Lady Saints Volleyball Announces 2024 Roster
Liberal, Kansas – Following her first season manning the helm for the Seward County Volleyball program, Aubrey Wilson has put together her 2024 roster for her second year as the Head Coach of the Lady Saints that features four returners from last year's squad that is joined by a large group of new faces to Seward County fans.
Leading the way for the returners is middle Lajla Rasljanin who was a force at the net on both sides as a freshman a season ago, leading her team in blocks with 95 on the year which included 11 in a big KJCCC win over Colby 3-2. Joining Rasljanin at the middle spot will be fellow returner Marcelina Pyka who recorded 88 kills and 61 blocks as a freshman while putting up multiple games of 5 or more kills and had 8 blocks in a 3-0 sweep over Pratt.
Also returning to the Green House will be Keala Wilson who is a threat at multiple positions for Seward County entering the 2024 campaign after ranking second on the team in kills with 242 as a freshman. The final returner for Seward County is defensive specialist Lisa Gomez who helped man the back line for the Lady Saints as a year ago, recording 182 digs with 8 service aces as a prime defensive presence for SCCC.
Returning to her hometown to join the Lady Saints for the 2024 season will be sophomore transfer and Liberal native Lizzy Cisneros who suited up for the Pratt Beavers last season as their primary Libero, leading the Beavers in digs with 356 on the season with an average of 3.52 digs per set.
Making their collegiate debuts this season for the Lady Saints will be ten freshmen who come from all over the world at every position to help fill in vacant spots left by four-year signees from the 2023 squad including Rafaela DaSilva, Clara Duarte, Dora Filipovic, and Winiffer Rodriguez.
"We have an exciting year ahead of us. The girls have been working super hard for the past couple weeks and we get to show off all our hard work in a couple scrimmages this week before we hit our schedule running next week" said Head Coach Aubrey Wilson. "There's a lot of new this year with a core group of returners that we will depend on for not only their volleyball, but their leadership on and off the court. We are excited to have our key returners Keala, Lajla, Marcelina, and Lisa while adding a Liberal Native, Lizzy Cisneros. Our new group of freshmen is a very fun and hard-working group with a lot of potential that is expected to take on some key roles this season. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work with this group and continue to help them grow and succeed on the court, in the classroom, and as great young women."
There will be old and new faces all over the court with the full listing of the 2024 roster listed below:
Returners:
- Lisa Gomez – (So. / DS / Risaralda)
- Marcelina Pyka – (So. / MH / Poland)
- Lajla Rasljanin – (So. / MH / Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Keala Wilson – (So. / RS / Bennington, Kansas)
Newcomers:
- Camden Bizot – (Fr. / S / Texas)
- Lizzy Cisneros – (So. / DS / Liberal, Kansas)
- Sophia Escolano – (Fr. / S / Brazil)
- Samantha Estes – (Fr. / DS / Douglass, Kansas)
- Meloni Miller – (Fr. / S / Colorado)
- Beniz Mirel Tasdemir – (Fr. / DS / Turkey)
- Ana Nikolic – (Fr. / OH / Serbia)
- Zeynep Olcay Balci – (Fr. / MH / Turkey)
- Mariana Silva – (Fr. / OH / Brazil)
Seward County will begin their 2024 season on the road throughout the month of August as they start their campaign off in McCook for the McCook Invitational for four games over a two day span on August 23rd and 24th.