Marianna began her volleyball career when she was only 9 years old at her Greek church in Stamford, Connecticut. Her passion for the sport would only grow over the years until she attended Stamford High School. Over the next 4 years, under the coaching of Mike Smeriglio, Marianna would hone her talents as an outside hitter.
During Marianna’s senior year, the Black Knights would find themselves competing in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) State Championship finals. The finals would mark the first time going this deep in the CIAC tournament for both Marianna and Coach Smeriglio. She was selected team captain her senior year and named to the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) Second team.
This Connecticut homegrown talent would find herself at Concordia College in Bronxville, New York for one season in 2002-2003, prior to transferring to Eastern Connecticut State University in 2004. At ECSU, Marianna would change positions from outside hitter to libero. This change of positions, proved to be historic for the Warriors. She would accumulate over 40 digs in 3 separate matches going on to break the school dig record of 1900 in just 3 seasons. This record stands today! Upon graduation, she ranked statistically among the highest in Aces as well.
During her career, Marianna was twice named Little East Conference (LEC) Defensive Player of the Year, 1st Team All-LEC and LEC Tournament MVP and was also selected to the NUVA Senior Classic. She remains the only 2-time recipient of the LEC Tournament MVP and Defensive Player of the year in school history. The Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors won back to back LEC regular season titles and went on to compete in 3 straight LEC championships. Marianna was inducted into the Eastern Connecticut State University Hall of Fame in 2021.