Posted: Dec 05, 2012
Volleyball Season Recap: Coach Bret Stothart Video Interview
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--The Western New England University women's volleyball team put together a historic season in 2012, culminating with the program's first-ever postseason title with the Eastern College Athletic Conference New England Championship. The Golden Bears finished with a 25-7 overall record, including 6-2 for a second-place tie in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
Coach Bret Stothart recently sat down with WNEGoldenbears.com to talk about the team's 20-win campaign, senior class, recruiting and much more in a video interview.
Here is a season recap of the team's success...
ECAC New England Champions: Western New England defeated Husson in three sets at home, Keene State 3-1 on a neutral floor and top-seeded Brandeis 3-1 on the road to earn the program's first postseason title of any kind. The Golden Bears are now 4-3 all-time in four ECAC appearances. Inna Sergeychik had 18 kills, 20 digs, nine blocks and hit .231 in three ECAC matches to win tournament MVP honors.
Record Breakdown: 25-7 for a .781 overall winning percentage, which is a school record, including 6-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC). The 25 victories are the second-most (27-10 in 2009) in school history. Three of the seven losses came in 5-set battles. The Golden Bears were 9-2 at home, 10-4 in true road matches and 6-1 at neutral sites. The team started 11-1, which included a season-opening seven-match win streak.
20-Win Plateau: Western New England finished 25-7 overall for its first 20-win season since 2009 and the fifth time overall (27-10 in 2009, 20-15 in 2004, 20-13 in 2003 and 21-13 in 2002).
Big Turnaround: The 2012 Golden Bears set a school record for the biggest won-lost improvement at nine matches with a 25-7 mark, after going 15-15 the previous season. The team registered eight wins over opponents that it had lost to in 2011.
CCC Accolades: Western New England established a program record with five all-conference selections, including seniors Devyn Frank (1st team), Heather Mears (2nd team), juniors Maureen Pollet (honorable mention), Tyler Singh (HM) and Grace Kucharski (HM), tying Salve Regina for the most in the CCC. Bret Stothart also earned coach of the year after taking a squad that was picked to finish fourth in the CCC preseason coaches' poll and having the Golden Bears in contention for the regular season crown on the final day of the conference slate, settling for a second-place tie and the No. 4 seed in the CCC Tournament.
More on Coach Stothart: The Springfield College graduate is 40-22 (.645) after two seasons at Western New England. His 40 victories are tied with Charlie Haer (also 40-22 from 2006-07) for the most after two years at the WNE helm. Stothart has been named the CCC Coach of the Year on two occasions, including at Roger Williams in 2010. Including a 124-74 mark from 2005-10 with RWU, he owns a seven-year career record of 164-96 (.631). He has led his teams to four 20-win campaigns in the last five seasons and four conference titles since 2009.
Improvement Across the Board: The results show that the Golden Bears improved in almost every statistical category over the previous season, including attack percentage (.187 from .165), kills average (11.34 per set from 10.43), assists average (10.46 per set from 9.63), digs average (15.98 per set from 14.67) and blocks average (1.66 per set from 1.26). This year's team also posted the biggest turnaround in program history and set a school record with its .781 winning percentage.
More Honors: Western New England captured the Golden Bears Invitational with a perfect 3-0 record behind the play of tournament MVP Grace Kucharski and all-Invitational pick Devyn Frank. Four Golden Bears received CCC weekly awards six times, including Maureen Pollet (Sept. 17) and Tyler Singh (Oct. 22) as players of the week, Kucharski as the libero of the week (Sept. 10-17, Oct. 8) and one rookie of the week in Emily McGran (Oct. 29). In addition, Kucharski earned a spot on the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District Women's Volleyball First Team, with Academic All-America being released on Tuesday, Dec. 11. The CCC Volleyball Academic Team will be announced at a later date.
Final stats: Please visit the link, http://wnegoldenbears.com/custompages/women%27s%20volleyball/WVB2012/teamstat.htm
Thanks to the Seniors: The trio of Heather and Jennifer Mears and Inna Sergeychik is one of the winningest classes--at 77-52--in program history. Here's a brief synopsis on the three;
Heather Mears (Amherst Regional), Setter: All-CCC Second Team pick...led the conference with 1,055 assists, which is a career high and second all-time…first season as a full-time starter…finished with 1471 assists for four seasons to rank third on the school career chart...388 career digs...2011 WNE Iron Woman.
Jennifer Mears (Amherst Regional), Defensive Specialist: senior co-captain with her sister…started in 22 of 32 matches…had 236 digs, which set a personal best…also appeared in a career-best 115 sets...598 career digs...projected to be a two-time Academic All-CCC honoree.
Inna Sergeychik (West Springfield), Right-side Hitter: Compiled 246 of her 537 career digs this season, which is a personal best...2012 ECAC New England Championship MVP...named to the MIT All-Invitational Team in October...Chi Alpha Sigma chapter of the National College Athlete Honor Society inductee as a junior...2010 WNE Unsung Hero Award recipient...projected to be a three-time Academic All-CCC selection.
Looking Ahead to '13: Western New England is scheduled to return 85.2 percent of its kills, 64.9 percent of its service aces, 63.2 percent of its digs and 65.7 percent of its (individual) total blocks next year. Devyn Frank, a middle hitter, is a senior academically but she intends to use her final year of eligibility next fall. So including Frank, the Golden Bears will have four all-CCC performers back. Frank led the team with 288 kills and a second-CCC-leading .280 attack percentage (also sixth in CCC blocks at 0.68), Tyler Singh (1.85 kpg, 37 service aces, .236 for 9th in the CCC) was tied for first in the conference with 103 total blocks, Maureen Pollett (.148 attack%) led the team and ranked eighth with 2.66 kills per set, and Grace Kucharski had a squad-topping 4.70 digs per set that ranked third in the CCC (also 10th with 0.44 aces). Kendra Ouimette, a sophomore defensive specialist, came off the bench to place second in CCC service aces with 0.56 per set. Emily McGran was one of the CCC's top freshman with 1.97 kills per set, a .171 hitting percentage, 49 digs and 22 blocks.
Coach Bret Stothart recently sat down with WNEGoldenbears.com to talk about the team's 20-win campaign, senior class, recruiting and much more in a video interview.
Here is a season recap of the team's success...
ECAC New England Champions: Western New England defeated Husson in three sets at home, Keene State 3-1 on a neutral floor and top-seeded Brandeis 3-1 on the road to earn the program's first postseason title of any kind. The Golden Bears are now 4-3 all-time in four ECAC appearances. Inna Sergeychik had 18 kills, 20 digs, nine blocks and hit .231 in three ECAC matches to win tournament MVP honors.
Record Breakdown: 25-7 for a .781 overall winning percentage, which is a school record, including 6-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC). The 25 victories are the second-most (27-10 in 2009) in school history. Three of the seven losses came in 5-set battles. The Golden Bears were 9-2 at home, 10-4 in true road matches and 6-1 at neutral sites. The team started 11-1, which included a season-opening seven-match win streak.
20-Win Plateau: Western New England finished 25-7 overall for its first 20-win season since 2009 and the fifth time overall (27-10 in 2009, 20-15 in 2004, 20-13 in 2003 and 21-13 in 2002).
Big Turnaround: The 2012 Golden Bears set a school record for the biggest won-lost improvement at nine matches with a 25-7 mark, after going 15-15 the previous season. The team registered eight wins over opponents that it had lost to in 2011.
CCC Accolades: Western New England established a program record with five all-conference selections, including seniors Devyn Frank (1st team), Heather Mears (2nd team), juniors Maureen Pollet (honorable mention), Tyler Singh (HM) and Grace Kucharski (HM), tying Salve Regina for the most in the CCC. Bret Stothart also earned coach of the year after taking a squad that was picked to finish fourth in the CCC preseason coaches' poll and having the Golden Bears in contention for the regular season crown on the final day of the conference slate, settling for a second-place tie and the No. 4 seed in the CCC Tournament.
More on Coach Stothart: The Springfield College graduate is 40-22 (.645) after two seasons at Western New England. His 40 victories are tied with Charlie Haer (also 40-22 from 2006-07) for the most after two years at the WNE helm. Stothart has been named the CCC Coach of the Year on two occasions, including at Roger Williams in 2010. Including a 124-74 mark from 2005-10 with RWU, he owns a seven-year career record of 164-96 (.631). He has led his teams to four 20-win campaigns in the last five seasons and four conference titles since 2009.
Improvement Across the Board: The results show that the Golden Bears improved in almost every statistical category over the previous season, including attack percentage (.187 from .165), kills average (11.34 per set from 10.43), assists average (10.46 per set from 9.63), digs average (15.98 per set from 14.67) and blocks average (1.66 per set from 1.26). This year's team also posted the biggest turnaround in program history and set a school record with its .781 winning percentage.
More Honors: Western New England captured the Golden Bears Invitational with a perfect 3-0 record behind the play of tournament MVP Grace Kucharski and all-Invitational pick Devyn Frank. Four Golden Bears received CCC weekly awards six times, including Maureen Pollet (Sept. 17) and Tyler Singh (Oct. 22) as players of the week, Kucharski as the libero of the week (Sept. 10-17, Oct. 8) and one rookie of the week in Emily McGran (Oct. 29). In addition, Kucharski earned a spot on the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District Women's Volleyball First Team, with Academic All-America being released on Tuesday, Dec. 11. The CCC Volleyball Academic Team will be announced at a later date.
Final stats: Please visit the link, http://wnegoldenbears.com/custompages/women%27s%20volleyball/WVB2012/teamstat.htm
Thanks to the Seniors: The trio of Heather and Jennifer Mears and Inna Sergeychik is one of the winningest classes--at 77-52--in program history. Here's a brief synopsis on the three;
Heather Mears (Amherst Regional), Setter: All-CCC Second Team pick...led the conference with 1,055 assists, which is a career high and second all-time…first season as a full-time starter…finished with 1471 assists for four seasons to rank third on the school career chart...388 career digs...2011 WNE Iron Woman.
Jennifer Mears (Amherst Regional), Defensive Specialist: senior co-captain with her sister…started in 22 of 32 matches…had 236 digs, which set a personal best…also appeared in a career-best 115 sets...598 career digs...projected to be a two-time Academic All-CCC honoree.
Inna Sergeychik (West Springfield), Right-side Hitter: Compiled 246 of her 537 career digs this season, which is a personal best...2012 ECAC New England Championship MVP...named to the MIT All-Invitational Team in October...Chi Alpha Sigma chapter of the National College Athlete Honor Society inductee as a junior...2010 WNE Unsung Hero Award recipient...projected to be a three-time Academic All-CCC selection.
Looking Ahead to '13: Western New England is scheduled to return 85.2 percent of its kills, 64.9 percent of its service aces, 63.2 percent of its digs and 65.7 percent of its (individual) total blocks next year. Devyn Frank, a middle hitter, is a senior academically but she intends to use her final year of eligibility next fall. So including Frank, the Golden Bears will have four all-CCC performers back. Frank led the team with 288 kills and a second-CCC-leading .280 attack percentage (also sixth in CCC blocks at 0.68), Tyler Singh (1.85 kpg, 37 service aces, .236 for 9th in the CCC) was tied for first in the conference with 103 total blocks, Maureen Pollett (.148 attack%) led the team and ranked eighth with 2.66 kills per set, and Grace Kucharski had a squad-topping 4.70 digs per set that ranked third in the CCC (also 10th with 0.44 aces). Kendra Ouimette, a sophomore defensive specialist, came off the bench to place second in CCC service aces with 0.56 per set. Emily McGran was one of the CCC's top freshman with 1.97 kills per set, a .171 hitting percentage, 49 digs and 22 blocks.
