Troy Record: HVCC Volleyball Completes Perfect Regular Season; Top Seed in Region 3 Championship
TROY, N.Y. — The Hudson Valley Community College women's volleyball program has been steamrolling its competition this season, completing a perfect 21-0 regular-season schedule and earning the top seed in the 2025 NJCAA Region 3 Championship Tournament, hosted by Finger Lakes Community College on Nov. 1–2 in Canandaigua, N.Y.
The Vikings began the season unranked but quickly vaulted into the NJCAA national poll after defeating a pair of ranked opponents — No. 11 Nassau and No. 8 Finger Lakes — during the opening week. Those back-to-back 3–0 victories boosted the team's confidence and ignited hopes of capturing the program's first-ever NJCAA Region 3 Championship and a berth in the 2025 NJCAA Women's Volleyball National Championships, set for November 13–15 at the Alliant Energy Powerhouse Arena in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Following the pair of 3-0 match wins over nationally ranked Nassau and Finger Lakes, the Vikings confidence skyrocketed, and they started focusing on the possibilities of winning a NJCAA Region 3 championship for the first time in program history and earn a berth to the 2025 NJCAA Women's Volleyball National Championships at the Alliant Energy Powerhouse Arena in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from Nov. 13-15.
Aside from the current squad setting new team records following the undefeated regular season, Gabriella Kholstinin, a sophomore from Saratoga Springs High School, set a single-season record last year, accumulating 549 assists. To date, Kholstinin has tallied 532 assists on the year and became the first volleyball student-athlete to surpass 1,000 career assists in program history. Kholstinin currently ranks twelfth in the nation with 8.06 assists per set. She has guided the Vikings, along with fellow sophomore Emily Coffey, to a 36-8 record over the last two seasons.
Coffey, a Castleton-on-Hudson native, anchors the defense as the team's primary libero and one of the Region's top defenders. She currently ranks seventh in Region 3 with 245 total digs and stands fourth all-time in program history with 539 career digs.
The front-line success of the team is attributed to newcomers Jocelyn Caputo, Hayden LeFever, Lily Fros, and transfer Brooke Poutre. Poutre, a Saratoga Springs native, leads the team with 140 kills, averaging 2.22 kills per set.
Caputo, a graduate from Westhill High School in Syracuse, has been described as one of the most well-rounded volleyball players, as she possesses the skill set to play in all six rotations on the court. She leads the team with 207 points and has accumulated 134 kills, 104 digs, and 44 blocks. She has a top-10 hitting percentage among Region 3, hitting a team-best .256, and is top-10 in blocks per set.
LeFever, a freshman from Oneonta High School, has had a solid start to her collegiate career, making solid all-around contributions to the offense, serve, and defense this year. She has tallied 128 kills (2.13 k/s) over the 21 matches played and has a high service ace per set percentage (Top-5 in Region 3), which has proven to be a strong weapon for the Vikings this season.
Fros, a freshman from Saratoga Springs High School, has been a defensive asset for the team, occupying the important middle blocker position. She leads the team with 50 total blocks and has added 123 kills (1.89 k/s average) on 339 total attacks. Her .227 hitting percentage is second behind Caputo and top-15 in the Region.
Head coach Therese DeCan continues to recruit top talent from Section 2 while expanding her reach into volleyball-rich regions such as Syracuse (Section 3) and Otsego County (Section 4). In her fourth year at the helm, DeCan has built a championship-caliber program through persistence and vision.
Vikings Women's Volleyball – Upcoming Schedule
The Vikings will compete for the Mountain Valley Conference Championship this Saturday, Oct. 25, looking to win the title for the first time since 1995, when legendary coach and program founder Paul Bishop led the team. Bishop started the program in 1971 and guided it for 18 years, amassing a record 276 wins.
Hudson Valley will open play against No. 4 Mohawk Valley at 11 a.m. at Fulton-Montgomery Community College. With a victory, the Vikings will advance to the championship match against the winner of SUNY Adirondack and Fulton-Montgomery.
Looking ahead, the Vikings — already the No. 1 seed in the NJCAA Region 3 Championships — will await the winner of the No. 8 Jefferson vs. No. 9 Monroe Community College match, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 28, in Watertown, N.Y.
The program's ultimate goal, capture its first Region 3 Championship and earn a historic trip to the NJCAA National Championship Tournament.