By Joel Fuzo / The Jambar
The Youngstown State University women’s volleyball team has to make season preparations inside of Stambaugh Stadium while Beeghly Center continues scheduled renovations.
With the start of the season scheduled for Aug. 30, first-year head coach Riley Jarrett gave her thoughts on the 2024 campaign and renovations.
“I never played in Beeghly, I had a few spring practices in there with them, but having our team this fall we haven’t gotten to go in there at all,” Jarrett said. “Stambaugh is a great facility, we can set up six nets if we want, we’ve been able to do a lot in there.”
Isabel Schaefbauer, a fifth-year senior who played her collegiate career in Beeghly, shared her feelings on the matter.
“It’s been a weird adjustment but obviously they’ve done a really nice job on the court here in Stambaugh and we’re really excited to see all the new improvements in the Beeghly Center,” Schaefbauer said.
YSU will start the season without a single home game until Sept. 20 against Kent State University. Jarrett said the long road stretch will prove to be a good opportunity for the team to bond.
“It will be a long road stretch for us in the beginning but I think that we’ll face some adversity with that and I’m excited for us to learn from that,” Jarrett said.
Jarrett said that her approach to handling each team on the schedule will remain consistent throughout the season.
“I want to treat it the same, so every game on our schedule is going to be important for us,” Jarrett said.
Alongside Jarrett, a new coaching staff followed her to Youngstown State such as Maddie Clayton and Grace Wilson, the new assistant volleyball coaches. A slew of new players also joined the program, which Jarrett said she is excited about.
“The transfer portal is crazy, in every sport. We have a few new [players] this year and we already had a few that were on the roster in the past,” Jarrett said.
The new transfer additions to the roster include fifth-year senior Nyia Setla from West Liberty University and junior Bianca Giglio from Marshall University.
Schaefbauer talked about her insight on how she views the current team.
“I’m really excited and I think we’ve already seen a lot of improvement from our team and that we’re going to be in a really good spot this year,” Schaefbauer said.
The University of Connecticut tournament will have Youngstown State face off against Sacred Heart University, Long Island University and UConn.
YSU will play its first game against Sacred Heart University on Aug. 30 to kickoff the UConn tournament.