NEWBURGH, N.Y. – Coming off of a berth in the 2014 Skyline Championship match, this years Mount Saint Mary College women's volleyball team is looking to build off its strong finish to the season that saw them knock off No. 2 seed St. Joseph's College (L.I.) in the semifinals.
Coming into the 2014 Skyline Championship match, the Knights were on a hot streak, winning nine of their 10 matches before the final against The Sage Colleges. The only loss coming against eventual champion Sage.
The biggest moment in the strong finish to the season was the comeback against defending champion St. Joe's (L.I.) in the Skyline Conference Semifinals. With the Knights down two sets to none and their season hanging by a thread, the Knights put on a comeback for the ages. First, winning set three, 25-17, and then set four, 25-15. Next came the decisive fifth set that would determine who would go on to play in the championship match. The Knights finished the comeback with a 15-11 fifth-set victory. Head coach
Mike Strano said, "it was probably the best comeback that I've ever coached in 20 something years."
"It gave them a taste of what they can do. Being the underdogs and coming back knowing that we are never out," said Strano. "With a lot of people returning, we can build off that experience."
The team brings back three All-Skyline Conference players including First-Team All-Conference player
Rachel Sabatini (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) and Second-Team players
Chelsea Barberan (Fishkill, N.Y.) and
Kayla Kurka (Islip, N.Y.).
Also coming back this season is senior libero
Jennifer Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.), who sat out most of the 2014 season with a broken foot.
"It was really rough having to sit on the sidelines and watch my team play, even though they did so well last year," said Gries. "It's really a great feeling coming back to the court with my team."
SENIORS Joining Gries in the senior class is two-time Second-Team All-Skyline middle blocker
Kayla Kurka, who last season had a career-high 2.07 kills per set, which was ninth in the conference.
Kaitlin O'Brien (Staten Island, N.Y.) comes into the season on the right side where she led the team in aces with 84, which was good for fourth in the conference with 0.74 services aces per set.
Maribeth Powers (Yorktown, N.Y.) rounds up the senior class, also on the right side, where she had a career-high with 141 kills and was also ninth in the conference with a hitting percentage of .181.
JUNIORS Junior outside hitter
Elizabeth Lavin (Hicksville, N.Y.) built from her freshman year to have a better sophomore season and average 1.08 kills per set. Sabatini comes into this season after being named First-Team All-Conference, and ranked sixth in the league in kills per set with 2.29. Setter
Kristen Maddock (Medford, N.Y.) had a career year in 2014 with 400 assists that ranked her sixth in the Skyline with 3.7 assist per set.
Angelia Cirigliano (Newburgh, N.Y.) joins the team this year after spending the last two seasons playing at Orange County Community College (OCCC) where she was named to the All-Region XV Tournament Team in 2013 when OCCC won the Region Championship.
SOPHOMORES Libero
Chelsea Barberan stepped into a big role last year after Gries went down with her injury and came up big for the Knights, being named to the All-Skyline Second Team, and leading the conference in digs per set with 4.55. Both
Jennifer Bones (Camden, Del.) and
Megan Williams (Glenmont, N.Y.) were big helps last season to the Mount defense. Bones ranked sixth in the Skyline with .44 blocks per set and Williams ranked seventh with .43 blocks per set. Outside hitter
Jacquelyn Survilla (West Islip, N.Y.) had a good start to her time at the Mount with 15 kills including six kills in a three-set victory over Medgar Evers College.
FRESHMEN This year the Knights will be adding six freshmen to the team. Coming in as liberos will be
Lauren LeGere (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) and
Michelle Corona (Carmel, N.Y.). LeGere played four years for the Iroquois-Empire Volleyball Association High Performance Program, and Corona played four years of varsity volleyball at Carmel High School, where she was named MVP both her junior and senior seasons.
The Knights add two new setters to the squad in
Kimberly Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) and
Courtney Blum (Belle Harbor, N.Y.). Gries played two seasons of varsity volleyball for Holy Trinity High School, and Blum was a four-year varsity player for St. Edmund Preparatory High School and was named Team MVP twice.
Joining the freshman class are middle blocker
Jennifer Hanley (Sayville, N.Y.) and outside hitter
Nicole Spinelli (Wantagh, N.Y.). Spinelli joins the Knights after being named All-Conference in 2013 and All-Class in 2014.
"The goal of every team is to win the Skyline Championship and everything we do is working towards that," said Strano.
The Knights open the season with a few tough weekends in a row starting Sept. 4-5 with the Gettysburg Battlefield Classic, hosted by Gettysburg College, where the Knights will play four tough opponents in two days. The first match will be against McDaniel College at 3 p.m. on Friday.
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