10/2/24
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Lackawanna College women's volleyball is looking to bounce back after a tough loss over the weekend with an important EPAC matchup in southeastern PA, as the Falcons will travel on Wednesday, October 2^nd, for a clash with Montgomery County CC in Blue Bell, PA.
 
First serve is set for a 6:00pm ET start inside the Montgomery County CC gymnasium. It's the second match of the season between the two sides. Lackawanna won the first match in a 3-0 sweep (25-10, 25-11, 25-16) back on September 7^th.
 
There will be a video livestream available via the Montgomery County CC YouTube Channel, linked HERE.
 
About The Falcons
Lackawanna College (10-4, 4-1) suffered its first EPAC defeat of the season in its last match, a 3-2 loss (22-25, 25-21, 13-25, 28-26, 15-11) on the road at Lehigh Carbon CC this past Saturday. It was a match where the Falcons led 2-1 after a dominant third set and were close to ending it in four with a 22-20 lead late in the fourth frame. Things weren't meant to be, however, as Lehigh Carbon flipped the script in the fourth and pulled out the win, then went on a run midway through the fifth set to grab the lead and, eventually, pull away with the win.
 
This year, the Falcons are hitting at a collective .147 clip, averaging 10.6 kills per set this season. The Falcons have 149 aces in 14 contests, averaging a shade under three aces per set, and are up to 17 digs per set so far this year. Opponents are hitting .126 on the year and have 83 aces vs. 123 errors on serve so far this season. The Falcons are at one block per set, and their opponents are at 1.5 blocks per set.
 
First-year outside hitter Jana Hofmann (Colorado Springs, CO) leads the squad this season with 135 kills through 14 matches. Hofmann is also first on the team with 48 service aces and is second on the team with 165 digs. She's hitting at a .185 clip, first on the team among players with 240 or more attacks, and she's averaging 2.6 kills per set. Hofmann has double-digit kills in seven matches this season, hitting her season-high of 18 twice this year. The first came in the five-set win against Penn State Hazleton on September 14^th, where she hit .200 and had three aces and 21 digs. The second came this past weekend at Lehigh Carbon, where she had 18 kills on a season-high 53 attempts, hitting .226 and putting up four aces and 16 digs. Her most efficient hitting day came against Cecil, putting up 14 kills on .406. Hofmann was deadly on serve against Westchester, putting up a season-best 13 aces in the straight-set victory. Hofmann had a combined 21 kills and four aces in the victories over Harcum and HACC, putting up 12 kills to beat Harcum, and nine kills on .241 hitting against HACC.  
 
First-year outside hitter Aryana Girvan (Clarion, PA) is second on the team with 123 kills this year, hitting .168 through 14 matches this year. That's third on the team among players with 240 or more attacks. Girvan has 22 service aces, second on the team, and 160 digs so far this season, also third on the squad. Girvan is averaging 2.41 kills per set, and has five matches with double-digit kills this season, all in the last five matches. Girvan put up her season-high of 22 kills this past weekend against Lehigh Carbon, hitting .275 and putting up 16 digs and three service aces in the loss to the Cougars. She had 20 kills on September 14^th in a win against PSU Hazleton, on a season-high 59 attacks. She also had 22 digs. Girvan has six matches with double-digit digs, putting up a season-high 25 digs in the win against Harcum. Her best serving match came against Morris, where she posted five aces. Girvan had 24 combined kills, including a team-high 13 in the win against Harcum, and eleven on .476 hitting in the win against Harrisburg Area.
 
Sophomore middle hitter Nadia Toth (Dalton, PA) is third on the team with 85 kills so far this season, hitting at .181, second best on the team among players with 240 or more attacks. Toth has eleven service aces so far on the season, fifth on the squad. Toth had 35 aces last year. She averages 1.67 kills per set, and her 25 total blocks so far this season are first on the team. She also has 34 digs this year. Toth had a team-best 12 kills against PSU Hazleton earlier this season, hitting .323 in the match. She has twice gone over double digits for kills, putting up ten in the win against Delaware Tech on September 13^th. She had a season-high five digs and three total blocks in the five-set win over PSU Hazleton on September 14^th. She had a season-best six total blocks, including four solo blocks, against Harrisburg Area CC. Toth had nine blocks on .161 hitting with two block assists and two digs in the loss to Lehigh Carbon this past weekend.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Alasiah Cater (Coatesville, PA) has double-digit kills on the year with 62 through her 14 matches. Carter is hitting .053 on the season, and has eleven total blocks this year, third on the team. She has 27 digs and nine block assists on the year. She hit her season-high nine kills against Harcum two weekends ago. She had a season-high six digs and four kills in the first win against PSU Hazleton back on August 31^st. Carter had a combined 13 kills and two digs in the wins against Harcum and HACC. She had four kills on .250 hitting in the loss to Lehigh Carbon.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Angelique Fuentes (Miami, FL) has 48 kills through her first eleven matches. She has 14 service aces, fourth on the team, 13 digs, and eight total blocks on the year. Fuentes hit a season-high with nine kills in the win against Montco on September 7^th, where she hit .500. She had six kills on .444 hitting in the win against Westchester. She had five kills on .167 hitting, with five aces, in the win against Morris on September 10^th. Fuentes had six kills on .190 hitting with four digs in the five-set loss to Lehigh Carbon. She led the team last year with over 200 kills. She averaged a little over 2.5 kills per set last year, and hit .150, second on the team. Fuentes had eleven matches with double-digits in kills, with a season-high 20 coming against Chesapeake last season. She had a season-best eight service aces against Delaware Tech earlier in the season and led last year's team with 51 service aces on the year. Fuentes was a first-team All-EPAC selection last season.
 
First-year middle hitter Neurdia Osias (Huntington Station, NY) has been the most efficient hitter for the Falcons this year, hitting at a .224 clip this season with 43 kills. Osias is second on the team with 14 total blocks this year, including eleven block assists. Neurdia had a combined 14 kills in two matches against PSU Hazleton and Cecil, including eight kills on .412 hitting against Hazleton at home. She followed that up with six kills on .545 hitting in the sweep over Cecil College. She was dominant at the net against Delaware Tech, putting up a season-high five total blocks, including four block assists, in the win for the Falcons. She had eight kills in three sets against Harcum but left with an injury late in the third set. She has missed the last two matches for Lackawanna.
 
Sophomore setter Maddilyn Durfee (Buffalo, NY) leads the team with 285 assists on the year, and has 21 service aces, second on the team. Durfee also has 87 digs on the year, fifth on the team. She has reached double-digit assists in 13 of 14 matches this year, with a season-and-career-best 39 coming in the five-set loss to Cairn on September 19^th. Durfee also put up her season-high of eleven digs against the Highlanders. She had a combined 50 assists in the tri-match sweep for the Falcons against Montco and Westchester on September 7^th. Durfee had a combined 40 assists and three aces, along with 15 digs, in the sweep against Harcum and HACC, putting up 25 assists and ten digs to beat Harcum. She had 22 assists, an ace, and eight digs in the loss to Lehigh Carbon this past weekend. Durfee was the main table-setter for Lackawanna a year ago, putting up nearly 500 assists for the Falcons. Durfee averaged just under six assists per set, still managed to put up 40 kills, and had 36 service aces on the year. She had 13 matches with 20 or more assists, and seven matches with 30 or more. Her best came against Chesapeake, where she dished out 37 helpers for the Falcons. Durfee was third on the team with just under 200 digs on the year and had double-digit digs eight times. Her season-best was 20 digs, which she did twice in matches against Bergen CC and Montgomery County CC.
 
The head coach is Shelby Reese, now in her third season at the helm for the Falcons. Reese took over in 2022 and had to re-tool from a roster that was limited the year before, and a program that had been dormant after the pandemic before that. Reese helped the Falcons leap forward, winning their first match in nearly three years in her first season, then winning 14 matches and a Region XIX championship, the first in 17 years, in year two. Before coming to Lackawanna as the Athletic Academic Advisor in 2021, Reese was the head coach at Cedar Crest College for seven years. There, under similar circumstances, she took over a program that needed rehabbing, and turned the Falcons into a perennial conference contender, culminating in a 20-win season in her final year, which included a conference championship and an NCAA Division III tournament appearance. Reese is 27-26 in her time at Lackawanna and won 86 matches in seven years at Cedar Crest.
 
About Montgomery County CC
The Mustangs (5-5) have lost their last two matches, dropping a tri-match at Harrisburg Area and Del Tech by matching 3-1 scores. Against Del Tech, Montco fell behind 2-0, won a tight third set at 25-23, but then fell in the fourth set. Against Harrisburg, it was a little tighter, as both Montco and HACC were tied after two, but the Hawks pulled away with wins in sets three and four.
 
On the season, Montco is averaging 7.58 kills per set, hitting around .253 as a team. The Mustangs have 68 aces, averaging 1.9 aces per set, but have only 281 digs on the year, averaging 7.8 per set this year. Their opponents are hitting .152 and averaging 7.19 kills per set this season, while putting up 66 aces this year. Montco's opponents are outblocking them by a 1.33 to 0.82 per set margin this season.
 
Last year's leader in kills, Veronika Paciorek, leads the team in kills this year, putting up 116 through nine matches with statistics. Paciorek is averaging 3.5 kills per set and is hitting .378 this year. She has 41 digs, third on the team, and eight solo blocks, second on the squad this year. She has put up double-digit kills in seven matches, including her last six. One of her best performances came against Atlantic Cape, where she had a season-high 20 kills on .526 hitting in a sweep over the Buccaneers. Against Lackawanna, she had four kills and eight digs in the loss. She had a combined 30 kills, 21 digs, and an ace in the losses to Del Tech and HACC last Saturday. She put up a season-best 13 digs against Del Tech. She's one of only two players returning from last year's team.
 
Sophomore Ciara Kicinski is second on the team with 75 kills this season, averaging 2.27 per set and hitting .110 so far this year. She has eleven service aces, third on the team, and leads the Mustangs with 85 digs. Kicinski has three matches with ten or more kills this year, putting up a season-high 17 in a 3-0 sweep against Northampton back on September 21^st. She hit .367, had two aces, and put up a season-high 16 digs in the victory. Kicinski had a season-best five aces in a win against Delaware County CC back on September 9^th. She had three kills and eight digs in the loss to Lackawanna on September 7^th. She had a combined 18 kills, 15 coming against Delaware Tech, 18 digs and one ace in the tri-match with Del Tech and HACC this past weekend.
 
First-year setter Despina Kourtidis has 12 kills this season and a team-high 179 assists, averaging just over 5.4 assists per set. Kourtidis has 16 aces, second on the team, and leads the team in blocks with 13 total blocks, ten of them solo stuffs. Kourtidis has double-digit assists in all but one of her matches this season and had a season-high 34 assists in a five-set loss to Lehigh Carbon back on September 21^st. She also had a season-high six kills in that loss. She had a season-best four service aces in the win against Atlantic Cape back on September 26^th. In the first meeting with Lackawanna, she had 13 assists in the loss. She had 21 assists in the loss to HACC last weekend.
 
Sophomore Brooke Moffa was the other returner from last year, playing this season in more of a defensive role, after being the setter from last year. Moffa has 18 assists this season, but is second on the team with 82 digs, leads the squad in aces with 24, and is the main serve receiver with 66 receptions this year. Moffa has twice achieved five aces, her season-best, doing it on September 7^th against Westchester in Scranton, then again on September 18^th at Middlesex College. She has hit double-digits in digs three times, setting a season-high with 17 in the win against Northampton. She had four aces and four digs in the loss to Lackawanna earlier this season. Moffa had three combined aces and 24 digs in the two matches against Del Tech and HACC this past weekend.
 
Montco alum Miljana Vukslavovic is the head coach for the Mustangs, entering her third season. She was a two-year captain and an All-Region XIX performer for the Mustangs.
 
The Match-Ups
First serve of the single match is set for a 6:00pm ET start inside the Montgomery County CC gymnasium on Wednesday, October 2^nd. There will be a video livestream available via the Montgomery County CC YouTube Channel, linked HERE.
 
Lackawanna is back to tri-match action this coming weekend, when the Falcons head to Bethlehem for a pair of matches with Delaware Tech and Northampton CC. First serve of the first match for Lackawanna is set for 2:00pm ET inside the Arthur L. Scott Spartan Center gymnasium at Northampton against Delaware Tech. The Falcons will then face the home team at 4:00pm ET in the finale.