2011 Women's Volleyball Season Review

STANDISH, ME – The 2011 SJC women's volleyball team registered an impressive campaign, going 18-12 overall and 7-6 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contests under the watch of second-year Head Coach Yami Nolan.

The Monks' 2011 win total was the most by an SJC volleyball team since the 1997 season and the conference victory tally ranks as the most the Royal Blue has earned since joining the GNAC in 2007.

The 7-6 conference mark provided St. Joe's with the #6 seed in the GNAC Tournament, the highest seeding the Monks have earned while playing in the conference, and faced #3 Emmanuel College in the opening round, losing by a 3-1 score. Although the team fell short in its aspirations of making a deep run in the tourney, the Royal Blue sent notice to the GNAC that this is a program on the rise.

St. Joe's kicked off 2011 with four convincing wins en route to winning the SJC Fall Invitational Championship for the third consecutive season. The Monks topped Wentworth, Husson and Lyndon State before upending Husson, 3-1, in the championship and junior middle blocker Sarah Hawkes (Pownal, Maine) claimed tourney MVP honors after registering 46 kills, 56 digs, eight blocks and a .282 attack percentage in four tilts. Junior setter Kiah Begley (Berwick, Maine/St. Thomas Aquinas) and sophomore libero Erica Russi (Debary, Fla.) also landed on the SJC Fall Invitational All-Tournament Team.

Non-conference losses at the hands of Rhode Island College and University of New England followed, but Saint Joseph's went on to win six of seven, with conference victories over Mount Ida, Suffolk and Johnson & Wales, and was 10-3 overall after blanking Daniel Webster on September 29th.

The Monks went on to notch important GNAC wins over Lasell, Pine Manor and Anna Maria and split a conference tri-match at home on October 22nd, as a triumph over Saint Joseph (CT) and a loss to Norwich saw the Royal Blue improve to 17-9 overall and 7-5 in GNAC play with four matches remaining.

Saint Joseph's would split the rest of the regular-season slate with 3-0 wins over Southern Maine and conference-foe Albertus Magnus and 3-0 losses at the hands of Gordon and Framingham State.

The GNAC Tournament started on November 1st when St. Joe's traveled to Boston to face Emmanuel College. The Saints edged the Monks, 25-23, in the first set but the Royal Blue shot back with a 25-22 win to knot the match at one apiece. The Monks' first-ever set victory over Emmanuel would be their last on this day, however, as the Saints went on to knock the Royal Blue out of the playoffs with 25-15 and 25-19 victories.

The loss signaled the end of collegiate volleyball for the team's lone senior, defensive specialist Jordan Pelczar (Meredith, N.H.), who capped her career as the Monks' all-time leader in matches played (115). Pelczar currently ranks third in program history in digs (778) and fourth in sets (360).

NOTEWORTHY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

• Hawkes registered yet another impressive season, leading the team in kills (234), attacks (658) and total blocks (62) as a junior. The two-time All-GNAC honoree heads into her senior season as the owner of multiple program records, including the career marks for kills (768), attack percentage (.247), digs (823) and total blocks (201).
• Begley shattered her own team single-season assists (798) and assists/set (7.6) records as a junior and goes into her senior campaign as the Monks' all-time leader in helpers (2,145) and assists/set (6.9). She also ranks second all-time in both digs (803) and attack percentage (.193).
• Russi enjoyed a breakout season, posting team-highs in digs (398, a new program record) and service aces (68) while tallying 82 kills as a sophomore.
• Freshman outside hitter Emilee Penman (Uncasville, Conn.) played a large role in the Monks' success during her rookie season. The first-year player ranked second on the team in solo blocks (27) and third in kills (173), total blocks (38) and block assists (11) and recorded the most attacks in a game by an SJC player in 2011 with 51 against Maine-Farmington on October 19th. For her efforts, Penman garnered GNAC Rookie of the Week honors on October 3rd and claimed a trio of GNAC Honor Roll accolades.