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WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – After losing three of the team’s top five hitters from 2010, Lycoming College volleyball head coach Tim McMahon knew he needed to rework the Warrior offense through the middle of the court, where the team returned one of its most experienced players. The plan worked, and with the emergence of junior Jackie Oliva (Barnesville, Pa./Mahanoy Area) into one of the Commonwealth Conference’s best players, the team, predicted to finish in a tie for sixth in the preseason coaches’ poll, has turned into the league’s biggest surprise, reaching the league semifinals for the first time since joining the league in 2007.
 
The fourth-seeded Warriors (15-19 overall) kick off their Commonwealth Conference championship run on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. at top-seeded Messiah (24-5 overall). If Lycoming wins, they will advance to the championship where it will face the winner of the Lebanon Valley and Widener match on Saturday, Nov. 5.
 
Lycoming’s offense has been driven all season by the 6-0 Oliva, who in her first year as a starter is fifth in the league with 2.59 kills per set and fourth with a .287 hitting percentage. In the conference, the middle hitter has been even better, averaging 3.25 kills per set and hitting .409, which was the second-best mark in the league. Oliva also leads the team with 0.61 blocks per set.
 
Sophomore right side Shelby Gear (Rochester, N.Y./Gates-Chili) has provided a welcome complement in the middle to Oliva, as she has come on strong in the last two weeks and is second on the team with 2.33 kills per set and 53 blocks. Gear also stepped up to the challenge of conference matches, averaging 2.71 kills per set and hitting .264.
 
On the outside, freshman Amber Seibel (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) has developed into one of the team’s top players, averaging not just 1.95 kills per set as the team’s top outside hitter, but also adding a team-high 3.57 digs per set, which is also fifth in the league, and 0.35 aces per set. The return of sophomore Lacey Sollenberger (New Enterprize, Pa./North Bedford) after an injury kept her from the lineup for much of the first month has also helped the Warriors, as she has contributed 2.05 kills per set to the balanced Warrior attack.
 
Sophomore Katelyn McKillop (Mount Pocono, Pa./Pocono Mountain West) has developed into one of the top setters in the league. She finished third in the league with an average of 9.07 assists per set and second with an average of 0.43 service aces per set while also adding 2.70 digs and 0.29 blocks per stanza. She needs just eight assists against Messiah to become the seventh player in school history to post 1,000 in a season.
 
On the back row, Seibel has combined with sophomore Kassidy Sedore (Stormville, N.Y./Spackenkill) and freshman Kristin Whitehead (Avon, Ohio/Avon) to form an energetic and gritty corps. Sedore has stepped into the libero role late in the season and has posted 300 digs while Whitehead has been a key defensive specialist all year, averaging 3.49 digs per set.
 
A deep rotation has helped the Warriors all season, as senior Heather Keller (Quarryville, Pa./Solanco), sophomore Kendra Bitner (Newville, Pa./Big Springs), sophomore Chelsee Strine (South Boardman, Mich./Forest Area) and freshman Sara Petokas (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock Area) have also been major factors for the team.
 
The Warriors surged into the league playoffs with 3-0 wins over Alvernia and Albright to finish the round robin regular season with a 4-3 record. After a league-opening loss at Messiah to open the season, the Warriors came back to post a 3-0 win at Arcadia and a 3-2 win over preseason conference favorite Elizabethtown before losses to Lebanon Valley and Widener left the Warriors in a tie for fourth leading into the matches with Albright and Alvernia.
 
One of the Warriors top factors in their success is a trio of strong servers that are all in the top 10 in league games in the category, with McKillop second with an average of 0.58 per set, Keller fourth at 0.50 and Seibel sixth at 0.46.
 
Lycoming last made the postseason in 2006, when they left the Freedom Conference by taking the league’s crown with a 3-2 win at Scranton.
 
Messiah, led by a trio of experienced players in junior Lauren Rees, junior Lindsay King and senior Megan Wise, posted a perfect 7-0 record in the conference. Rees finished second in Commonwealth Conference matches with an average of 3.62 kills per set and King led the league in service aces (0.61) and blocks per set (1.39). Wise, the team’s libero, added 4.78 digs per set in league games.