Mount volleyball builds around core of veterans

by TOM UTESCHER

Eight returning varsity players will form the foundation of Mount St. Joseph Academy’s volleyball team this fall as the Magic seek another Bicentennial League championship. The Mount shared the 2004 title with Merion Mercy Academy, which once again appears to be the chief rival for the local spike squad.

Last year’s crew posted an overall record of 16-5, ending its season in the second round of the PIAA District I tournament. Now in his tenth season as Mount St. Joe’s mentor, head coach Sandy Butcher had 40 players try out for his 2005 franchise, and he has retained a total of two dozen athletes to make up the varsity and JV teams.

Butcher’s new assistant coach, Marlene Roth, is also a faculty member at the Mount, and will teach Spanish. A captain of her volleyball team at Radnor High School, Roth went on to major in Spanish at the University of Kansas, where she graduated in 2002. Subsequently, she earned a Master’s degree in Spanish at Kansas, and a Master’s in Italian at Middlebury College.

On the court, the Magic will be led by three seniors, outside hitter Cara Mulholland, setter Megan Skowronek, and middle hitter Kait Woznicki. There are also four veteran players from the junior class; defensive specialist Erin Connelly, outside hitter Katie Kirsch, setter Michelle Skowronek, and Megan Clearkin, who was primarily a setter last season, but will see more work as a defensive specialist this time around.

The Magic also have a good young setter in Michelle McNamara, who in 2004 was the only freshman on the varsity roster.

Thus far, there are no ninth graders on varsity this season, but two other sophomores will be joining McNamara. One of them, Sarah McGorry, is an excellent all-round athlete who already established herself as a mainstay for the Mount’s basketball and track teams last year. The other is a new arrival, foreign exchange student Bjanka Baier of Bihac, Bosnia.

Both contribute to the good overall height at Butcher’s disposal with this club; while only Woznicki exceeds six feet (by two inches), there are a number of players in the 5’9” to 5’11” range.

The MSJ coach points out “We’re playing a very strong, tough schedule this season.”

In addition to a double round of games against its Bicentennial League foes, the Mount will have two meetings with Villa Maria, which plays as an independent and almost always appears in the state tournament (both schools are members of the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies, but volleyball is not an official sport in that league.)

Early in the season, Mount St. Joe will defend its 2004 title at the Penncrest High School tournament, and the Magic will also participate in tourneys at Haverford High School and Unionville. Just hours before the District I tournament seeding meeting, the Magic will wrap up their regular season against Upper Merion, another solid program on the local spike scene.