'On This Day' Coach Lucas Earns First Volleyball Win with Season-Opening Day Rally Against Utica

'On This Day' is a Wells College Athletics feature series taking a look back on events that occurred on this day, Sept. 2, four years ago in 2016.

The Wells College women's volleyball team opened its season with a win and a loss on Friday, Sept. 2, 2016, at the Cortland Red Dragon Women's Volleyball Classic. It was the first win for Mark Lucas as a head coach for Wells. He was named interim head coach on Aug. 17, 2016, after serving as the team's assistant the previous two seasons.

Lucas was a part of significantly improving the women's volleyball team during his first season in 2014 when the Express posted the conference's most dramatic improvement in overall and conference record. After a 5-25 record in 2013, the team's second season as a modern-era varsity program, Wells improved to a 23-11 overall record alongside a 10-2 mark within the conference to qualify for the postseason for the first time in 2014. Success continued in the 2015 season with an 18-11 overall record and 11-1 record in the North Eastern Athletic Conference.

In his first day of competition as the Wells College women's volleyball head coach, the Express took the second of two matches against Utica in Cortland. After dropping the first set 16-25,  the Express  responded with three successive set wins by scores of 25-21, 25-18 and 25-13.

WELLS 3, UTICA 1

Wells had 14 service aces in the match, led by six from Renee Bartosz. Olyvia Brazier led Wells with 13 kills. Meredith Kadjeski and Jackie Allen had nine kills each. Eliza Schwab had 28 assists. Kadjeski and Haylee Ouellette each had one solo block and two assisted blocks. Allen (16), Schwab (14) and Nadine Pershyn (11) hit double-digits in digs.

Utica Boxscore: https://www.wells-express.com/sports/wvball/2016-17/boxscores/20160902_zqd7.xml

NAZARETH 3, WELLS 1

In the first match against Nazareth, Wells opened by winning the first set 25-20. Nazareth closed out the victory by winning the next three sets. In the first set, Wells hit .237 with 14 kills. Over the course of the match, Anuhea Leita-Ah Yo led the Express with 15 kills and 23 digs. Eliza Schwab had 32 assists and five kills on 13 attacks for a .308 hitting percentage. Jackie Allen had 10 kills and nine digs. Nadine Pershyn (14) and Olyvia Brazier (13) also had double-digit digs in the match.

Naz Boxscore: https://www.wells-express.com/sports/wvball/2016-17/boxscores/20160902_htz7.xml