By Chloe Adam
LoCoSports Staff Writer
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Leesburg (July 27, 2016) – Tuscarora High School senior Vanessa Marinelli has decided to continue playing volleyball for the University at Buffalo starting the 2017-2018 academic year.
“Being committed feels like a giant, happy, relief,” Marinelli said. “Working hard for five-plus years on the same dream and finally having it come true is truly incredible!”
The University at Buffalo is located in New York and is the largest and most comprehensive public research university. Including Division I athletics, UB has 300 undergraduate and professional degree programs.
“My favorite part of volleyball is the feeling you get when you’re on the court, and you have that one play or one game where it feels like what you’ve been working so hard on pays off, and you just get to go crazy and celebrate with your teammates. Nothing beats that feeling,” Marinelli said.
The Buffalo Bulls are led by head coach Blair Brown Lipsitz – who played at Penn State and Loudoun Valley High School. Penn State head coach Russ Rose, said she is one of only three individuals who have won four consecutive NCAA National Championships at the collegiate level.
“I plan to go to UB and give 100-percent of my effort to help the team be the best they can be,” the 5-foot-9 setter said. “I want to bring a positive attitude and a tough mind-set when I go up there.”
Marinelli started playing volleyball in sixth grade and it ended up becoming her passion. She just finished a successful indoor season with Dulles Volleyball’s 18s club travel team, earning second at the Monument City Classic.
“Seng Chiu, my current coach, has definitely had the greatest impact on me,” Marinelli said. “My playing level because of him is so much higher than I ever thought it could be. He has made me a tremendously better player, and even more than that, a better person.”
When Marinelli is not playing for Dulles Volleyball Club, she’s playing for her high school, Tuscarora. Marinelli made an all-conference team her junior year as a Husky.
“I definitely think my high school team this year has the chance to do some really amazing things,” Marinelli said. “We were a super young team in the past and we all mesh with each other really well now and I think it’s going to show on the court!”
