30 Players for 30 Years: Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Millersville women's volleyball

From its humble beginnings in Brooks Hall Gymnasium in 1990 to eight PSAC East Championships, the Millersville University women's volleyball program is celebrating its 30th anniversary in the fall of 2020. The program needed just three years to reach its first postseason and 27 years later, the 2019 Marauders broke the program record for wins and reached the NCAA Tournament. To commemorate the program's anniversary, the Millersville Athletic Communications staff has spotlighted 30 top players for the program's 30 years using postseason honors, statistical rankings, contributions to winning teams and academic excellence as criteria. 

Four women's volleyball players are members of the Millersville University Athletics Hall of Fame, seven players won conference player of the year honors and five have won the PSAC East Freshman of the Year award. 

“It has truly been an honor and rewarding to have been the coach and mentor of our Marauder volleyball program these past 10 years,” said head coach Brian Smith, who became the program's most winning coach in 2018. “We really are a very large extended family, and I’ve been blessed with so many wonderful young ladies who are making a difference in so many lives. It humbles me to have played a part in so many special lives. Our program started in 1990, three years after I graduated from the Ville. I spent countless hours playing volleyball late at night in Brooks Hall. To understand the origin of our humble beginnings and to see Pucillo packed with fans at out home matches gives me a chill and sense of pride that is hard to describe. I want to thank all of the Marauders that laid the foundation for the success and growth we have seen in recent years. We are the fruits of your labor and we are grateful for your love and support. Marauders for life!”

Araby Wineka

A member of the very first team at Millersville, Wineka was also Millersville’s first All-PSAC selection, earning postseason recognition in both 1990 and 1992. She led the team in kills in 1990 and 1991, and as a senior in 1993, she recorded a career-high 282 kills with a team-high 113 as Millersville won its first PSAC East title—just three years into the program’s existence. 

Missy Rauhauser 

The most productive setter in program history, Rauahauser earned All-PSAC recognition in each of her four seasons (1991-94). Her contributions helped Millersville to three PSAC East crowns. For 25 years, she remained the only Marauder with two seasons of 1,000 assists, and she remains the school record holder with 3,580 assists. Her .577 career ace average is also a school record while her 209 aces stood as a school record for 15 years. 

Jody Lindstrom 

In 1994, Lindstrom became the first Marauder named the PSAC East Athlete of Year. Her 371 kills and 599 digs led the team, and she helped Millersville to its third-straight PSAC East title. In 1993, Lindstrom recorded over 300 kills and digs as Millersville went 10-0 in the PSAC East.

Abby Hafer 

From 1992-1995, Hafer set the bar for all Millersville women’s volleyball players. The 1992 PSAC East Freshman of the Year and 1995 PSAC East Athlete of the Year was a four-time All-PSAC First Team selection, and the Marauders won a PSAC East title in each of her four years. In her senior season, the Marauders won their first and only PSAC Championship. Hafer still holds six school records. In 2003, she became the first volleyball player inducted into the Millersville Athletics Hall of Fame. 

Cathy Sipes

Inducted into the Millersville Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015, Cathy Sipes helped Millersville to four consecutive PSAC East titles, earning two All-PSAC East selections and an AVCA All-Atlantic Region honor in 1995. She tallied 1,167 career kills, a total that still ranks fifth all-time. Her 195 block solos still stand as a school record. All four of her seasons rank in the school’s top-10 list for block solos. Sipes’ .317 hitting percentage in 1995 is the best by a player not named Abby Hafer or Jayci Suseland. 

Jaime Martzall 

Martzall took the reigns from Hafer and Sipes and continued Millersville’s PSAC East domination. She helped the team to division titles in 1997 and 1998, scoring three All-PSAC East honors and the 1997 PSAC East Athlete of the Year Award. Even as a freshman, Martzall totaled 286 kills and ranked second with 334 kills on a PSAC Championship team. Martzall finished her career with 1,053 career kills and her .280 career hitting percentage still ranks second all-time. 

Jena Ilus

Her career started with a bang. As a freshman starter for a team that won the PSAC Championship and reached the NCAA Tournament, Ilus was named All-PSAC East Second Team . Three years later as a senior, Ilus earned first team honors. Ilus’ 3,506 career assists finished just 74 shy of the school record, and she still ranks second all-time. She also ranks sixth in career service aces. 

Lenora Bunch

Bunch was named All-PSAC East three times between 1995 and 1998. She was a member of the 1995 PSAC Championship team and won PSAC East titles in 1995, 1997 and 1998. Bunch recorded 175 or more kills three times and hit over .220 in three of her four seasons. 

Michelle Kratz

A three-time All-PSAC East selection (1996, 1997, 1998) and the 1998 PSAC East Athlete of the Year, Kratz received induction into the Millersville Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017. An outside hitter for the Marauders, Kratz is one of just four Marauders named All-PSAC East three times. She graduated with 1,101 kills, ranking third at the time. She was a member of three PSAC East championship teams.

Jen Hahn

Hahn’s career with Marauders started with the 1997 PSAC East Freshman of the Year Award and an All-PSAC East Second Team selection. Hahn started for four seasons, and when she graduated, she held the school record for block assists with 190. She also ranks 10th in block solos. 

Kellee Sheffield 

Sheffield played behind Jena Ilus for the first years of her career, but when she got her chance to start, she starred. Sheffield was named All-PSAC East First Team in 1999 after leading the Marauders with 899 assists and ranking second with 35 aces. Her performance helped the Marauders to their last PSAC East title for 19 years. 

Annie Beck

Beck’s career was bookended by the PSAC’s top honors. She won the Eastern Division’s Freshman of the Year Award as Millersville won the division title in 1998. Then, as a senior in 2001, Beck was voted the PSAC East Athlete of the Year after leading the team with 353 kills and 249 digs. 

Beth Robinson

A setter, Robinson earned All-PSAC East First Team honors after a junior season (2001) in which she led the team in assists and aces and ranked second in digs. That season against Kutztown, she set a school record with 72 assists. As a senior in 2002, Robinson earned All-PSAC East Second Team recognition after totaling a team-best 765 assists. 

Katie Koenig

A four-year starter (2001-04), Koenig recorded over 200 kills in each of her four seasons, and as a senior in 2004, she tallied 95 blocks, including a team-high 27 block solos. Koenig was named All-PSAC East Second Team in both 2003 and 2004. 

Caitlin LeBlanc

An offensive and defensive standout for the Marauders, LeBlanc was named All-PSAC East Second Team and AVCA All-Atlantic Region Honorable Mention in both 2003 and 2004. LeBlanc led the Marauders in kills and digs in both seasons and served as a team captain as a senior. Her 626 digs in 2004 ranks fifth all-time. 

Jocelyn Decker

The only Marauder to be named an All-American, Decker was voted to the AVCA’s first team in 2005 after her 790 digs set a school record which still stands. Decker’s 1,661 career digs between 2002-2005 also set a school record. 

Jennie Rohrbaugh

Inducted into the Millersville Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016, Rohrbaugh is one of just two Marauders named All-PSAC East First Team three times (2005, 2006, 2007). A do-it-all player for the Marauders, she set the program record with 1,944 digs—a mark that stood for a decade. She also totaled 1,208 career kills, which at the time ranked second. She also ranks seventh all-time in service aces. 

Pattie Pichardo

A four-year starter from 2004-2007, Pichardo graduated as the career leader in matches played with 131. When she finished her career, she ranked second in career block assists and fourth in career block solos. Her .203 career hitting percentage still ranks 10th all-time. She finished with 941 kills, leading the team in that category as a senior. 

Meredith Sinback

Named All-PSAC East Second Team twice, Sinback set numerous school records during her career with the Marauders from 2006-09. She played more matches and more sets than any other player in school history and finished with a school record 210 aces (ranking 12th in PSAC history). In one match against West Chester, she recorded a remarkable 27 aces, and her 110 aces in 2007 is still a PSAC record. 

Emily Bires

At the time of her graduation, Bires had played the second-most matches in program history and still ranks 10th in career kills with 1,034. She totaled 310 kills as a freshman, ranking second on the team. She ranked first or second on the team in kills in each of her four seasons. 

Allison Huss 

A four-year starter with the third-most sets played, Huss earned an All-PSAC East Second Team honor as a senior in 2011. She finished her career with over 1,000 kills and also ranks ninth all-time with 161 aces. She led the team in kills in 2009, 2010 and 2011. 

Katie Lesinski 

Lesinski broke onto the scene in 2011 by winning the PSAC East Freshman of the Year Award. She went on to be named All-PSAC East Second Team twice. As a senior in 2014, she became the first Marauder 16 years to record over 1,000 career kills. She finished with 1,166, currently ranking sixth all-time. 

Jessica Franz 

A fixture at setter from 2010-2013, Franz played in 130 career matches and 452 sets (seventh-most all-time). She totaled 2,661 career assists, and at the time was one of just four Marauders to ever surpass 2,500. She also tallied 181 career aces, which ranks her fifth in program history. Franz was named All-PSAC East Second Team as a junior in 2012.

Mary Paul 

A top middle blocker and consistent presence for the Marauders from 2010-2014, Paul set the program record for block assists with 327 in her career, and also ranks second in matches played, sixth in block solos and seventh in hitting percentage. She bounced back from an injury that made her miss her 2012 junior season with an All-PSAC East season in which she played in all 32 matches and ranking eighth in the PSAC in block assists and totaling 54 block solos—a total that ranked seventh all-time at the time. Paul was a two-time team captain and a four-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete. 

Brooklyn Smith 

A dynamic defensive player from her libero position, Smith destroyed the school record for career digs with 2,429—nearly 500 more than the previous record. Rightly, Smith was named PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2015. Smith is the only player with three seasons ranking in the top 10 for digs. She was also named All-PSAC East Second Team three times (2013, 2014, 2015). 

Erin Harman 

A two-sport standout at Millersville from 2014-2017, Harman was not only an All-PSAC East selection on the volleyball court, but she was also an All-PSAC and all-region pole vaulter. Harman ranks third in career kills with 1,303 and ranks ninth in career digs with 1,198. She and hall of famer Jennie Rohrbaugh are the only Marauders with 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. An outstanding student as well, Harman was named CoSIDA Academic All-District 2 in 2017. 

Jayci Suseland

Suseland’s two seasons in black and gold were as impactful as any in program history. She is the only Marauder named AVCA All-Atlantic Region First Team twice, and as a senior in 2019, she was named the PSAC’s Athlete of the Year. She also earned AVCA All-America Honorable Mention twice. With Suseland at the net, the Marauders won a PSAC East title in 2018 (its first in 19 years), and in 2019, they qualified for the NCAA Tournament for just the second time ever. Suseland’s 1,474 career kills are more than any other Marauder, and she did it with a .275 hitting percentage—the third-highest all-time. Her 465 kills in 2019 were the most ever by a Marauder. 

Katie Laughman

Among the most versatile athletes to ever wear the Black and Gold, Laughman (2016-19) started her career as the Marauders’ libero and went on to become an All-PSAC performer as a setter and the facilitator to the most productive offensive season in school history. Despite only three seasons as the primary setter, Laughman still piled up 3,290 assists, ranking third all-time, just 290 shy of the record. Laughman is also one of only two Marauders to rank in the top 10 in both career assists and digs. Her 1,283 assists in 2019 broke a school record that had stood since 1992. She joined Missy Rauhauser as the only Marauders with 1,000 assists in two seasons. 

Lindsey Blevins

Blevins has yet to write the ending to her story, but she’s already one of the most productive outside hitters in program history. She was named All-PSAC East Second Team as a sophomore in 2018 and earned All-PSAC Third Team recognition as a junior in 2019. Her 395 kills in 2019—as Millersville reached the NCAA Tournament—ranks fifth all-time. She surpassed 1,000 career kills as a junior, and with 1,062, she is within range of the school record with a full season. 

Kat Forry

The starting libero for a PSAC East Championship team and a NCAA Tournament qualifying team, Forry can still add to her already stellar resume. She’s played in all but one set in her first three seasons and ranks fourth in career digs with 1,560. Forry is one of three players with at least two seasons of 500 or more digs, and with another season to play, she aims to join Brooklyn Smith as the only players with three.