Volleyball Set to Open Season on Friday

The College of Wooster volleyball team looks to tap into some potential and forge new senior leadership in their attempts to succeed in the 2024 season.

Looking at this year's roster, Wooster has a 12-player roster and will have some holes to fill after seeing the departure of graduates like Caroline Dillard and Trinity Harmon – two All-North Coast Athletic Conference selections.

Yet, their four-person senior core has plenty of experience behind Lucy Kinser, Amelia Mitchell, Tamara Turner and Olivia Kitchen.

Kinser, Mitchell and Turner each appeared in all 24 matches for the Scots a year ago.

Mitchell, a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® selection, gives Wooster some height standing at 6 feet, one inch. She led the team with 76 blocks and was third with 166 kills.

Turner, who was a valuable piece to last year's team, will help carry the offensive load after finishing second on the team with 169 kills, 268 digs and 31 service aces.

Kinser was one of the team's most experienced defenders and servers. She was third on the team with 174 digs and added 14 service aces. 

There are four sophomores who will be looking to expand their roles after their first seasons in Emma Fleck, Jordan Laraway, Natalie Hohman and Kora Burill.

"Our sophomore class has put in a lot of intentional work in the spring and the off-season," head coach Sarah Davis said. "Natalie has emerged as a defender we can count on. Kora has selflessly trained in a new position.  Jordan is dynamic at the service line and good out of system, and Emma is poised to run the offense as the starting setter."

Fleck stepped into the setter role right away and led the team with 384 assists. She also was third on the team with 20 service aces and fourth with 149 digs.

Laraway also played a key role, notching 105 kills, 65 digs and 22 blocks after appearing in all 24 matches.

In addition, Wooster has three first-years joining the team in Catherine Muzilla, Mary-Catherine Werth and Addie Gardner. Junior and track athlete Izzy Cozzie also joins the team.

The program also welcomes a new assistant coach in Hallie Taylor.

"We had a great spring with Hallie, and we are excited she took on the full-time role," Davis said. "She has experienced volleyball at a high level and has worked on mentoring young players all over the world."

Wooster's first home match will be the Ginny Hunt Kilt Classic as the team will face University of Pitt.-Greensburg, Kalamazoo College and Waynesburg University over the weekend of Sept. 13-14.

In 2023, Wooster had early successes in a few tournaments, including a 7-0 mark in neutral site games. They eventually finished the season at 8-16 overall.

Wooster went 3-0 at the Oberlin Invitational, defeating California Institute of Technology, University of Pitt.-Bradford and Saint Vincent College. They also opened the season with two neutral wins at Berea College, defeating Asbury University and the University of Lynchburg.

This year, the Scots open with a trip to Earlham College in Richmond, Ind. for four games.

"Our early season tournaments are about growing each week," Davis said. "We plan to have a multi-dimensional offense, and the team has shown great flexibility thus far.  That will continue in our early season tournaments.  We want to have all our options prepared for the moment they are called upon to help the team succeed, and that is really the focus of August and September."

All of this will hope to provide dividends when the NCAC season starts in late September.

"The conference race is wide open, and we want to be competing at the end of the year with the best," Davis added. "We look forward to playing a schedule filled with some familiar and some brand-new opponents to achieve our goals of getting better each week and uniting this team through unselfish and disciplined hard work."