The Pace women’s volleyball team is starting strong this season, winning the East Stroudsburg University Tournament with a record of 4-0.

The team’s performance in the tournament was nothing short of dominant, sweeping Lincoln University, Caldwell University, and East Stroudsburg University. The Setters then beat Bluefield State College by a score of 3-1 to win the tournament.

The team’s hot start can be attributed to preseason differences from this year and years past. Head Coach, Karrin Moore, was pleased with the team’s “unselfish” play.

“We have really gone after the whole ‘team-first’ mentality,” Coach Moore said, “It does not matter who plays as long as we are winning, and the girls in preseason have really latched on to that and so far it works.”

The team’s first play stems from good communication between all of the players.

“We are a very loud team in general,” said senior co-captain and outside hitter, Samantha Marquez. “We have a cheer for each player on the team and that really hypes us up a lot.”

Coach Moore isn’t the only one noticing the good team continuity.

“I have never had as many compliments as I have received at the East Stroudsburg about how our team looked,” Moore said. “People complimented how we looked and played together, so that was definitely awesome.”

In addition to good continuity, the team’s overall maturity and ability to take leadership has also been impressive.

“It’s one by one people jumping on board to help lead this team,” said junior co-captain and outside hitter, Sydney Lecker. “Having that team mentality makes us a much better volleyball team.”

Another positive for this volleyball team has been the addition of six freshman players who have already made an impact on the court.

One of those freshman players is libero, Danielle Vaiano, who has received some major recognition early in the season.

“She came in and filled in the shoes of Rebecca Italiano, who was ranked as the fifth best libero last year,” said Moore. “Danielle has already gotten the libero of the week award and is also currently leading the Northeast-10 in digs per set. It’s only the first weekend but it’s still exciting for a freshman to do that well on opening weekend.”

While coach Moore is happy with her team’s impressive start, she admits that there is still plenty of room to grow.

“There is always something to improve on as far as offense, or getting better at the relentless pursue,” Moore said. “There is always another notch that I know that they can get to. I’m happy with where they are but I know there is more.”