The 1999 Eagles, with just one upperclassman on its roster, was deceptively experienced, as five of the six starters had at least one year of college playing behind them. The young Eagles added to their experience, playing a top-flight schedule that included tournaments at Gettysburg College, Elizabethtown College, Rutgers University-Newark, and Carholic University.
As a testament to their scrappy, tenacious nature, the Eagles took eight matches to five games. MWC won three of those contests, including two within the span of a week, over Lynchburg College and York College of PA. Leading the way for MWC this fall was junior Chrissi Stoehr, who was named GTE Academic All-Region for the second consecutive season after ranking among national leaders in blocking and setting the school record for single match block assists, with thirteen against Salisbury State University.
Also returning for 2000 is rising junior hitter Monica Bintz, who also received GTE Academic All-Region honors in '99. Bintz, one of the top hitters in the Capital Athletic Conference, led the team with 266 kills and a .229 hitting average, and improved greatly throughout her sophomore season. Also returning for MWC is outside hitter Jessica Collings, who broke the MWC record for single-match kills, with 24 against Lynchburg College in October.
Collings, perhaps the Eagles' top all-around player, finished second on the team in kills (247) and had the second-highest total of digs in school history (353). Teammate Sarah Libby, a rising sophomore, also eclipsed the school mark for digs, with 371. Libby proved to be one of the top freshmen in the CAC a year ago, adding 223 kills and 45 service aces to her team-leading digs total while starting every match of the season. Rising juniors Kathy Gochenour and Mary Barton rounded ou the lineup in '99. Gochenour emerged in her sophomore season after injuries limited her play as a freshman in 1998, as she played in all 188 games, registering 193 kills, 267 digs, 55 blocks, 39 assists, and 35 service aces.
Barton, the team's setter, scored 864 assists in one hundred games, and added 192 digs and 38 service aces. The Eagles of '99 opened the year with a pair of three game wins, over Christopher Newport University and North Carolina Wesleyan College. After taking a win in four matches at the prestigious Gettysburg College Tournament, split their next four matches, with victories over Goucher College and Dickinson College. In a 3-2 loss to Salisbury State University, Chrissi Stoehr had six solo blocks and a school-record 13 block assists.
The Eagles split four matches at Elizabethtown College's tournament, then won two more matches at Rutgers-Newark's annual event. The Eagles ended September with a classic 3~2 win at Marymount University, who had been undefeated in conference play at the time. Jessica Collings paced four Eagles in double figures in kills with twelve in the thrilling five-game win.
The Eagles would go on to take two more five-game victories within the span of a week, over York and Lynchburg College. Stoehr had 13 kills and 18 assists, and Bintz added eleven kills and eight blocks in the York victory. Collings set a school record with 24 kills and added 23 digs in the Lynchburg win. The growing maturity of the team grew throughout the season, and that, along with another top recruiting year, should continue to mold the Eagles into a winner in 2000. With no players lost to graduation, competition will be at an all time high for playing time in 2000, as Coach Conway has assembled a top class of recruits to challenge the returners for starting spots and playing time. Should the talented newcomers and battletested veterans gel quickly, MWC will have the chance ro again rise to the top of the Capital Athletic Conference and again challenge for league, and national tournament successes.