While leadership for the Summerville Boys Volleyball team has changed, it’s not exactly new.
Larissa Szafranski took the reins of the program when former head coach Steven DiPaolo stepped down after last season to become the head coach for the Green Wave Boys Soccer program. Szafranski served as DiPaolo’s assistant coach the past two seasons.
“I feel great and pretty prepared,” she said. “Coach DiPaolo is a great coach and I was able to watch how he does things. We both have our own strengths so I learned from his coaching strategies. Behind the scenes he is still a part of this program and is helping me ease into things. It’s been a very smooth transition.”
Previously, she coached at Pittsburgh Elite Volleyball Association in Pennsylvania. She is also a former Division II athlete at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, where her volleyball team won the 2013 PSAC Championship and made two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Summerville lost a setter and hitter who both claimed multiple All-Region and All-Lowcountry honors to graduation. However, the team does return some starters from a team that advanced all the way to the Lower State Championship match last season.
The team will l...