In a year of celebrating history and tradition, WVU Volleyball has a new look.
After nine seasons under the direction of head coach Reed Sunahara, including one with the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championships in 2021, 13-year Washington State head coach Jen Greeny will lead the Mountaineers in 2024.
Upon being hired, Greeny, whose Washington State Cougars made the NCAA Tournament in the last eight seasons consecutively, made it a point that her first season at WVU would not be like Sunahara’s last. Seven months after her appointment, Greeny has lived up to that promise, recruiting a roster where over half of its players are newcomers.
Sticking with West Virginia after last year’s 9-22 regular season and 2-16 Big 12 campaign are starters 6’2″ Lauren DeLo at setter, 6’2″ senior pin hitter Hailey Green, and 6’2″ sophomore middle Maddy McGath. Each had stand-out seasons for the Mountaineers in 2023, with DeLo tallying 1,061 assists, Green leading the team with 418 kills, 13.5 per match, and McGath tallying the Mountaineers’ third most kills (208) and second most blocks (76) as a freshman.
6’4″ junior right side Lauren Bodily, who was out most of last season with injury, will also be returning to the Mountaineers, as will senior defensive specialist Kristen McBride and 6’0″ hitter and passer Quincey Coyle.
Despite the decent foundation left to her, though, Greeny’s goal was always to build the roster from the ground up. This is something Greeny said should be made easier than it was at Washington State due to the introduction of the transfer portal in 2018, which makes her hopeful that she will take less than the six seasons she needed at Washington State to bring the Mountaineers to the postseason.
New Mountaineers leading Greeny’s transformation in 2024 include freshmen Eily Painter and Nina Svetina, who play Libero and outside hitter respectively.
Painter stands at 5’4″ and hails from Pottsville, Pa., where she earned a first team AAA All-State selection in one of the most competitive high school volleyball scenes in the country. Painter will be competing against another new recruit, 5’6″ graduate student Sydney Reed, for playing time. Reed played for North Carolina as a freshman before spending her last three seasons at Wisconsin, where she played in seven matches last season for the Final Four qualifiers.
6’0″ Svetina comes to WVU from Slovenia, where she placed first at the Beachvolley Nationals and Nationals tournaments in 2023 for her club Gimnazija Šiška and was crowned champion at the 2023 European Youth Olympic Festival. She has also been a member of her age group’s Slovenian National Team for the past three seasons.
Rounding out the list of new recruits are 6’0″ graduate student Cassidy Tanton, who qualifies as a junior after being redshirted in her first of three seasons at Auburn, as well as 5’11” sophomore setter Alexis Finnvold from Louisville, junior middles Laila Ibrahim from Coppin State and Chalina Lederer from Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla.
Ibrahim stands out with the most competitive experience as of late after leading her Coppin State Eagles to their first MEAC Championship victory and an NCAA Tournament appearance last year. Ibrahim had a team-best .338 hitting percentage for 201 kills and led the MEAC in blocks with 111 in 32 matches.
The Mountaineers kick off their 50th season this fall at the Wake Forest Invitational against Navy on August 30. The team will travel to three tournaments and two away matches before making its home debut on Sep. 25 against Cincinnati.
Photo from WVU Women’s Volleyball
