Women's Volleyball Finishes 7th in the Nation

ROCHESTER, M.N. - The Lakers women's volleyball team traveled to the Rochester Regional Sports Center in Rochester, Minnesota for a second-straight season to compete for the NJCAA DIII National Championship. In their first match of the tournament, the Lakers would take on the Sandhills Flyers. 

Lakers vs. Sandhills Community College 

The #10 Lakers entered Thursday, November 10th as the underdog against the #7 Flyers, who entered the contest with a record of 21-14. The Flyers claimed the Mid-Atlantic District Championship after defeating Butler County Community College, 3-1. The Lakers played one of the best matches of the season, upsetting the Flyers in dominating fashion, 3-0. 

Freshman Brooke DeGroff (Castile, N.Y./ Letchworth) dominated the attack for the Lakers with 16 kills. DeGroff added 2 aces and 11 digs in their first-round matchup. Teammate Megan Sanford (Savona, N.Y./ Campbell-Savona) finished with 10.5 points against the Flyers off from an efficient 10 kills (.400 K%), to go along with an assist and a block assist on defense. 

Freshman Sage Barnedo (Silver Spring, M.D./ Springbrook) continued her strong season, setting up her teammates with 38 assists in 3 sets played. Barnedo added 3 aces on the serve, and 1 dig and 1 block assist on defense. Freshman Kaidyn VanDelinder (Gananda, N.Y./ Gananda) stepped up in the championship once again after a productive showing at regionals. VanDelinder added 7 kills and 1 block assist; good for 7.5 points. 

The Lakers upset victory earned them a 5 PM matchup against the #2 College of DuPage Chaparrals.  

Lakers vs. College of DuPage 

For their second matchup of the year, the two teams would find themselves competing on the biggest stage; the NJCAA DIII National Championship. The Lakers fell to the Chapparals earlier in the season, specifically, their second match of the season, 3-0. The team would find similar fate against the red hot Chapparals, falling once again in straight sets. 

Brooke DeGroff and Meghan Johnson (Phelps, N.Y./ Newark) led the attack, with 10 and 9 kills respectively. On defense, Olivia Sheehan (Rochester, N.Y./ West Irondequoit) picked up a team-high 8 digs. Freshman Megan Sanford would join Sheehan in her defensive effort, finishing with 4 block assists. 

Freshman Sage Barnedo once again put together another well-rounded performance, finishing with 1 kill, 30 assists, 2 aces, 5 digs, and 1 block assist. Teammate Adriana Botello (Holley, N.Y./ Holley) would play all 3 sets, finishing with 1 ace and 5 digs. 

The loss would put the Lakers into the consolation bracket of the tournament, where they would battle for the #5-#8 ranking in the country. The Chapparals would go on to win out and claim the NJCAA DIII National Championship.  

In the Lakers next matchup, they would draw Dutchess Community College of Region XV. 

Lakers vs. Dutchess Community College 

The Lakers and Falcons would battle back and forth in an instant classic. Despite the finale going in favor of the Falcons, 3-2, the Lakers would put together one of their strongest performances of the season in the thrilling matchup. 

Freshman Brooke DeGroff would register a double-double with a game-high 21 kills to go along with 10 digs. DeGroff would also add an ace, block, and 2 block assists to her stat line, finishing with a game-high 24 points. Joining DeGroff with a monster game was teammate Megan Sanford who finished the game with 11 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks, and 3 block assists for 14.5 points.  

Freshman Sage Barnedo set her teammates up with 49 assists to go along with an 8 dig and 3 block assist defensive effort. On defense, Olivia Sheehan would pick up 16 digs to go along with 6 assists and 1 ace on the serve. Teammate Adriana Botello was effective on the serve against the Chapparals, finishing with 5 aces. Bottello would also pick up 9 digs on defense to round out a 5-point performance. 

Sophomores Meghan Johnson and Kayla Fetcie (Victor, N.Y./ Victor) combined for 18 kills in 5 sets played each. Johnson would add 2 aces, and 8 digs, while Fetice would add an assist, dig, and block assist to her tally. Also, for the Lakers was Kaidyn VanDelinder with 8 kills, 1 dig, 1 block solo, and 1 block assist and Kierstin Comerford (Geneva, N.Y./ Geneva) with 1 dig. 

With the loss, the Lakers would earn the opportunity to fight for the 7th place position in the NJCAA DIII Women's Volleyball National Tournament. However, the team would find themselves matched with a familiar opponent in Fulton-Montgomery Community College. The Raiders 3-0 loss to Minnesota State allowed the Region III opponents to faceoff one last time, and the Lakers the opportunity to tie their season series at 2 apiece. 

Lakers vs. Fulton-Montgomery Community College 

The Lakers would earn bragging rights over their regional opponent in the final game of the teams' season; earning a 3-1 victory over the Raiders. With the win, the Lakers women's volleyball program finished 7th in the nation in NJCAA DIII for a second-straight season. 

Freshman Kaidyn VanDelinder led the charge for the Lakers, finishing with a season-high 13 kills against the Raiders. VanDelinder would put together a strong defense effort as well, finishing with 1 dig, 2 blocks, and 2 block assists; good for 16 points. Teammate Brooke DeGroff wrapped up an impressive season with 8 kills, 6 aces, 12 digs, and 1 block assist. 

Olivia Sheehan finished with 17 digs on defense. Sheehan was joined by teammate Adriana Botello on defense, who added 9 digs. Meghan Johnson added 7 kills, 2 aces, and 10 digs, and teammate Megan Sanford added 10 kills and 1 dig to her tally. 

The win ties the Lakers highest finish in NJCAA DIII women's volleyball national tournament. It also marks a clear transformation of the Lakers women's volleyball program; a program built for sustained success. 

With many new faces to the program this season, head coach Andrew Solomon was optimistic on how his team would respond on the big stage, "having graduated so many from our 2021 team, my expectation was to go to the national tournament to gain experience in such a high-pressure environment. Our first-round opponent had just beat the #1 team in the nation to get there". 

The Lakers responded in a big way, winning that first-round matchup, "it would have been completely understandable for our freshman-heavy team to struggle with jitters on the big stage. However, the entire team stepped up and played out of their minds all weekend", stated Solomon. 

Many of the teams the Lakers saw in their early-season trip to Chicago would also earn a spot in the national tournament alongside the Lakers. From that point, to now, the Lakers were a completely different team, "a number of teams we saw in Chicago could not believe the improvements we had made since August", stated Solomon. The Lakers would start the season 0-5 after that trip to Chicago, but they did not allow the slow start to discourage them. The team would rattle off a record of 27-3 after that trip leading up to the NJCAA Region III tournament. During the stretch, the Lakers would achieve 11 and 7-game win streaks.  

The Lakers once again earn another successful finish to the season and heading into next year, the Lakers will have some big shoes to fill, as they lose sophomores Meghan Johnson, Kayla Fetcie, and Emer O'Brien (Canandaigua, N.Y./ Canandaigua). The sophomores end their careers at Finger Lakes as members of the programs first two regional championship teams and boast several accolades as a group. 

Despite losing three sophomores, the Lakers will be in prime position to compete at the highest-level next year, "we are extremely excited for next season as we return 8 players along with some excellent incoming freshmen. We hope to make another postseason run and a return trip to the national tournament", stated head coach Andrew Solomon. The Lakers will continue to reload this offseason in preparation for a highly anticipated Fall 2023 season. They will look to claim their third-straight regional championship and national tournament appearance.