Young Gateway volleyball team builds for future

By: Greg Macafee
Sunday, October 26, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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With just three seniors and a roster full of inexperience, this season was an uphill climb for the Gateway girls volleyball team.

The Gators made the best of it, though. After a five-match losing streak to start the season, they finished the year on a two-game winning streak, beating West Mifflin (3-0) and McKeesport (3-1), to finish their 2025 schedule at 3-11.

“We did lose a majority of our starters, so there was kind of a learning curve of getting some new people in there and learning some things,” coach Erica Bosh said. “But we definitely learned what worked, what didn’t work, and we were able to really jell together there at the end.”

Gateway didn’t get its first win of the season until it completed a three-game sweep of West Mifflin on Sept. 18. That positive showing was followed by a tough loss to McKeesport in five sets. But it was a building point for the Gators.

While victories didn’t immediately follow that stretch, the Gators were able to improve as younger players stepped up and contributed. While seniors Mila Hawthorne, who was the team’s leading blocker and was near the top of the team in kills and aces, Malayah Young and Olivia Miles led the way, junior captain Triniti Stevenson and sophomore Alex Brennan established themselves as players Bosh could lean on.

“She was the captain of our team,” Bosh said of Stevenson. “She started off as an all-around outside hitter. Then we ran a 6-2 with her. By the end of the year, she became the sole setter. As someone who has never set before, she took the role on very well. She was able to lead, run a quick-tempo offense, know what’s going on, and played a big role in that.”

In Stevenson’s first game as a setter, she dropped a triple-double, which included 10 digs, 14 assists and 10 kills. She moved between being a setter in the back row and a hitter in the front, which allowed her to put up an impressive stat line that gave her coach confidence.

Brennan also stepped up into a defensive specialist role and contributed to her team’s success down the stretch by bringing life to the lineup.

“She just brought this energy to the team with great defense and really helped propel us,” Bosh said.

With just three seniors graduating, the Gators are in a good position moving into the offseason. They’ll have Stevenson, Brennan and others returning, which gives Bosh confidence as the Gators prepare for their 2026 season.

“I’m pretty excited for the future,” Bosh said. “I’ll miss those three, but with so many underclassmen and how hard they have worked, and now they have varsity experience under their belt, I think we’re going to be pretty set for next year.”

There is still work to be done, however, and Bosh has encouraged her team to continue to build off their final two matches. She said that a lot of her players plan to play club volleyball and intend to attend open gyms throughout the offseason to continue to refine their craft.

Despite how their season went, Bosh said she was proud of the way her players battled throughout the year and finished on the right foot.

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Tags: Gateway