Meet the Top 11 girls volleyball players to watch in Butler County ahead of 2024 PIAA season
Butler girls volleyball coach Meghan Lucas is aware of how tough WPIAL Section 1-4A is. She’s just not sure everyone else is.
“We do not get the credit,” she said. “We have three sections in (Class) 4A right now. When playoff time comes, only four of the teams out of our section are going to make it. However, our four teams are usually the last four when it comes to WPIALs.
“It’s harder for us to get through our section than it is to get through the first two rounds of playoffs. It’s just what it is.”
It’s not getting any easier, either, with North Catholic joining the mix in Section 1-4A this season.
“We have to have the best section in the state,” Seneca Valley coach Brett Poirier said. “We’ve got Pine-Richland, we’ve got North Allegheny, we’ve got Shaler. I mean, we’re loaded. Now you put North Catholic in there with Seneca Valley — and Butler’s young and good. North Hills is getting better every year.”
With such a tough grouping at the highest classification — along with successful programs such as Freeport — take a look at the Butler County area’s players to watch in 2024, listed alphabetically by school:
Using an offseason of work with Butler’s track and field team and club volleyball, the Golden Tornado’s senior duo sharpened its abilities.
Lehman, an outside hitter who was part of Butler’s state-qualifying 1,600-meter relay quartet, is a three-year starter Lucas described as a natural athlete who’s improved and matured while playing year-round. She figures to lead the team in kills this fall.
Popovich, a middle hitter, packs an impressive vertical leap and the knack to read hitters.
The Yellowjackets sport a relatively inexperienced team with a lineup that could include two or three freshmen. The situation makes Whitlinger and Schreckengost, both seniors and outside hitters, that much more important.
Whitlinger will be heavily relied upon by the Yellowjackets in the coming months. She led the team in kills last year, averaging 11 per match. She was one of three underclassmen to make the WPIAL Class 2A first team and also made the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association All-Star squad.
Schreckengost, a classmate of Whitlinger’s who plays on the opposite side, was a third-team All-WPIAL performer.
The tandem competes for Revolution Volleyball Club, as well.
Fox, a sophomore, is one of the few Gremlins who play competitive volleyball in the offseason. She will likely be a starting setter for Karns City after leading the JV team in assists last year.
Fox will be setting up Venesky, a junior who played middle hitter last year but is sliding to outside this time around.
“I have noticed already through our summer league that any time Addison and Naomi are in at the same time, we get a decent run going,” Gremlins second-year coach Taylor Callihan said. “Their communication is spot-on.”
The Trojanettes climb to the highest classification in the WPIAL strapped with a dependable defensive core and a solid senior class.
There won’t be any leaders more important than Cozza and Koziara.
This will be the latter’s fourth season as a starter for North Catholic, helping the program to the highest of heights. Cozza, a University of North Carolina pledge, is running the offense as a setter for the second year.
Trojanettes coach Amanda Fetter anticipates the pair continuing with the same sort of success as before.
The Raiders recently took part in an 18-team camp at Juniata College and won 27 of the 30 sets they played. Reese and Peffer were big reasons for the preseason success.
Reese, a senior setter and 2023 WPIAL Section 1-4A second-teamer, helped now-graduated Bria Stepp total more than 200 kills last season. Reese had more than 450 assists and nearly 200 digs during that campaign.
“It’s her show this year,” Poirier said. “She’s my leader, she’s my captain. She’s just a calm presence.”
Peffer, a junior outside hitter who stands 6 feet tall, is a consistent and versatile performer who will be counted on to put the ball away and could stay on the floor the whole time.
First-year Damsels coach Lexis Twentier watched from the bleachers last year. Wetzel, then a freshman, caught her eye with her talent with attacking the ball.
Wetzel, an outside hitter who will also be tried out in back, has only improved, badgering Twentier for multiple offseason workout plans.
