The ENC Women’s Volleyball team welcomes six new players into their program for the 2018 season.
The new recruits are: Amya Altman, Gabrielle DiCamillo, Halle Julian, Jessica Caldwell, Milica Ivanovic, and Ruth Aguilar. Of these six new players, Junior Milica Ivanovic is the only one who is not a first-year student.
Head coach Derek Schmitt is excited to have these new players on board and believes that they have already made a big impact this season. The volleyball team just completed a six-game winning streak, which hasn’t been done since 1996. Most of the new players see consistent playing time; he feels they have adapted well to his program. Since the team already consisted of four sophomores and four upper class players, he states, “It is a young team who is doing pretty well but can still play better.” Overall, the team has meshed well together. Coach Schmitt says, “It is a good group [of new recruits] added to a good group of returners.”
Ruth Aguilar is from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where she played volleyball at the International School of Tegucigalpa, as well as on the Junior National team from Honduras. She heard about ENC through Andrea Sawtelle, the youth pastor at Wollaston Church of the Nazarene, whom she met while Sawtelle was on a missions trip in Honduras. Sawtelle told Coach Schmitt to look into her. Aguilar is a setter for the Lions, and averages 3.81 assists per set. She was drawn to ENC for its Christian environment and friendly atmosphere. She mentions that “the transition from high school volleyball to college volleyball isn’t too difficult, it’s more the leaving from Honduras to the United States.” She feels the season is going well and likes the team’s positive attitude. “We really all love each other and are very united and I think that is going to take us far,” she explains.
Recruit Milica Ivanovic transferred to ENC from Casper College, a junior college in Wyoming. She is working towards her degree in engineering. She was discovered by ENC through a recruiting agency that contacted Coach Schmitt. She is originally from Montenegro, Europe. Her decision to transfer to ENC stemmed from her desire to be on the East Coast. Ivanovic is a middle blocker with fourteen blocking assists in her total sets played thus far. She reveals: “I love the team and hope we will win our conference because we are capable.” Ivanovic is happy with her decision to come to ENC to be a student-athlete.
Combined with their performance so far, the harmony of the ENC Women’s volleyball team bodes well for the season. ENC’s community is looking forward to the next games. Get it Lions!