THROOP \u2013 Excited players entered Mid Valley High School, exchanged pleasantries, enjoyed lunch, and had a good time at the Lackawanna League Girls Volleyball Coaches\u2019 Media Day on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The sport\u2019s growth has energized players locally.<\/p>\n
This season, the Lackawanna League has 16 member programs, divided into two divisions based on competitive level. The last time the league had two divisions was in 2022 and had only 11 sponsored teams.<\/p>\n
Mid Valley, Scranton, West Scranton, and Valley View joined in 2023. Lakeland became a member in 2024.<\/p>\n
With the new alignment, teams will play against division opponents twice with home-and-home matches.<\/p>\n
Division I teams include Abington Heights, last season\u2019s undefeated league champion; Blue Ridge; Dunmore; North Pocono; Montrose; Mountain View; Scranton; and Western Wayne. Those programs had a combined 88-32 league record. Mountain View was last season\u2019s District 2 Class 1A champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of starters back, and there are not a lot of changes for us,\u201d Montrose\u2019s Molly Weller said. \u201cWe have the same chemistry as we had last year. We are working harder on our skills to help us go farther.\u201d<\/p>\n
Division II teams include Elk Lake; Forest City; Lackawanna Trail; Lakeland; Mid Valley; Susquehanna; Valley View; and West Scranton. Valley View (8-7) was the only team in the group with a winning league record in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am really excited this year; we have a bunch of returning players and a bunch of new players,\u201d West Scranton\u2019s Sophia DeLuca said. \u201cWe need to have good communication and team leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the changes to the Lackawanna League\u2019s structure, the PIAA expanded to six classifications.<\/p>\n
Scranton and West Scranton compete in the District 2-4 Class 6A subregional. Delaware Valley, a Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association program that competes in the Wyoming Valley Conference, Hazleton Area, Pittston Area, Wilkes-Barre Area, Wyoming Valley West, and Williamsport, a District 4 member, are also in the largest classification.<\/p>\n
In Class 5A, Abington Heights and North Pocono will compete with Berwick and Dallas.<\/p>\n
Forest City, which co-sponsors with Carbondale Area, and Valley View join Crestwood, Nanticoke Area, Tunkhannock, and Wyoming Area in Class 4A.<\/p>\n
Four Lackawanna League teams will compete in Class 3A: Lakeland, Mid Valley, Montrose, and Western Wayne. Hanover Area and traditional power Holy Redeemer are also in the classification.<\/p>\n
Six Lackawanna League members make up Class 2A: Blue Ridge, Dunmore, Elk Lake, Lackawanna Trail, Mountain View, and Susquehanna.<\/p>\n
MMI Prep is the lone District 2 team in Class 1A. The Preppers will be challenging for a playoff spot with District 4 members Galeton, Northeast Bradford, St. John Neumann Regional Academy, Sayre, and Sugar Valley Rural Charter School.<\/p>\n
New coaches<\/p>\n
Two Lackawanna League teams have new coaches: Molly McCafferty at Dunmore and Justin Lowe at Scranton.<\/p>\n
McCafferty replaces legendary Hall of Fame coach Sue Dempsey. She is a former standout player for the Lady Bucks during their dominant run to eight straight Lackawanna League championships from 2008 to 2015.<\/p>\n
In her senior season in 2013, McCafferty helped the Lady Bucks overcome the loss of all-state player Jillian Korgeski to injury to win the Lackawanna League and District 2 Class 1A championships.<\/p>\n
Dempsey established the Dunmore program in 2007. The Lady Bucks quickly became a Lackawanna League powerhouse, with Dempsey earning Times-Tribune Coach of the Year honors in 2013 and 2017.<\/p>\n
In the team\u2019s first 10 seasons, Dunmore boasted a 155-9 record. From 2011 to 2014, Dunmore went 69-2 in the Lackawanna League. The Lady Bucks won 10 Lackawanna League championships in their first 11 seasons under Dempsey\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
Lowe takes over the Scranton program from former coach Nicole Wentz, who will spend the season following her daughter, Brielle, a standout setter at Abington Heights.<\/p>\n
Wentz led the Lady Knights in their first three seasons and their first winning league season in 2025. Scranton went 24-25 in the Lackawanna League.<\/p>\n
Matches to watch<\/p>\n
Opening night: Four Division II matches will open the Lackawanna League season on Sept. 2. Elk Lake is at West Scranton, Forest City visits Valley View, Lackawanna Trail is at Susquehanna, and Lakeland plays at Mid Valley.<\/p>\n
Marquee matches: Abington Heights is at Western Wayne, and Mountain View visits Blue Ridge when the Division I season starts on Sept. 3. Abington Heights and Western Wayne are considered two title contenders. Blue Ridge (10) and Mountain View (2) have combined to win the last 12 District 2 Class 1A championships.<\/p>\n
Sept. 24: Abington Heights is at North Pocono, Dunmore visits Blue Ridge, and Mountain View plays at Montrose in Division I matches. The teams will play again on Oct. 19, which is the final play date in the Lackawanna League.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THROOP \u2013 Excited players entered Mid Valley High School, exchanged pleasantries, enjoyed lunch, and had a good time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-271237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}