SCRANTON, Pa. — Lackawanna College women's volleyball put themselves back on the map last season when they won the Region XIX Tournament Championship for the first time in 17 years.
The win coming in head coach Shelby Reese's second season with the team after going 2-13 the year prior. Now, going into her third season, Reese expects the tide to keep on turning.
“It's them as student athletes, they are committed,” said Reese. “They've been devoted to what myself and my assistant is putting into practice every day and who we're bringing in. You’re trying to find the right people for, for the culture for the school. And last year's team was so diverse and they brought so much different energy and we have the same thing this year with our freshman. Two of our outsides, they're freshman. Ari is a transfer; Jana is coming from Colorado as a true freshman. They're really contributing to our game. This year was the first time we really had— since I've been coaching — a middle offense, and we're really excited. I think the sky is the limit for them,” said Reese.
The nine players on the roster for the 2023 Region XIX Tournament Championship run have all returned to the squad for their sophomore season’s. Each player came in as a freshman last season.
The team welcomes five new players who either transferred or are incoming freshman. Because of the additions, having the middle offense— a key component to the sport, is finally plausible.
“Well, we're just smashing every single ball down whenever we can and we love it,” said Angelique Fuentes, a returning outside hitter. “Just getting those sets and those passes so that we can produce that offense has just been amazing so far. I just think that the variety that we've been through here has been, honestly- we have a lot of potential. We have a lot of new players, although they're new to the team we've been able to mesh well and put all those talents together so that we can make a pretty good team this year,” said Fuentes.
The Falcons are 6-1 in the early going of the season. They began Region XIX play with a three-set sweep of the team they defeated in the championship last season in County College of Morris.
“It is really good because in the past like couple years, the records haven't been like that great,” said sophomore Nadia Toth. “Being part of the people last year- like coming in and helping the program just take off, it's been really special. I'm hoping that we get to be region champs again and I hope that this season we win during districts, at least a couple games, and we're trying to get to Iowa,” said Toth.