Ligonier Valley grad Haley Stormer provides power for Point Park volleyball as it moves to NCAA Division II

When Haley Stormer reached out to Point Park women’s volleyball coach Bridget Bielich about transferring to her program, Bielich knew almost nothing about her. So, like any fastidious coach, Bielich did her homework, beginning with some video study.

The first thing that stood out was the Ligonier Valley grad’s strength. It was an astute observation. Stormer, as it turns out, likes to keep fit by pumping iron, and she can bench press nearly 200 pounds.

It is a trait that will come in handy for the Pioneers this fall as their athletic programs step up from NAIA to NCAA Division II competition.

Point Park, which went 5-14 in the River States Conference last season, will compete in the Mountain East Conference with the likes of West Liberty, Fairmont State and Wheeling. And while it might seem odd for a Pittsburgh-area institution to play in a conference that features mostly West Virginia schools, logistically, it is a better fit for Point Park.

As Bielich noted, the volleyball team’s shortest road trip in the River States Conference last fall — roughly 2¹⁄₂ hours — will be its longest one this fall. The jump in competition is a significant one, but Bielich said she believes the Pioneers won’t be out of place in the MEC.

“I think we have a lot of the pieces that we need to compete right away at the NCAA level,” the seventh-year coach said. “We did have scholarships that we could offer (while in the NAIA), so, in that sense, I don’t think we’re too far off.

“But we are excited to have a little bit more (scholarships) in the future to really add to our roster to just complete those pieces.”

Stormer’s arrival couldn’t have come at a better time.

She spent her freshman year at Saint Vincent, appearing in all 26 matches and averaging 1.06 kills per set for the Bearcats. But despite ample playing time, she said she believed Point Park would be a better fit for the major she wanted to pursue — her degree will be in sports, arts, entertainment and music business — hence the call to Bielich.

“I really didn’t have any expectations coming in, that I would play, that I would start, that (Bielich) would have a spot for me,” said the 5-foot-11 Stormer.

Bielich found a spot for her right away. Stormer appeared in all 28 of the Pioneers’ matches and averaged 1.60 kills and 0.53 blocks per set.

Of course, she and everyone else on the roster will need to ramp up their games to meet the stiffer competition. For Stormer, that means learning to vary her approach to hitting.

As might be expected, Stormer relied almost solely on her strength to get by. Now she and Bielich are working to expand her hitting toolbox.

“During high school, I always just muscled through everything,” Stormer said. “I was always told I had a pretty strong arm, so I was just muscling through everything. Once you get to this level, that doesn’t always work. You have to be smart with how you place the ball.”

Stormer said in the team’s first practice that focused mainly on offense, she could see the benefits of using multiple shots to accumulate kills. She was finding the open areas of the court with more regularity, whether it was with her signature strength or by dialing down the velocity in favor of a better-placed shot or using more finesse.

Bielich is excited by the prospect of Stormer becoming a more well-rounded hitter.

“It’s been learning a little more of that control,” Bielich said. “She’s always been such a powerful player … using that tool and not being out of control and kind of polishing when to rip a ball, when to pull back a little bit.

“Having a big, strong, powerful middle that can really do some damage is something we’re excited about.”

Learning new hitting techniques won’t be the only challenge for Stormer. She has battled knee problems for the past several years, including patellar maltracking — a condition that causes the kneecap to move out of place — and needing surgery on her right knee in the spring. The issues even have limited the leg workouts she can do during her lifting sessions.

But she said she doesn’t anticipate her knees being an issue this fall and credited the Point Park training staff for finding methods of taping her up that have been helpful in alleviating discomfort.

Externally, she will be facing a third different level of competition in three collegiate volleyball seasons. She started with Presidents’ Athletic Conference foes at Division III Saint Vincent, followed by facing scholarship players in the NAIA and River States Conference.

Now she gets a taste of NCAA Division II.

With the benefit of a full season and offseason with her Point Park teammates, Stormer is confident she can take another step forward. She will be working with setter Elise Wallace for the second season and have one of her former setters, Ashlynn Gulakowski, as an assistant coach.

As for the team itself, Stormer said the season won’t necessarily be measured in wins and losses.

Naturally, the team has goals: going undefeated at home, hitting at least .200 collectively, finishing top five in the MEC. That might seem like an ambitious to-do list, but if all else fails, Stormer is hoping the team continues to grow and ramp up toward a successful future at its new level.

“I think it’s going to be a really great way for our team to challenge each other,” she said. “We’re challenging each other so much already.

“There are no expectations of how well we are going to play, but there is an expectation that we are all going to go out there and do our job and make our team proud. We want to make our school proud, our coaches proud. … We want to be able to do our first season in the NCAA justice.”