Despite the fact that both volleyball teams have new systems and many new players, hopes are high at Mount Mercy Academy for successful seasons.  Brittany Sanscrainte, who helped coach the varsity and JV last season, moves into the varsity head coach position and Shannon Feind enters her first season as the JV coach.

                Sanscrainte inherits a team with just three returning players, but all three players saw a great deal of playing time last year.  Junior Sara Geiser (West Seneca) and sophomores Katherine Ryan (Buffalo) and Catherine Zak (Hamburg) return to the court for their second seasons on the varsity.  The team is quite young, with no seniors on the team.  Sanscrainte expects sophomore Hannah Fredo (Buffalo) who moves up from JV and junior transfer Brianna Starzynski (Buffalo) to also play key roles this season.

                Sanscrainte feels that the team’s strength will be the ability of the players to play a multitude of positions on the court, so that they can match their lineup to the opponent.  She hopes to improve the team’s communication and confidence so that the team can be more competitive and win more matches than last season.

                The JV team is counting on the experience of sophomores Megan Quinn (Hamburg), Emma Wilson (Buffalo), Ryllie Padilla (Buffalo) and Laila Aloi (Orchard Park) to lead it to a successful season.  Feind believes the team’s strengths will be it serving, hustle and leadership.  She noted that the team exhibited hustle, support from each other and strong serving in scrimmages.  Feind feels that increased communication and continued improvement in skills and knowledge of the game will be the keys to the team’s success in 2018. 

                The teams open their seasons on September 6^th at home against Olmstead.  They will play 13 matches and the varsity will participate in 3 tournaments.