Horsmon and staff add 6 new faces to Frericks

By: Meaghan McNichol – Staff Writer

The University of Dayton women’s volleyball team added six incoming first years to its roster for the 2015 season.

These six girls hail from four states and will compete for a multitude of positions to fill the spots of graduates and transfers.

Kendyll Brown from Mechanicsville, Virginia, will join the Flyers this fall as a middle blocker. The 6-foot-1 Lee Davis High School graduate had success as a middle blocker for both her high school team and the Richmond Volleyball Club team.

Brown finished her last season with 248 kills, 45 aces, 11 assists and 75 blocks. She led Lee Davis to the 5A South region finals. With a total hitting percentage of .254 throughout high school, Brown was honored as an All-Metro, All-Conference, and All-Region player of the year at Lee Davis high school.

Lauren Bruns, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Versailles Ohio is ranked No. 25 overall in the state for volleyball. She was honored with 2012 first team All-Midwest Athletic Conference and 2012 best offensive player. This past season Bruns was also named to the All-Ohio First Team. Bruns played as an outside hitter for Versailles High School, and competed in the state semifinals her senior season. She set a couple of single-season records with 449 kills and 995 attack attempts. She is currently ranked No. 6 on the local volleyball leaderboard with 38 sets and 134 kills.

Twin sisters from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Katie and Lizzie Machi will also be joining the Flyers next season. Five-foot-7 Katie Machi joins as a setter who exceeded the national average in all categories with 246 sets played, 682 assists and 530 digs throughout her entire career. She finished her senior season with 630 assists and 265 digs.  The Machi sisters both helped lead the Divine Savior Holy Angles volleyball team to a Wisconsin State Championship this past fall.

Lizzie Machi will join the Flyers as a defensive specialist. At 5-foot-7, Lizzie Machi led her team in digs this season with 422 and also recorded 10 double-doubles her senior year.

The Flyers added height to their roster with 6-foot-5 Bri Pittman. Pittman is the tallest Flyer since 6-foot-5 Lindsay Fletemier in 2010.

Of Pittman’s height, head coach Tim Horsmon said, “Bri is still learning the game but touches 10-feet-7…Bri will bring a great deal of length and physicality to our team as an attacker and elite blocker.”

The Burgaw, North Carolina native will serve as a middle blocker for the Flyers. Pittman was a four-time conference champion with Pender High School and broke records for Pender with a career total of 175 blocks, 192 kills and 1.9 kills per set. These successes allowed her the honor of 2013 Pender County Player of the Year.

Margo Wolf was a tremendous asset the Cincinnati’s Mount Notre Dame’s team throughout her high school career. During her four seasons with the team, they won three Ohio State Championships. This past December, Wolf was named Gatorade Ohio Girls Volleyball Player-of-the-Year, an award that recognizes excellence both on the court and in academic achievement.

In addition, she was named to the Volleyball Magazine High School All-America First Team, and an American Volleyball Coaches Association/Under Armour Third Team All-American. With 993 total digs and 835 serve receptions in her career, Wolf ended her time with Mount Notre Dame with a 102-11 record.

The newcomers selected by the volleyball staff of head coach Tim Horsmon, assistants Evan Muys and Audrey Ludwig, and volunteer assistant Timmy Balice, will refuel a program that lost several student-athletes from last season’s Atlantic 10 Conference Championship team.

Senior defensive specialist Rachel Jones and senior middle blocker Isolde Hannan graduated, winning three A-10 Conference titles in four years. After one year at UD, defensive specialist Kelsey Osgood transferred, while  Lauren Gresham transferred to Jacksonville University. Gresham played two seasons with UD, redshirting her first year.

Redshirt sophomore setter Megan Giardina joined the roster after two years at Clemson University. Giardina enrolled prior to the spring semester.

Dayton returns ten for fall 2015 searching for its tenth A10 title.