The Lady Eagles volleyball team ended their Mountain League season with six wins and eight losses, good enough for fifth place in the conference.

“This past season was an improvement on years past,” said Head Coach Mike Kraft, “We have earned the respect of our opponents and they must prepare physically and mentally to compete against us moving forward.”

The year served as a lesson to be learned for the seasons to come.

The girls began the preseason a little rough, but picked it up in their first Mountain League game against Penns Valley.  The girls dropped the first two sets, but came back to win the match 3-2.

The girls also won against Central, Bellefonte, Juniata Valley, and Clearfield.

Central and Bellefonte were two of their bigger wins in the season.

“This past season, we were 1-7 in our league against teams that were above .500, and we were 5-1 against teams below .500,” says Kraft.

Season awards were presented in several categories at the team’s annual end of season banquet.

Junior Torrie Foy led the team in digs with 158. Foy has been playing high school volleyball for three years, and has accumulated 211 digs overall. This was Torrie’s first year as a libero, which means she dug the most balls.

Junior Lea Crofcheck ended the year with the most assists. No one came close to Crofcheck as she had 294 assists. Crofcheck also played ball for her entire high school career and accumulated 509 assists so far. She also was awarded most blocks, aces, and MVP. She led with 30 blocks and 33 aces. Cumulatively, Crofcheck received four awards.

Senior Alexis Cannistraci led the team in kills. In total, she had 89 for this season. After playing four years of high school volleyball, she gained 335 kills.

The last award, newcomer of the year, went to freshman Brianna Foy. Her season included four blocks, 20 kills, four digs, and 22 aces.

The team graduated three seniors.

Alexis Cannistraci ended her career with 97 blocks, 335 kills, 116 digs, 69 aces, and seven assists. Cannistraci was played as a hitter for her four years as a player. She started as a middle hitter and on her senior year, the coach switched her to an outside and right side position.

“Play every game like it’s your last because it sneaks up on you quicker than you think,” says Cannistraci.

Shaniah Lowery ended her career with 15 blocks, 193 kills, 112 digs, 10 aces, and 10 assists. Lowery played as an all-around hitter her whole career.

“You never feel like you lose a game when you play with heart, soul, and everything you can,” says Lowery.

Finally, Maddie Veit ended her career with eight blocks, 161 kills, 178 digs, 68 aces, and nine assists. Veit played as a hitter.

Next season Coach Kraft is hoping for nine or ten wins. He wants to be .500 and above, which means having the same amount of wins and loses. He especially wants to make playoffs.

Sophomore Kristen Johnson and freshmen Ebonee Rice and Brianna Foy have decided to work in the off season by joining a club ball team.  Many of the players on the more successful teams in the league compete in club ball in order to improve.

“With commitment and dedication come excellence, and I believe we are on the path to finding out the correct dosage of commitment  and dedication necessary to be a winning program,” added Kraft.