Once skeptical of La Roche, Leechburg grad Kalli Grine now key part of Redhawks volleyball team

La Roche women’s volleyball coach Nicole Bajuszik remembers the first time she saw Kalli Grine play. Grine, a sophomore at Leechburg at the time, was taking part in a volleyball showcase when she was spotted by Bajuszik and a host of other coaches.

“Every coach wanted her,” Bajuszik said.

With good reason. At well over 6-feet tall, Grine was an imposing presence in the middle and still had room to grow physically and volleyball-wise. Bajuszik made her best sales pitch, but Grine wasn’t interested.

As Grine, now a junior at La Roche, tells it, she already had her mind made up that she was going to commit to “another school in West Virginia.” She had spent her “recruit night” with the program and was set to sign.

That is until something — Grine still isn’t sure exactly what — made her rethink her options. She ended up reaching out to Bajuszik.

“She called and said, ‘Do you remember me?’ ” Bajuszik said. “I said, ‘Of course I remember you!’ ”

Grine then spent a recruiting night at La Roche and was sold. The Redhawks have been better for it.

Last season, La Roche advanced to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference semifinals — Bajuszik said the program hadn’t been that far in a number of years — before being edged by Penn State Altoona in five sets. And it was the most frustrating of five-set losses: Penn State Altoona won via reverse sweep, i.e., La Roche won the first two sets before Altoona won the last three.

Grine had a match-high 16 kills to go with four block assists and five digs. But her game effort wasn’t enough to change the outcome.

How close was La Roche to winning the AMCC title? Altoona eventually defeated Alfred to win the conference title and earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

“That was a big thing. It was frustration,” Grine said. “We worked super hard to get to that point. I think we can take that frustration from last year and just use it to get in that position again. We really let ourselves down.”

La Roche was picked to finish in the middle — fifth of nine — in the AMCC preseason poll. But that is where the Redhawks finished last season (tied for fourth) before coming ever-so-close to reaching the final.

While La Roche returned a number of key players aside from Grine — Knoch grads Kenzie Kerkan and Quinn Hughes, both 2023 all-conference players, among them — and added a key, veteran transfer — Megan Bologna, a Plum grad who previously played at Point Park — there is a youth element to the 2024 version of the team. Eight freshmen dot the roster, including Brooke Bednarski, who took over as setter.

Through their first 10 matches, the Redhawks were 5-5. AMCC play, however, won’t start until Oct. 8, so Bajuszik and her team have plenty of time to iron out the wrinkles.

“It’s going to take a little bit more time for all of us to get to know each other,” said Grine, who serves as a captain along with Hughes and Kerkan. “… And that really matters, not just knowing each other on the court but outside the court.”

Grine, who was a third-team all-conference player last fall, has picked up where she left off. She is averaging 2.23 kills per set and 0.94 blocks per set. Her high point was a 15-kill, three-block effort in a 3-2 win over Saint Vincent and again in a win over Bethany.

Those kinds of numbers might be expected from a player who stands 6-foot-4, towering over most of the players she faces. But Bajuszik said Grine is more than just a long body at the net.

“Everyone looks at Kalli and says, ‘we have to figure out how to get around her because she’s so tall and such a big presence,’ ” the coach said. “But I think it’s important for everyone to know that not only is she that presence, but she works really hard at that.

“Talent is beautiful, but it takes grit and a belief in something, and that’s Kalli.”

Included in the work Grine had to put in to prepare for the season was forging a connection with Bednarski. There was, as might be expected, some trepidation at first.

The timing and communication between a setter and hitter is a lot like that between a quarterback and a receiver. They are qualities that must be developed over time.

“I had a really good connection last year with our setter, and that was all I could think about,” Grine said. “Is this new setter going to have the same connection I had with the setter last year? But she really proved to me that it was almost the same.

“It was right from the start. She could set me the ball perfectly.”

The hope now is all the freshmen and upperclass players will form the same kind of connection. There is a long way to go between now and the AMCC Tournament, and La Roche hopes to be one of the teams there at the end.

“We have such a talented group of girls this year,” Bajuszik said. “A lot of returners that have a lot of depth for our core. We brought in a really, really great crop of freshmen who are very strong and very court-aware. … They really, truly want to take that championship.”

Added Grine: “I think the key is just having the dedication to it. There are times when some people just look like they’re giving up. But just lifting each other up and knowing where we want to go, we just can’t give up and (must) keep pushing hard every day.”