers, an Ohio product, committed after her sophomore year. She hadn’t thought about Maryland early in her recruitment, but its Big Ten affiliation prodded her to give it a look. She loved the campus visit, which was a stark contrast to what she’d experienced elsewhere.

“Every school I visited was the same,” Myers said. “They were like ‘OK, these are our goals every year,’ but here he wants to be something big and build a program and that’s what I want to do, too. … [Aird] was real with me, too. He kind of took a chance on me. The other schools that I was looking at were like ‘OK, we’ll think about it.’ Steve said ‘We want you.’”

Before long, the growing class itself became part of the pitch. And that wasn’t just because of the future Terps’ athletic abilities.

“Obviously, going to the camp I could see the talent he’s bringing in but more than just the talent, I liked the type of people he was bringing in,” freshman Nell Drummey said. “We all share the same mentality and I could see they were good people and that was something I thought stood out compared to other schools I was looking at.”

Megan McTigue, Drummey’s high school teammate at WCAC power Academy of the Holy Cross, grew up as a Maryland fan and was as familiar with the program as anyone in the recruiting class. And while she was ecstatic to end up as a Terp, she’s found her new teammates to be the most appealing part of her early experiences in College Park.

“Steve and the coaching staff did such a great job not only trying to get good athletes, but also great people,” McTigue said. “When we’re out there grinding, we’re getting better but also growing as human beings. When you surround yourself with good people, you’re going to become a better person yourself.”

Also part of the class is outside hitter Aylin Saran, who was born in the United States, grew up in Turkey and the Czech Republic, lived in California during her sophomore year of high school and then spent the two years back home in Prague.

She always wanted to pursue an undergraduate degree in the U.S. like her father did, and found great appeal in the direction of Maryland’s program.

“I really believe that in the next couple years, this will be one of the best teams and I’m so happy to be part of such a program,” Saran said.

So is Milana, the Gatorade Player of the Year in Michigan who is the first Under Armour first team All-American to ever choose Maryland.

Milana wasn’t the first recruit in her class, but her presence in the program provides a major building block and selling point for other recruits.

“She was unique because she had offers from all of the top schools in the country,” Aird said. “She was on everyone’s board. She was a kid we knew would be able to play in this conference and compete at the highest level right away.”

He still had to sell Milana, who had grown weary of the crammed, repetitive visits to schools as part of the recruiting process. She got the same questions over and over elsewhere, with nearly identical sales pitches: It’s a good program. Lots of people come to games. The school is top-notch.

She almost canceled her initial trip to College Park upon seeing a seven-hour itinerary. But she acquiesced when her mother insisted “If you don’t go, you’ll regret it.”

At Maryland, she had breakfast with the entire coaching staff and their families. She met members of the football staff as part of her campus tour. She got the sense the school was truly excited about its budding volleyball program.

“It just felt weird at other schools,” Milana said. “It was almost like they didn’t have a fire lit under their butt. They didn’t want it as much as Steve does.  … It was like everyone does this, you practice and you do this and you’re a number in the program. I wanted to build something more than myself as an athlete. I wanted to make history. I wanted to help this program go out into the world and make a name for themselves. I wanted to be part of building something big, and I know it’s going to be built because I know Steve will not stop until it is.”

Maryland progressed from three wins in its initial foray in the Big Ten to five last year, and the infusion of talent could produce another step forward this year. If it does, the Terps’ newcomers will play a significant part.

“What I know is it’s not ever fair when a program relies solely or heavily on a freshman class,” Aird said. “We’re going to start a bunch of the freshmen, and next year we’ll be young as well. It’s not until 2018 when we’ll have some type of balance in the classes.”

Milana and her fellow freshmen aren’t willing to wait quite that long and are eager to start a journey that could bring the program to national prominence. It reminds Milana of when she walked into her high school gym as a freshman and the only state title flag on the wall honored a cheerleading team.

“I thought ‘Wow, it would be cool to have a banner for my team on that wall,’” Milana said. “When I walked out my senior year of that gym, a banner was up on that wall. That’s a feeling I wanted again. I wanted to make a difference like I did in high school and my team did in high school. I want to do the same thing and I’m hungry to do it again. There’s no better feeling than coming up from behind and surprising people and making a difference.”

That last part is already assured, not just for Milana but the rest of a freshman class that bought in before Aird really had anything but a vision to sell.

“It’s like anything else, you’ve got to believe before you become it,” Aird said. “I have a good feeling in my heart about what we’re doing. We’re right on the cusp and we’re so close to taking this thing to the next level. I’m so excited about these kids have done.”

He had hit it off especially well with Gia Milana, a Romeo, Mich., native and made her one of his first recruits he contacted at Maryland.

“He noticed my obsession for animals [at a Penn State camp] and I was taking a picture of a little bunny inside a flower pot because I thought it was the cutest thing ever,” Milana said. “He said ‘Gia, you have to come visit. We have a straight-up farm in the middle of campus.’ I was like ‘No way! OK, I’ll come.’”

Every bit of charismatic salesmanship helps. But it also requires authenticity and targeting the right people. As the Terps enter their third season under Aird, he believes he’s brought in a class with the right mix of everything to ultimately turn the program into a perennial postseason team.

Perhaps, as basically all of the newcomers insist, it could happen this year. Maybe it takes longer. But Aird sees a group capable of transforming Maryland volleyball over the next four seasons.

“A few of them committed to play for me before we played a match in the Big Ten,” Aird said. “We had this kind of vision and ideas and a concept moving forward. This is where I think we can be in two, four, six years, but to get there we’re going to need some pretty special people. It’s very rare to see kids commit to a place knowing they have to come in and do a lot of heavy lifting.”