2013 Women's Volleyball Preview
AURORA, N.Y. - After a 35-year hiatus, the women's volleyball team at Wells took the court as an officially-sanctioned varsity sport in 2012. After failing to field a team during the Fall 1978 season, women's volleyball was played only recreationally on the campus at Wells before coming back in full force in 2012. In their first season back, Head Coach Richard Gary collected his first collegiate women's volleyball victory, a 3-1 defeat of Green Mountain College on Sept. 1, 2012 – the program's last victory before that was Nov. 9, 1977 against D'Youville.
Last season, the roster was comprised primarily of freshman who made a significant impact. Three of the top five kills leaders return for their sophomore seasons, including Zakarra Butts (Cortland, N.Y.), Gina Cairns (Delhi, N.Y.) and Taryn Heath (Truxton, N.Y.). Butts was the lone starting player to record a positive hitting percentage (.167) while her 1.43 kills per set ranked her third on the team. Cairns hammered home an average of 1.48 kills per set, ranking second on the team while Heath averaged 4.14 assists per set, ranking 10th in the conference in that category.
Senior Stephanie Leung (Brooklyn, N.Y.), the lone senior on the team, will provide leadership after appearing in 78 sets as a junior, recording 65 total digs. She is joined by junior Jessilyn Artaho-Aki (Ka'paa, Hawaii), who last played volleyball at Wells as a member of the men's volleyball team in the spring of 2012, a semester before the women's volleyball team came to campus – NCAA regulations allow for a woman to play on a men's team if there is no substitute.
Sophomores Nicole Loeven (Pawling, N.Y.) and Evelyn Abbott (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) return for their second year of volleyball at Wells. Loeven, one of the conference's top liberos last year, ranked within the top 15 defensive specialists with 3.28 digs per set across 109 sets played. Abbott, in limited action, averaged .72 digs per set and notched three service aces on the year.
The Express welcome six freshman student-athletes to the roster, including defensive specialists Nadine Pershyn (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Antonaia Merritt (Albany, N.Y.). Merritt was a scholar-athlete for Albany High School in the state's capitol while Pershyn was a two-sport athlete for the Centaurs of City Honors School for Head Coaches Deb Matos and AD Turley.
Stephanie Parker (Dryden, N.Y.), Haylee Ouellette (Terryville, Conn.) and Meredith Kadjeski (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) will look to rack up kills for the Express in 2013. Parker, who hails from just down the road in Dryden, played volleyball and lacrosse for the Lions and earned First Team IAC All-Star honors. Ouellette was a two-sport athlete for Terryville High School while Kadjeski played four sports at Cumberland Valley High School. Kadjeski was also a member of the 2012 District III AAA Girls Volleyball Championship squad for Head Coach Jackie Orner.
After falling to the Spartans of D'Youville College on Friday, the Express return to action Saturday, Aug. 31 as they face-off against Johnson State College to open the SUNY Canton Invitational in Canton, N.Y. starting at 11:30 a.m. Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the Wells College athletic department by "liking" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/WellsExpress) and subscribing to our Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/WellsExpress).
