Women's Volleyball | August 25, 2016

Watch the live video stream of Friday's 12 p.m. matchup vs. Morgan State

PHILADELPHIA- The La Salle volleyball team begins its 44^th season this weekend, kicking off the 2016 year at the Tom Gola Arena for the La Salle Invitational. The Explorers will host Morgan State at 12:00pm on Friday and then face Quinnipiac at 7:00pm. The weekend invitational will continue when La Salle faces St.Francis at 2:30 pm and NJIT at 7:00pm on Saturday.

With the home court advantage, the team looks to turn around its season from the previous year, welcoming seven new freshmen and returning eight players. Third-year coach Caitlin Schweihofer will look to improve her team and utilize her leaders to guide the pack to success.

"The goal for our team this year is definitely to improve on our win-loss record from last year," said Schweihofer. "It's always a goal for us to make it into the A- 10 Tournament, that's a program goal that is really the next step for us to really continue to move this program forward. Right now it's just taking one game at a time and going into this weekend, hopefully coming out with four wins."

Sophomore libero Jensen Sharrits will return to the Explorers after a strong season on the court last year. She posted 441 digs last season, leading the team with an average of 4.11 digs per set. Sharrits proved crucial against Davidson last year when she posted a season high of 34 digs and seven assists in the game. She was named to the All-Atlantic 10 Rookie Team and will continue to build on her worth in the upcoming year as captain. 

"I think this preseason we have really focused on just effort," said Sharrits. "Going after every ball, giving it all we have and coming into practice super hard with full intensity, to keep going forward. We aren't taking practices off; it's just high intensity, focus and competitiveness. We definitely push each other."

Starter Ashley Felton will look to provide an example in the middle and make herself useful at the net. The senior led the team in blocks with nine and totaled 235 kills, averaging 2.12 kills per set. She posted 18 points and 14 kills against Davidson and helped the Explorers capture a win over Lafayette with four digs and one ace.
"The strength this team has is that we have a lot more depth," said Felton. "Last year, if someone wasn't doing well or if someone was hurt, we would have to pull someone out of their position and put them into a different positon. We didn't have people able to play multiple positions. This year we have a lot more depth, if someone is having an off day or if someone is inured, we can replace them with someone who is equally as skilled."

The squad at 20^th and Olney will focus on rebuilding the team as they add several strong new rookies and hope to improve their conference record from last season. The seven recruits will add presence offensively and defensively across the court and compete for time immediately.

"Now we have more leadership with our freshman coming in. Every single freshman is able to get floor time, every single freshman is definitely going to be a weapon in our tool belt as we play any competitor, any other team," said senior Phoebe Cook. "This year moving forward we have more of a versatile team and playing style. Anyone can go in and mesh with anyone else on the court."

The Explorers face Morgan State tomorrow at 12:00pm to test their skills at Tom Gola Arena.