2016 Women's Volleyball Season Preview
Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)
Patchogue, NY| After winning the program's third Skyline Conference title in 2013, the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) women's volleyball team has reached the conference semifinals the past two seasons. Heading into 2016 the team lost its all-time leader in kills, Heather Ferchland, to graduation, but with the injection of a fresh recruiting class, 12th-year head coach Tobey Pantophlet expects his group to be right back in the thick of things.
"With USMMA rejoining the conference it makes things tougher, but I'm still confident we'll finish in the top-four this season," said Pantophlet of the team's prospects.
Despite Ferchland's departure leaving a sizeable hole in the SJC lineup, Pantophlet will look to returning seniors Courtney Wickline, Courtney Bocchieri and Kiersten Kissinger to shoulder the load.
Wickline, who led the conference in assists (998) last season, will provide service to Bocchieri, who will slot in at middle hitter, and Kissinger, who will attack from the right side. Both Wickline and Bocchieri earn Skyline All-Conference Second-Team honors, with the latter having finished second in the conference in total blocks (69) in 2015.
Women's Volleyball Coaches Poll
1. Sage (4) - 113
2. Mount Saint Mary (4) - 102
3. Mount Saint Vincent * (2) - 101
4. St. Joseph's-Long Island (2) - 92
5. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy - 87
6. Farmingdale State - 74
7. Maritime - 69
8. St. Joseph's-Brooklyn - 51
9. Old Westbury - 40
10. Sarah Lawrence - 32
11. Yeshiva - 21
12. Purchase - 16
First-place votes in parentheses
*Defending champion
Other returners expected to play a large part are outside hitter Claire Urizzo (Jr.) and defensive specialists Erin Kelly (Sr.) and Keilly Estacuy (Jr.). Urizzo finished third on the team in kills (151) last season, while Kelly (187) and Estacuy (62) finished fourth and eighth, respectively, in digs a year ago.
Among the incoming class are freshman Dana Moeller, sophomore Danielle Senecal and junior Morgan Tiska.
"Moeller and Tiska will make immediate impacts and will help in attacking the ball," said Pantophlet. "Senecal will be leaned on defensively, with Kelly and Estacuy, to help anchor the backcourt."
Looking over the schedule, Pantophlet feels that the team's matches with USMMA (Oct. 8), Mount St. Mary (Oct. 16) and Sage (Oct. 29) will be most important, stating that those three schools are the "other top-three teams."
The Golden Eagles will get going on Friday, September 2 when they travel to Western Connecticut St. to take part in the Colonial Invitational. SJC will face the Colonials at 5:00 PM on Friday with matches vs. Simmons and Colby Sawyer slated for Saturday, September 3.
In their home opener, the Golden Eagles welcome FDU-Florham to the Danzi Center on Saturday, September 10 for a 12:00 PM match. The St. Joseph's College Tournament will take place on September 16 and 17 with Montclair St., Cortland St. and Old Westbury featuring.
The final home games of the regular season will be played on Saturday, October 22 vs. SJC Brooklyn (10:00 AM) and Purchase (2:00 PM).
