Volleyball seeks growth, senior leadership in 2023

The College of Wooster volleyball team and head coach Sarah Davis are excited to see its growth reach its potential, and with senior leadership guiding them, they're hoping to be right in the hunt in a newly formatted North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.

This year's tournament will change from eight teams to six, as conference games will carry a little more weight to them this season. The top four teams will then head to the top seed's venue to crown a champion.

"We want to be playing in that second weekend of the conference tournament and to be in that top four," Davis said. "But it's important to integrate young players who may be contributing early in their career and to build upon sustained success into their future."

Wooster went 20-9 in 2021 where they reached the NCAC Tournament title match for the first time since 1985. However, the Scots failed to replicate its success from 2021 and finished with a 7-16 record in 2022, but they finished on an upswing with a 4-3 record in its last seven games of 2022.

"We had some strong performances against good opponents, and we hope all the individual successes carry over into team success for 2023," Davis said.

The Scots return plenty of experience with nine upperclassmen filling out a majority of its roster and five from its starting rotation. Wooster has a senior core of five on its 14-player roster in Trinity Harmon, Caroline Dillard, Troy Johnson, Ty Thompson and Ellie Stroke.

Behind graduates Hayley Nash and Emily Gail, Dillard returns as the leading point scorer (168.5) after tallying 142 kills. In their sophomore campaigns, Tamara Turner recorded 92 kills and Amelia Mitchell collected 69. Olivia Kitchen should also be a key contributor on offense.

"Caroline is one of our most experienced returning players," Davis said. "She could see a variety of offensive roles. Tamara and Troy both saw time as starters in the middle last year, and Amelia is continuing her positive trajectory. She had breakout matches at the end of the season last year, and her ability to make contact with the ball high will be difficult for opponents."

With losing two outside hitters in Nash and Gail, Jordan Laraway and Kora Burill are two first-years who could help fill those gaps on the outside.

Thompson, who Davis describes as a "dynamic and versatile player," returns as the leading setter after recording 654 assists last year. Newcomers Emma Fleck and Cara Taylor will be called upon to give Thompson a hand with setting duties. 

The defense will be anchored by Harmon and Lucy Kinser. Davis says both have shown great work ethic in practice so far.

Harmon was one of four to record more than 200 digs last season. Stroke and Natalie Hohman will round out the defensive group.

The Scots lost a pair of important seniors in All-NCAC selections Nash and Sydney Fitzcharles. Nash was the first Scot volleyballer to score three first-team all-conference honors, while Fitzcharles debuted on the third team last year.

Nash was the eighth player in program history to log 1,000 career kills. Fitzcharles finished seventh in program history with 1,316 digs.

"We graduated some outstanding players who statistically filled the record books, won accolades and are certainly big shoes to fill," Davis said. "This season we will be more balanced. This team has this competitiveness that's been really fun to work with, and it will be harder for teams to key in on one or two players."

Davis also returns assistant coach Taylor Mathews for her fifth season.

The Scots open with a trio of games at Berea College in Kentucky on Sept 1. Wooster's first matches on the newly designed Timken Gymnasium will take place when they host the NCAC/MIAA Crossover Sept. 8-9. They open NCAC play hosting Hiram College on Sept. 23.