Seattle Pacific University’s women’s volleyball team is experiencing a technical reset in the upcoming 2025 fall season.

Of the starting six from the 2024 season — senior setter Emily Tulino, fifth-year middle blocker Hannah Hair, fifth-year outside hitter Allison Wilks, fifth-year opposite Erin Smith, freshman outside hitter Eva LaRochelle and sophomore libero Christina Lopez — Lopez is the only one returning for the 2025 season. LaRochelle has entered the transfer portal and will play for Valdosta State University in the fall. The remaining four were part of the team’s eight graduating seniors.

Head coach Jason Rhine commented in November 2024 how excited he is for the seniors to “move on and do cool, new things” and for the underclassmen to “get more opportunities.” Now, with nearly a full off-season to glimpse at the team’s future, Rhine has witnessed the team step up to fill the shoes of those who left, highlighting Lopez and sophomore setter Sophia Chambers as the team’s rising leaders.

“It’s the biggest change we’ve had so far in my time. Going into my fourth year, I’ve had a strong core of returners, and they’ve been a big part of our success,” Rhine said. “Christina has been our libero for a little while, and Sophie has been setting for us off and on, so those two have some solid playing experience, but a lot of the new people — either freshman this year or incoming freshmen — will be competing for spots, stepping up into new leadership positions and hopefully getting bigger roles on the court.”

Lopez said the team’s energy has made it easy for her to assume a new leadership role.

“Coach has definitely looked at me to be some sort of stability and to be more of a leader out on the court,” Lopez said. “Confidence is key, and I had to turn it up because it was only me returning, but everyone has so much personality and so much fire within themselves that it’s just coming naturally, and I don’t have to do much to fire them up.”

Assuming the role after the seniors’ departure, Chambers aims to model her leadership after Tulino’s, who was her main role model as a setter.

“They were all such great role models, and we [want to] bring that same effort and hard work,” Chambers said. “I try to have the same mentality that [Emily] had and mimic what she did last year, because I don’t think they ever took an off day or had bad practices.”

As Rhine welcomes the challenge of coaching a younger team, he wonders if the system used for the last few years still plays to the current roster’s strengths.

“[We’re] trying to figure out what to prioritize with these new players,” Rhine said. “Should our systems change at all? Should we modify what we’re doing slightly so we can take advantage of the players we have now going forward, and not just use the same system that was working with the players that graduated?”

Nevertheless, Rhine is excited to see the younger players take some teams by surprise.

“It provides a challenge for opponents,” Rhine said. “They don’t know what to expect with these new players, so it’s a different challenge of figuring it out as they see them, maybe for the first time or early in the season. We talk about that with teams that have most of their returners. We know what they’re going to do and how to slow them down, [but] it doesn’t mean that it’s easy, because they’re out there for a reason.”

More rapidly in the past few weeks, Rhine has happily seen the team growing into its new identity as it competes in springtime scrimmages.

“Even just over three or four weeks of scrimmaging, I’ve seen our team start to grow, and they’re able to handle mistakes, communicate, and grow in their confidence and abilities on the court,” Rhine said. “It’s fun to see that happen organically, as they get more experience, more playing time, and then come back from the gym and work on some of the stuff they see from the scrimmages.”

Entering next season with an “underdog mentality,” the team is excited more than ever to prove its might as the new generation of Falcons.

“There’s a lot of new perspective on the team, and an underdog mentality,” Lopez said. “Everyone’s going to be a new starter, so everyone’s just gonna go in and have a lot of fun. The excitement trumps everything else. No one has seen this team before, with no returners, besides one position. We’re ready to compete and showcase what we have.”