9/21/26
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Lackawanna College women's volleyball gets back to work this week with another road match against a PSAC opponent, as the Falcons are set to travel to take on Kutztown University on Tuesday, September 22^nd, at 6:00pm ET at Brandywine Heights HS in Mertztown, PA. Kutztown's normal home gym, Keystone Arena, is undergoing a massive multi-million dollar refurbishment and renovation project, meaning the Golden Bears will be playing their home games off-site all season.
 
Game Details
Who: Lackawanna College Falcons (0-6) at Kutztown University Golden Bears (12-2)
When: Tuesday, September 22^nd, 6:00pm ET
Where: Brandywine Heights HS Gymnasium, Mertztown, PA
 
Video | Live Stats
 
Video Coverage: PSAC Sports Digital Network
Fans who cannot make the trip to Brandywine Heights HS can watch along for free on the PSAC Sports Digital Network.
 
Live stats: https://kubears.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Live stats coverage is available and will be updated as the match goes on.
 
The Falcons
Lackawanna College (0-6) enters the week after a rough outing at Lock Haven University this past Saturday. The Falcons were uncharacteristically flat, and Lock Haven blew them out in three sets by scores of 25-9, 25-4, and 25-11. The Falcons had 17 receiving errors and hit -.109, while the Bald Eagles hit .362 for the match and dominated from start to finish. You can read the full recap HERE.
 
Through their first six matches, the Falcons are struggling to get the offense going, hitting at -.018, with 108 kills and 1118 errors. Opponents are hitting .233 against the Falcons, and the opposition has 67 aces this year, a 3.5 aces per set average. Lackawanna averages just under a block per set on the year. Their opponents have 15.8 digs per set, while the Falcons average 11.1 per set.
 
Junior outside hitter Jana Hofmann (Colorado Springs, CO) is tied for first on the team with 29 kills, 1.53 per set, on 0.07 hitting this year. Hofmann's seven aces are first on the team this season, and her 41 digs are also first on the squad. Jana had six kills and 13 digs against Messiah in the first match 9/12, 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 last weekend. She was held to just one kill and had three attack errors against Lock Haven on Saturday. 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 tied with Hofmann for first so far this season with 29 kills, 1.81 per set, while hitting .158, best on the team. Bedics has 23 digs on the year and three total blocks. She had 16 combined kills, eight in each match, on 9/12 against Messiah and NDMD. Bedics did not play against ESU last week, and posted two kills and five digs vs. Lock Haven on the weekend.
 
Third-year outside hitter/middle blocker Nadia Toth (Dalton, PA) is third on the team with 16 kills through her first six matches, averaging just under one kill per set and hitting at .017. Nadia is tied for first on the team in total blocks (6.0) and has four 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 on 9/12. She was held to one kill on -.375 hitting last week against ESU. Toth had one kill, one dig, and one solo block against Lock Haven last weekend.
 
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, tied with Toth for first on the team. She had six kills against Monroe earlier this month, but was held without a kill against Messiah on 9/12. 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 last week. She played in two sets but didn't pick up a kill against Lock Haven.
 
Third-year libero/defensive specialist Adalee Rosado Rivera (Guyama, Puerto Rico) is second on the team 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 on 9/12, 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 against ESU last week, but did not play against Lock Haven.
 
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 9/12, and played in three sets against ESU off the bench, picking up two aces and five assists. Schreiner leads the Falcons with 32 assists this year.
 
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 Golden Bears
Kutztown (12-2) had an eight-game winning streak snapped at East Stroudsburg this past Friday night in a 3-0 loss, then bounced back with a five-set thriller at Bloomsburg the next day. Against ESU, Kutztown had a terrible hitting evening, getting blocked nine times and hitting just .123, while ESU hit .235 and posted five aces. The Warriors hit .341 in the first set, winning 25-20, then held Kutztown to negative hitting in set two. Kutztown rallied in set three to get within 23-22, but ESU scored the next three points to complete the sweep. On Saturday, Bloomsburg hit .344 through the first three sets, but Kutztown rallied in the final two sets to pull off the five-set victory. The Bears hit .206 for the day, but outblocked the Huskies (12-9) and had nine aces. Kutztown used a 6-0 run to turn a deficit into a two-point lead in set four, and eventually pushed into the win at 25-19 to send it to a fifth set. Bloom had the advantage and was two points away at 13-11, but Kutztown rallied with a kill, an ace, an error from Bloom, and then a kill to win it.
 
Kutztown is a solid hitting squad this year, posting a .258 clip this year and averaging 12.7 kills per set, while holding their opponents to .181 and eleven kills per set. The Bears have 119 aces through 14 matches, averaging 2.3 aces per set, while their opponents average just under two aces per set. The Bears block at a 1.5 blocks per set clip, while their opponents are at a 1.4 blocks per set average. The Bears average 13 digs per set this year.
 
Senior outside hitter Paige Skinner leads the squad with 207 kills in 14 matches, averaging over four kills per set and hitting at a strong .262 clip. She also leads the team with 23 aces. Skinner is second on the team with 111 digs this season, and she has seven total blocks on the year. Skinner has double-digit kills in 13 of 14 matches this season, setting her season-best with 24 kills on .362 hitting against Belmont Abbey in a five-set win for the Bears back on September 5^th. She has six double-doubles this season, posting a season-best 13 digs, along with 15 kills against ESU on Friday. Her best hitting performance came against Chestnut Hill, posting a .542 clip and 14 kills, along with eleven digs, in a sweep for the Bears. She was a second-team PSAC East selection last year.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Madilyn Bogovic is second on the team with 144 kills on the year, averaging just under three kills per set and hitting at .233, while also posting 20 service aces, second on the squad. She's tied with Skinner for second on the team with 111 digs and has eight total blocks this year. Bogovic has seven matches with double-digit kills on the season, posting her season-best 18 against Bloomsburg on Saturday, hitting .212 against the Huskies. She also had 13 digs, and the match was one of three matches with a double-double for Bogovic. She set her season-best with 16 digs against Georgian Court back on September 9^th. Bogovic was the PSAC East Rookie of the Year last season, earning a first-team All-PSAC East selection, as well.
 
Junior middle hitter Grace White is third on the team with 100 kills in her 14 matches, hitting .381 on the season and averaging just under two kills per set. White is third on the team with 30 total blocks, including six solo stops and 24 assists. White has two matches with double-digit kills on the year, posting a season-high eleven kills on .588 hitting against Belmont Abbey. She posted her season-high in blocks with seven total blocks against Bloomsburg this past weekend.
 
Sophomore middle hitter Ellie White is fourth on the team, posting 87 kills, averaging 1.7 per set, and hitting at .314 on the year. White also has 19 aces, third on the team this season. White is tied for the team-high with 39 total blocks, including 36 block assists. She has four matches with double-digit kills, and has twice hit for her season-best eleven kills, including the last match against Bloomsburg, where she hit .320. She had a season-high six blocks against D'Youville on August 28^th.
 
Junior setter Emma Baldridge leads the Bears with 277 assists this year, averaging just under 5.5 assists per set. Baldridge has 14 aces on the year, fourth on the team. Baldridge has 72 digs, fourth on the team. She has six matches with 20+ assists, setting a season-best with 28 assists in a five-set win against Chowan on September 5^th. She had 27 assists in the five-set win against Bloomsburg on Saturday.
 
The head coach for the Golden Bears is Jason Barshinger, now in his second year at Kutztown. Barshinger took over a team that won just one match the year before, and he immediately improved the Bears, pushing Kutztown to a 15-13 record in 2025, the most wins for the program since 2011. Barshinger came to Kutztown after spending time at NCAA Division III Bryn Athyn College for three seasons. The Lions won 12 matches in 2024, their most in program history. Before his time at Bryn Athyn, Barshinger was a successful high school coach at both New Oxford HS and Abington HS, and then before that, coached at Wilson College and Central Penn College. Barshinger was a three-year starter at Central York HS, and was a participant in the 1999 USA Volleyball Junior National Championship tournament. He went to Central Penn College, where he played basketball, cross country, and golf, and was named Athlete of the Year in 2022. He earned an associate's degree in communications from Central Penn, then picked up a bachelor's degree in business administration from Elizabethtown College in 2021.
 
Kutztown was picked to finish fourth in the PSAC East for 2026, a marked improvement from where they've been in the past and a definite vote of confidence in what the Bears are building. Already this season, Kutztown is three wins away from matching last year's win total.
 
Next
Next up, Lackawanna College returns home for a match-up with PSAC opponent West Chester University on Saturday, September 26^th at 1:00pm ET inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium.