Vincennes Volleyball signs Italian Middle Elisa Dalla Pozza

VINCENNES, Ind. – The two-time defending Region 24 Champion Vincennes University Volleyball team picked up another big addition to the 2023 recruiting class with the signing of middle blocker Elisa Dalla Pozza from Vicenza, Italy.

Pozza is a six-foot-one middle who comes to VU after playing for IIS "S. Boscardin" in Italy, while also playing for the Cavazzale VolleyLab Club Team.

Pozza began training with the Italian National team at the age of 14 and played for the club U.S. Torri, a high-level club team in Italy, in 2019.

With U.S. Torri, Pozza was able to win two Provincial Championships and finished fourth among the best club teams in the region during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.

During the 2021-22 season, she helped guide her club team to a second-place finish in the "Challenge della Citta di Torri" tournament, in a field of 80 of the best teams in Italy.

"We received information about Elisa from her group in Italy," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "Her group that she works with is pretty big and I've received emails from them before. We were very interested in her because she is a high-level player. We like our front row players to be long, athletic, not just tall, but long and she is fits our typical type of hitter here."

"She is very explosive," Sien added. "And she is probably one of the better hitters that I've seen in quite a while that can hit the slide and run it fast. Not every middle hits the slide well and I typically like to recruit middles that can run that slide. She is also able, if we need her to, to play the right-side, opposite position."

Elisa is the daughter of Melita Del Rosario Rios Sanchez and plans to major in Exercise Science while at Vincennes University.

Pozza is joining a already loaded 2023 VUVB recruiting class that includes middles Isadora Dias de Melo (Brazil) and Allison Czyzewski (Louisville, Ill.), setters Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) and Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.) and defensive specialist Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.).

These six will be joining a VUVB squad coming off of a 29-9 season last year, which saw the Trailblazers win their second consecutive undefeated Region 24 Championship.

"It's going to be the same next year, whether you are a returning player or a first-year player, we've got to make sure that we soak up all of the information that we can because this year's calendar is a little short," Sien said. "Classes start Aug. 14, so we will barely have two weeks of two-a-days. I say at this level that it's almost like reinventing the wheel when you start every new season because you have a brand-new team."

"Of course, it's always great to have returners because they know the system and know the philosophy already, but they also have to get used to playing with pretty much a brand-new team," Sien added. "So, everyone has to learn quickly our system, our plays and our play sets. But, as I always say for our International players, they are going to be very well-rounded because there's no specializing Internationally. They know the game and all six rotations, so It's always nice to get those International recruits that have a well-balanced experience and background in their skills."

"We've got another commitment from a middle/outside hitter," Sien said of his recruiting class. "We are still in search of another hitter that could play more at the pins. We are getting close to finishing up our roster for next year. This should be a pretty nice class coming in because we have somebody at every position. We're bringing in two setters, a DS, several middles and we should bring in at least one or two outsides. Typically, in recruiting you might cover two of those positions at the most, so it's unusual that we would cover every position with this recruiting class."

"But we needed that," Sien added. "They will definitely be filling some needs that we have. The nice thing about our middles that we have for next year is that really all of them can play the pin as well. Typically if we have a middle that doesn't play in the middle, she will play the right-side and those are two positions that we really need right now."

The Vincennes University Athletic Department is excited to welcome Elisa Dalla Pozza to the 2023 recruiting class.