Women’s volleyball has been heading into their season strong. 

This year’s roster shows a great deal of promise, with seven returning upperclassmen: seniors Allison Fitzgerald and Allie Loitz and juniors Ashley Knight, Emily Davine, Michelle Matthews, Darcy Wolf and Amanda Pederson-Henry.

There is talent among the underclassmen, too, from sophomores Remy Fairchild, Emma Decker, Allie Olsonoski and Regan Lough and freshmen Jenna Greenberg, Mallory Potts and Sarah Allman.

The Wildcats kicked off their season with a triple victory in Charlottesville, Virginia, against Liberty, Hofstra and Virginia, on Aug. 26.

This season opening tournament, the University of Virginia Tournament, was the perfect introduction to what looks like a bright future for this year’s team. 

Some exciting statistics from the tournament include sophomore Emma Decker with a record 41 of the team’s 48 assists in their game against Liberty, whom the Wildcats defeated they won 3-0.

Junior middle blocker Pederson-Henry was similarly impressive and ended the game against Hofstra with 21 points on 17 kills to earn the tournament’s MVP honors. 

The players then headed out west, where they had a 1-2 record at the University of San Diego Invitational over Sept. 1-2.

Senior outside hitter Allie Loitz finished their match against Texas with seven kills, one assist and three digs. Loitz continued to perform well and concluded the team’s game against Georgia Tech two days later with 21 kills and eight digs.

Freshman, Mallory Potts totaled an impressive seven kills in their game against the tournament’s home team, the University of San Diego. 

The team’s home opener the Villanova Classic tournament produced a 2-1 record. 

The Wildcats competed against visitors Princeton, UConn and Albany. Loitz and Potts came out again with great kill statistics in each game and led their team’s highest kill stats for the weekend (Potts’s 13 kills against Princeton being the highest). 

All eyes are on Potts this season as a result of her impressive performance at these first few tournaments.

She went on to be named BIG EAST Freshman of the week on Sept. 12, following the home opener tournament, her performance likewise landed her a position on the All-Tournament team.

The San Antonio native has been an influential force for this year’s team thus far, leading the team in kill statistics for the home opener.

Since these first tournaments, the team has continued to play well and has a 7-6 record. It is 0-2 in the BIG EAST conference.

Other big names worth the mention include Remy Fairchild who had 16 kills in Villanova’s victory against Temple and Darcy Wolf who had 10 kills in a loss against Creighton on this past Sunday.  

The Wildcat’s season continues Sept. 29 vs. Xavier at 7 p.m. and Sept. 30 against Butler at 3 p.m.