The women’s volleyball season came to end Saturday afternoon against SUNY New Paltz in the SUNYAC Championship semifinals. Despite not being able to get over the hump to get into the finals, there is no reason that this season should be seen as a failure.
This team finished fourth in program history with wins, notching their 25th of the season Friday, Nov. 6 with their comeback victory against SUNY Fredonia. The 1992, 1993 and 1994 teams take the top three spots, when the team played more than 45 games in a season. So, in the current scheduling format, this team has the best record of any team since 1995.
The Lakers were not able to overcome New Paltz and will have their work cut out for them next year. The College at Brockport, who won SUNYACs this year under head coach Steve Pike, are only losing three seniors and have a very strong core of freshman and sophomores. For a team that went 33-1 on the year with mostly underclassmen, it will be tough to see them not clinch the No. 1 seed in the conference next year.
The Hawks are in the same boat as the Golden Eagles, as they will only be losing one senior and returning eight juniors to the court next year.
The lone senior, Becca Borquist, will be an impossible talent to replace or emulate. Borquist, who was SUNYAC Player of the Year as a junior and an AVCA Third Team All-American and also won Co-SUNYAC Player of the Year this season. She finished her collegiate career with over 1,744 kills, 170 total blocks and 1,647 digs. While she was clearly the best player on the team, New Paltz has made it into the SUNYAC tournament the past 11 years and even the NCAA tournament six out of the last seven years.
Oswego State’s head coach JJ O’Connell will have a big task ahead of him trying not to fall into third-seed purgatory in the conference.
This will be even more of an uphill battle as the Lakers will be losing five graduates, seniors Lindsey Morehouse, Rachel Ruggaber, Kelsey Dillon, Mary Montagnola and junior-graduate Kim Cassa going into next year.
Each of these athletes played a significant role in the Lakers’ tournament run this year and in elevating them to the point that this program is at now.
Dillon and Cassa were third and fifth on the team this season in kills, respectively. Dillon especially shone during the tournament, as she was a major reason the Lakers were able to make a comeback during the quarterfinals against Fredonia. Her kills and blocks were high quantity and very timely during clutch situations and she captured a spot on the All-Tournament team.
Despite the team losing Dillon and Cassa, they will still be retuning three of their four top killers from this year.
The biggest loss will be losing three graduating liberos, Rachel Ruggaber, Lindsey Morehouse and Mary Montagnola. This will create an opportunity for current sophomore Rina Qelaj to step into the starter role. This will be a tough transition for the team just seeing how much depth they had at the position this year.
A big reason for optimism moving forward is how great O’Connell has done recruiting within his first few years at Oswego State. This senior class was his first class as a coach and he’s shown the ability to bring in talent from all over the country. This was indicitave from two star freshmen on this year’s team. Ariel Murawski, who was SUNYAC Rookie of the Year and first team All-SUNYAC, along with Alison Sullivan, who was second on the team in total blocks with 98, both stand at least 6 feet tall and are from out of state, are a testament to his willingness to get talent from unique locations.
It will not be easy for the Lakers to continue their upward climb in the SUNYAC with the teams above them, but there is no reason to doubt them knowing where they are now and knowing where they have come from.
