Volleyball Opens 2011-12 Trinity Sports Season At Brandeis Invitational Friday Night
Hartford, Conn., Sept. 7, 2011 - The Trinity College volleyball program returns all six seniors and all but one of its top seven players from a year ago when the Bantams posted a record of 16-8 and qualified for the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship Tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons. Trinity, coached by Jen Bowman (8th Season), has a deep, talented, and experienced squad that has been playing together as a unit for three years, which gives the Bantams a great deal of optimism entering the 2011 campaign. The seniors are eager to lead Trinity past the first round of the NESCAC Tourney for the first time since 2005. Trinity opens the season in the Brandeis Invitational on Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10 with games scheduled against Rhode Island College, Haverford, and Babson those two days.
Senior S Jen Low (San Francisco, Calif.) is in her fourth year as the starter, while sophomore Amy Hackett (Wallingford, Conn.) provides quality depth. Low has over 2,000 assists, 83 aces, and 448 digs over three seasons. Junior OH Danielle Isaman (West Hartford, Conn.) is one of the top players in the league, leading the squad with 320 kills to go with a .237 hitting percentage (2nd on team), 38 blocks (3rd on team), 20 service aces, and 167 digs last fall. She was an All-NESCAC Second Team honoree in 2009-10. Sophomore Hannah Brickley (Melrose, Mass.) should build on a fantastic rookie season last fall when she totaled 260 kills with a .207 hitting percentage, 30 aces, and 273 digs. Sophomore Sarah Whitham (Weymouth, Mass.) and first-year Barbara Massa (Old Lyme, Conn.) are serviceable backups with potential at outside hitter.
Senior L Sarah Blagden (Charleston, S.C.) is one of the league's top defensive specialists, having notched a team-high 530 digs (2nd in NESCAC, 15th in nation with 6.14 digs per set) and 32 service aces (2nd on team) on her way to earning team MVP honors in 2010 . Senior super-sub Alexandra Pell (San Diego, Calif.), the starting libero in 2009 who can also set and play OH, will spell Blagden and others while sophomore Clara Zinman (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) showed promise as a defensive specialist in 2010. First-year Madeline Perez (San Antonio, Texas) could also step in at libero at times.
In the middle, seniors Courtney Chaloff (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) and Kelly O'Brien (Pelham, N.Y.) are proven strengths, after totaling 244 blocks and 365 kills between them the last two seasons as a starting tandem. Senior co-captain Penelope Carpenter (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands) and rookie Lily Talesnick (Littleton, Colo.) will compete for the lone available starting spot on the right side with depth provided at both RS and MH by junior Devon McGillivray (Watchung, N.J.).
