Newfane Volleyball Opens 2026 With Returning Attackers And Setting Experience

Overview

• Newfane enters the 2026-27 season after a 13-7 finish in 2025-26.
• Julia Leibring returns after a 2025-26 junior season with 111 kills, 129 digs, 43 aces and 28 assists.
• Emma Johnston was a major freshman contributor in 2025-26, totaling 154 kills, 59 aces, 39 digs and 15 blocks.
• Elenna Garcia gives Newfane an experienced setting option after 295 assists, 88 digs and 48 aces in 2025-26.
• Schedule markers include the Sept. 3 opener against Kendall, early matches with Medina and Roy-Hart, and late-October dates with Wilson, JFK and Starpoint.

Newfane begins the 2026-27 girls volleyball season with experienced attackers and a returning setter.

Newfane is coming off a 13-7 season in 2025-26, and the returning group includes senior outside hitter Julia Leibring. As a junior, Leibring recorded 111 kills, 129 digs, 43 aces and 28 assists, adding to a sophomore season with 83 kills and 94 digs as a sophomore.

Emma Johnston also gives Newfane an experienced middle blocker. Johnston’s freshman season included 154 kills, 59 aces, 39 digs and 15 blocks, following an eighth-grade season in which she had 47 kills and five blocks.

The setting experience includes Elenna Garcia, who finished 2025-26 with 295 assists, 88 digs and 48 aces. Sara Klinger adds senior experience after posting 99 digs, 69 aces, 15 kills and nine assists last season. Destiny Pitts and Gracie Boyer also have prior varsity defensive production, with Pitts recording 62 digs in 2025-26 and Boyer adding 28.

Newfane’s roster lists five seniors, six juniors and one sophomore, giving the group a mix of older players and underclass contributors. The schedule opens Sept. 3 against Kendall, followed by early matchups with Medina and Roy-Hart. Later landmarks include September home dates with Tonawanda, Albion, Medina and West Seneca East, an Oct. 1 trip to Wilson, an Oct. 19 rematch with Wilson, and the last listed regular-season date Oct. 26 at Starpoint.