STANDISH, ME – The Saint Joseph's College Volleyball program took important steps last fall towards becoming a contender in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference under the guidance of first-year Head Coach Yamile Nolan.
The Monks went 17-14 overall and 5-7 in GNAC play in 2010 with a roster featuring seven freshmen, four sophomores and three juniors. The winning record was the programs first since the 1997 season and the win tally is the fifth-most in team history.
For the first time in four years as a conference member, the Monks earned a berth into the GNAC Tournament as the #8 seed. Although St. Joe's fell to top-seeded Johnson & Wales in the opening round, the Royal Blue forced folks outside the program to take notice – the Monks are on the way up.
Another program-first was achieved by second-year standout Sarah Hawkes (Pownal, ME), who became the first SJC player to garner All-GNAC honors following the season. Hawkes earned Third Team honors after pacing the Monks in kills (201), attacks (593), attack percentage (.202), digs (256) and blocks (63) in 28 matches last fall.
As a team, St. Joe's ranked fourth in the GNAC in service aces (2.63 per set) and seventh in digs (13.98), kills (9.21) and assists (8.34) in 2010.
Saint Joseph's also broke a bevy of team records for the second consecutive season. The 2010 squad set new program season marks for kills (976), kills per set (9.12), attempts (3310), assists (884), assists per set (8.26), digs (1499), and digs per set (14.01).
Included in the successful campaign was a 5-2 tilt against opponents from Maine, with the two setbacks coming at the hands of University of New England. On September 16th, the Monks managed to take a set from the Nor'easters for the first time since the 2008 season.
Saint Joseph's notched conference victories over Lasell, Simmons, St. Joseph (CT), Suffolk and Albertus Magnus. The Monks also defeated eventual NCAA DIII Tournament participant Lesley University, 3-0, on September 14th.
The Monks captured the SJC Autumn Invitational Tournament crown for the second year in a row with a 3-0 win over Wentworth on September 11th. Hawkes was selected as the Tournament MVP and teammate Sarah Coffey '14 (Hanover, MA) collected All-Tournament honors.
Sophomore setter Kiah Begley (Berwick, ME/Saint Thomas Aquinas) enjoyed another outstanding season and ranked fourth in the conference with 6.58 assists per set, which ranks as a new program record for single-season average. Begley added 217 digs and 62 kills to her stat-line and needs just 162 assists to break the team's all-time record for helpers, which is currently held by Kerri Padgett '04 (1509 assists in four seasons).
A talented rookie class certainly helped raise the Monks' level of play in 2010. A quartet of hitters – Coffey, Brooke Dyer '4 (Lebanon, ME/Saint Thomas Aquinas), Devon Masse '14 (Hudson, NH) and Alyssa Grigware '13 (Biddeford, ME) – combined to record 502 kills, 436 digs,97 service aces and 55 total blocks in the fall.
Erica Russi '14 (Debary, FL) and Holly Bannister '14 (Cumberland, ME) also made nice contributions as first-year players.
Looking ahead to 2011, the Monks should be in prime position to make a run in the GNAC Tournament. With a solid corps of returners in the fold and another banner freshman class on its way, expect the Royal Blue to accomplish even more of the team's goals next fall.
