Mount volleyball rebuilding

by TOM UTESCHER

The story of Mount St. Joseph Academy’s 2004 volleyball season will center around how well the Magic can cope with significant losses both on the court and on the sidelines. Five players and a veteran coach from the Mount’s 2003 team have moved on to college.

Head Coach Sandy Butcher is back for his ninth season at the Mount, but longtime assistant Mark Magarity has departed to become the mentor of the spike squad at Philadelphia University. Butcher’s new assistant is Jen Moran, who played at the collegiate level at Kings University. She was also an assistant coach for the MSJ softball team this spring.

Last fall, Mount St. Joe was 8-2 in the Bicentennial League and 15-4 overall, winning two matches in the PIAA District One tournament before bowing out with a 2-3 loss to Ridley in the quarterfinals. Five strong seniors are gone from that team, and this year the only upperclassmen who are varsity veterans are defensive specialist Deanna Every and middle hitter Margaret Flynn.

A pair of current juniors, Cara Mulholland and Kait Woznicki, were also in the nine-woman varsity rotation last year. Mulholland is an outside hitter who gets off the floor well, and Woznicki is a 6'2" middle hitter.

Among the athletes moving up to varsity this year are seniors Christine Steinmetz (right side) and Emily Trymbiski (outside hitter).
The Magic graduated a pair of experienced setters in Steph Berg and Devon Lash, and for that important duty Butcher will now look to sophomore Megan Clearkin and to the Skowronek sisters, Megan (a junior) and Michelle (a sophomore).

“That’s a place where we’re young, and how quickly our setters can come along will definitely be a factor in our success,” the coach said.
Also moving up from last year’s JV team are sophomores Erin Connelly (defensive specialist) and Katie Hirsh (outside hitter).

The other two members of the Magic varsity are new students at the Mount. Michelle McNamara is the only freshman to make the first team, and junior Theresa Bertels is a transfer from Gwynedd Mercy Academy whose older sister, Mary, also played volleyball for Mount St. Joe.