The Ithaca College volleyball team is back and is ready to defend its title following back-to-back Liberty League Championships in 2022 and 2023 and advancing to the regional semifinal round in the NCAA tournament in 2023. With a new head coach and a new class coming in, expectations are high for the season.
Head coach Tara Stilwell said that despite all of the changes over the summer, the team will have the same focus as its Liberty League Championship seasons.
“The goal is always to win the Liberty League, reach the NCAA tournament and make it as far as we can,” Stilwell said. “We have a very strong team and I think we can get very far this year.”
Stilwell, an alum of the program, served two seasons as a graduate assistant and assistant coach before joining Cornell University’s volleyball team as an assistant coach in 2023. Stilwell said her past experience within the program and her relationship with the players will help propel the team toward a successful campaign.
“[There are] a lot of the leaders, especially that senior class I have coached before when I was an assistant, and there’s a foundation of trust there,” Stilwell said. “I think we can build off of that and grow from it. My expectation is high for this young group of women as the team comradery and cohesion is amazing.”
One of those athletes Stilwell previously worked with is graduate student defensive specialist Julia Costa. Costa said it will be important to have that aspect of familiarity at the helm, as it will help drive the desire to push the team forward.
“She’s been awesome and I had the privilege of having her as an assistant coach my freshman and sophomore years,” Costa said. “She knows this program inside and out because she’s a former alumni. She’s been making sure we get on top of our workouts and the schedule for preseason and she really seems like she’s fully into it and we’re all super excited.”
Costa said that even with all of the new faces around the team, there are no expectations that there will be any major changes from past seasons and that the approach will remain the same.
“I don’t think it’s going to be completely different,” Costa said. “There are going to be some changes, but I think that in terms of intensity and the energy, this is going to be a really gritty and hardworking season. We all know that from the coaching shift, Coach Stilwell is more new-school while [former coach Johan Dulfer] was more old-school. That’s going to elevate our game to make that extra step to the Elite Eight and Final Four.”
Going into her second season, sophomore outside hitter Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu said other teams will see them as the standard, and continue to chase them for the championship.
“I feel like coming off of a win in the Liberty League, we’re always going to be a target,” Gonzalez-Abreu said. “Keeping that aggressive mentality when we play everyone no matter what team it is, even with all these people trying to get to the post that we have. With the team that we have, we’re all strong and capable of so much.”
Gonzalez-Abreu said the team will need to maintain the same drive it had during her first year in order to sustain its consistent level of success.
“We need to stay working hard,” Gonzalez-Abreu said. “For my first year it wasn’t a problem as everyone was very driven and never really faltered. I don’t think it will this season either and we’ve made it clear throughout the summer what we expect of the upcoming first years, as everyone depends on each other.”
With Dulfer retiring, a new era begins for the program. Looking back on her experience competing for Dulfer, Costa said he fostered athletes’ confidence in their ability to compete and perform at the highest level.
“Coach Dulfer was a huge part in my development over the last three seasons by believing in me in the moments when I didn’t believe in myself,” Costa said. “He instilled into me the mindset of what it means to be a true libero.”
Going into her final season, Costa said she is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Stilwell once again as she begins her tenure as head coach.
“I’m looking forward to ending my volleyball career with some of my best friends as well as having coach Stilwell as my head coach,” Costa said. “She was my assistant coach my freshman and sophomore year so it feels like a full circle moment that I get to end my career where she starts her new one.”
Echoing Costa’s thoughts, Stilwell is ready to return to South Hill for a great season.
“I’m really excited to be back at Ithaca,” Stilwell said. “I’m excited to be back as the head coach of the team [and] inheriting this young group of women, as they’re extremely talented. This is my first head coaching job and I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.”
The Bombers opened the season Aug. 30 at Springfield College for the Springfield College Invitational, defeating Springfield College and Rivier University in three sets, but falling to Stevens University in five sets.
