Swat Volleyball Still A Hit
Swarthmore volleyball has gone through a multitude of phases in the past six seasons with varying results, highlighted by a recent appearance in the Centennial playoffs. The Garnet are changing defensive philosophies, seeking a return to the Conference elite.
The Centennial coaches ranked the team seventh in the pre-season poll for the second consecutive year. Defending champion Johns Hopkins is the favorite, receiving six first-place votes, followed by Gettysburg and 18th-ranked Haverford.
Head coach Harleigh Chwastyk (formerly Harleigh Leach) enters her seventh year with perhaps the best defensive unit in school history, albeit one of the shorter squads (three seniors graduated with an average height of 6'1?") led by effervescent senior captain Erin Heaney (Buffalo, N.Y. / City Honors). Heaney, all-Centennial honorable mention at libero in 2007, broke the school records for digs (492, and digs per game (5.18, tops in the Centennial).
Senior outside hitter Jen Wang (Palo Alto, Calif. / Henry Gunn) is back for her final season as the focal point of the Swarthmore offensive attack. Wang tied the school record with 319 kills (top ten in the Conference) in 2007 and led the team in service aces (43) for the second consecutive season. She has also been an integral part of the Garnet defense since stepping onto campus, surpassing the 1,000-dig mark late last season. Sophomore Sarah Lambert (Beaver Falls, Pa. / Blackhawk) and freshman Genny Pezzola (Oakland, Calif. / St. Mary's College HS) are expected to contribute to the offensive attack from various spots on the floor.
Setter Kearney Bangs (Kingston, Wash. / North Kitsap), a junior captain, will run the offense for a third season after ranking sixth in the Centennial in assists per game (career-best 9.14). Bangs, also one of the more explosive jump servers in the conference, used her exceptional athleticism to compile nearly 1,700 assists in two seasons.
A trio of first-years, Hillary Santana (South Lake Tahoe, Calif. / South Tahoe), Lisa Shang (West Chester, Pa. / West Chester East) and Sasha Wijeyeratne (La Verne, Calif. / Vivian Webb School) quickly got up to speed during pre-season training, giving the Garnet volleyball squad the chance to make some noise in 2008.
Coach Chwastyk has a new addition on to the Swarthmore staff in 2008, welcoming Nicole Kelly aboard as an assistant coach. Kelly, a 2007 graduate of Seton Hall, brings a wealth of volleyball experience to the Garnet, having won a Pennsylvania state championship while setting at Marion Mercy Academy.
The Garnet head to central Pennsylvania to being the season, taking part in the York Quad on Aug. 30 before returning to Tarble Pavilion for the home opener versus Neumann at 7:00 p.m. on Sept. 3. The team travels north to Maine to face quality NESCAC opponents on Sept. 5-6, facing Colby, Bates and Bowdoin before returning home to host the sixth annual Garnet Classic on Sept. 13-14. The team will be at the Salisbury Invitational the following weekend before opening the Centennial schedule with a home match versus Bryn Mawr on Sept. 24.