9/18/26
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Lackawanna College women's volleyball will hit the road for the Falcons' first-ever PSAC road contest, as Lackawanna makes its way west along interstate 80 to take on the Bald Eagles from Lock Haven University on Saturday, September 19^th. The match is set for a 1:00pm ET start inside the Thomas Fieldhouse on campus at Lock Haven.
 
Game Details
Who: Lackawanna College Falcons (0-5) at Lock Haven University Bald Eagles (6-4)
When: Saturday, September 19^th, 1:00pm ET
Where: Thomas Fieldhouse, Lock Haven University; Lock Haven, PA
 
Video | Live Stats | Tickets
 
Video Coverage: PSAC Sports Digital Network
Fans who cannot make the trip to Lock Haven can watch along for free on the PSAC Sports Digital Network.
 
Live stats: https://lockhavenathletics.com/sidearmstats/wvball
Live stats coverage is available and will be updated as the match goes on.
 
Tickets: https://www.lockhavenathletics.com/sports/2025/5/5/tickets.aspx
Fans looking to attend can purchase tickets at the link above.
 
The Falcons
Lackawanna College (0-5) is still searching for its first win on the season, and the Falcons enter this weekend after getting swept by the defending PSAC champion, East Stroudsburg, in straight sets this past Tuesday night. ESU hit .281 for the match, including .429 in the final third set, and consistently built leads that the Falcons struggled to come back from. The Falcons hit negative on the night, a -.025, and had just three aces, while ESU posted nine service aces. You can read the full recap HERE.
 
Through their first five matches, the Falcons are struggling to get the offense going, hitting at -.006, with 101 kills and 104 errors. Opponents are hitting .215 against the Falcons, and the opposition has 50 aces this year, a 3.1 aces per set average. Lackawanna averages just under a block per set on the year. Their opponents have 16.3 digs per set, while the Falcons average 12.2 per set.
 
Junior outside hitter Jana Hofmann (Colorado Springs, CO) is tops on the team with 28 kills, 1.75 per set, on 0.023 hitting this year. Hofmann's seven aces are first on the team this season, and her 40 digs are also first on the squad. Jana had six kills and 13 digs against Messiah in the first match last Saturday, but had just three kills and eight digs against Notre Dame in the second match. She posted seven kills and seven digs on 0.034 hitting against ESU on Tuesday. She is a former NJCAA All-American, selected as a first-year player with the Falcons, and was a two-time Region XIX DII Player of the Year.
 
First-year outside hitter Sophia Bedics (Bethlehem, PA) is second on the Falcons so far this season with 27 kills, 2.08 per set, while hitting .189, best on the team. Bedics has 18 digs on the year and three total blocks. She had 16 combined kills, eight in each match, over the weekend against Messiah and NDMD. Bedics did not play against ESU on Tuesday.
 
Third-year outside hitter/middle blocker Nadia Toth (Dalton, PA) is third on the team with 15 kills through her first five matches, averaging just over one kill per set and hitting at .060. Nadia is second on the team in total blocks (5.0) and has three digs this season. After a strong showing against Monroe, where she had seven kills on .263 hitting, Nadia posted five kills against Messiah in match one, before only getting two kills on five attempts in match two against Notre Dame last weekend. She was held to one kill on -.375 hitting on Tuesday against ESU.
 
Third-year middle blocker Neurdia Osias (Huntington Station, NY) is fourth on the team at eleven kills on the year, averaging under a kill per set. Osias has six total blocks, first on the team. She had six kills against Monroe earlier this month, but was held without a kill against Messiah last Saturday. She had two kills and a block assist against Notre Dame Maryland. Osias was held to one kill and three errors on -.167 hitting against ESU on Tuesday night.
 
Third-year libero/defensive specialist Adalee Rosado Rivera (Guyama, Puerto Rico) leads the Falcons with 31 assists this season in her five matches, posting a trio of kills and five aces, second on the team. Rosado Rivera is second on the team with 36 digs this season. She had a combined 18 assists and 17 digs in two matches last weekend, posting two kills, seven assists, and 13 digs in the loss to Messiah, and then eleven more assists, her season-high, against Notre Dame. She had seven assists and a kill on Tuesday against ESU.
 
First-year setter Kady Schreiner (Mountaintop, PA) had a breakout performance earlier this month in her first true action, dishing out 23 assists in the loss for the Falcons in the loss to Monroe. Schreiner had not previously appeared for Lackawanna. She missed last weekend, and played in three sets on Tuesday off the bench, picking up two aces and five assists.
 
Coach Shelby Reese is in her fifth season in charge of the program, and she's hoping to establish the baseline and foundation for her program as the transition to the NCAA and Division II really begins to take shape for the Falcons. Last year's squad began peaking at the right time, winning a flurry of matches in the final week of the season to enter the playoffs with some momentum and make the Region XIX championship game for the third year in a row, before falling to Monroe in straight sets.
 
Reese has won 45 matches in her four years with the Falcons, including 17 in 2024, and 14 matches and a Region XIX championship in 2023. Before her time at Lackawanna, Reese was the head coach at NCAA Division III Cedar Crest in Allentown, winning 86 matches and getting the Falcons to their first-ever NCAA tournament in 2021.
 
The Bald Eagles
Lock Haven (6-4) enters the weekend scheduled to play twice, taking on Bloomsburg on the road on Friday night before hosting the Falcons on Saturday at home. Their last event was three matches over two days last weekend, hosting Virginia State, Edinboro, and Jefferson. On Friday night, the Bald Eagles swept past Virginia State, the only sweep of the six matches played, hitting .157 for the match and posting 35 kills to just 20 from VSU, while putting up nine aces. Against Edinboro the next day, the Eagles and Scots went the distance, with Edinboro winning the fourth and fifth sets to pull out the win. Lock Haven was blistering in the first set, hitting .517 as a team, but Edinboro broke open a 15-15 second set with a four-point swing, blew the lead, went up 24-22, blew that lead, then won on a service error and a kill at 26-24. Lock Haven nearly blew the third set, then gave up a 6-0 run in the fourth set that let Edinboro get the lead and force a fifth, where the Scots scored ten of 12 points to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 12-6 lead, eventually winning 15-9. The final match against Jefferson saw the Bald Eagles take a tight set one, 28-26, get pounded in the second and third sets, then do some pounding of their own in the fourth to force a fifth set, and then win that 15-9 to get the five-set victory. Lock Haven hit .148, posting 68 kills on 209 attempts, and the Eagles overcame 14 blocks from Jefferson for the win.
 
Lock Haven hits .160 this season, with 435 kills, 12.1 per set, with their opponents hitting .141 this season, averaging 9.5 per set. The Eagles have 76 aces, 2.1 per set this year, and their opponents have 62 aces, 1.7 per set. Lock Haven's opponents average two blocks per set, nearly double what the Eagles do, defensively, but Lock Haven holds a 16.9 to 14.8 digs per set edge.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Maddie Mitchell is one of two Eagles with 80 kills this season, and she averages 2.67 kills per set in her 30 sets played this year. Mithcell hits .118 and has 25 digs, with two total blocks this year. Mitchell posted a season-high 19 kills against Edinboro in the five-set win, and she has three matches with ten or more kills on the year.
 
Junior opposite Gracelynn Wolzen is the other Eagle with 80 kills, averaging 2.42 kills per set and hitting .102 this year, appearing in 33 sets and starting seven matches. She's tied for third on the team with nine total blocks this year, and she has 18 digs this season. Wolzen has set her season-high in her last two matches going into the weekend, posting 13 kills against Edinboro last weekend and then 15 kills in the win against Jefferson. She has gone for ten or more kills in three matches this year.
 
Senior outside hitter Reagan Irons is third on the team with 77 kills this year, averaging 2.33 kills per set and hitting at .165 this year. Irons has started in nine matches this season for the Bald Eagles, and she has six aces on the year. She's third on the team with 79 digs on the year, and she has five total blocks this season. She posted her season-best with 16 kills on .324 hitting against Edinboro, and followed that up with 15 kills and a season-high 16 digs against Jefferson. Irons has two double-doubles, and she's gone in double-digit digs in four matches this season.
 
Junior middle hitter Maddy Fox is fourth on the team with 68 kills, averaging just over two kills per set and hitting a team-best .256 this season. Fox leads the Eagles in blocks, posting 17 total blocks, including five solo stuffs. Fox posted her season-best in kills with 16 on a smoking .538 hitting percentage in the win against Jefferson last weekend. She set a season-best in blocks in the opener against D'Youville, posting a solo stuff and four block assists.
 
First-year setter Natalie Gibson is the engine driving the Lock Haven offense, posting 322 assists, just under nine per set, in her ten matches, while also garnering 22 kills and 14 aces on the year. Gibson is also second on the team with 91 digs this year, and she has eight total blocks. Gibson hasn't had a match with fewer than 20 assists, and she posted her season-high 50 assists in back-to-back matches last weekend against Edinboro and Jefferson. Against Edinboro, she posted a season-best 20 digs, and the match was one of four double-doubles for her on the year.
 
The head coach for the Bald Eagles is Mike Kraft, now in his fourth year at LHU. Kraft has had an interesting tenure at Lock Haven since arriving in 2023. After his first year, where the Eagles won eleven matches, their most in five years, he was named PSAC East Coach of the Year, but he left the program to coach NCAA Division I men's volleyball in the spring at Penn State, assisting legendary coach Mark Pavlik to 23 wins, an EIVA championship, and a berth in the NCAA tournament. Kraft returned to the Bald Eagles in 2024, where he won six matches, then posted ten wins a year ago, which included six conference wins, their most since 2015. Before arriving at The Haven, Kraft was an assistant coach with Juniata in men's volleyball at the Division III level from 2013 to 2016, guiding Juniata to a national runner-up finish in 2014. He also coached girls volleyball at Tyron HS from 2014 through 2021, and he has been the head coach and technical director at the Horseshoe Volleyball Club in Tyron since 2013. Kraft also spent time coaching with Saint Francis when it was still a Division I institution. Kraft played his collegiate volleyball at Juniata, where he helped the Eagles to the 2009 national title.
 
Lock Haven was picked to finish sixth in the PSAC East this season, but the Bald Eagles return nearly everybody from last year's squad that won six matches in conference play.
 
Next
Next up, Lackawanna College stays on the road, taking on Kutztown University on Tuesday, September 22^nd. First serve is set for 6:00pm ET at Brandywine Heights HS in Mertztown, PA.