A highly successful women’s volleyball program has become a “Rock-solid” tradition at Slippery Rock University.
The Rock completed its 46th season of intercollegiate competition in 2013.
Rock volleyball reached a milestone in 1999 when Coach
Laurie Lokash led The Rock to the program’s 500th career victory. Nine seasons later, The Rock passed the 700-win mark.
Since 1974, The Rock has compiled a 716-552-9 record, good for a .564 winning percentage.
Except for a few “rebuilding seasons,” The Rock has been a factor in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and NCAA Division II competitions every year since 1980.
During Coach Lokash’s tenure of 30 seasons, Rock spikers have averaged 19 wins per season and have been involved in postseason action 13 times.
The Rock had a streak of eight straight winning seasons snapped in 1999 when a young group of women struggled early and could not catch back up to the elusive .500 mark.
One of the seasons in which SRU failed to achieve a .500 season in the won-lost category – 2000 – The Rock still earned sufficient respect from the NCAA selection committee to receive a regional-tournament berth.
The finest season in Rock volleyball history was in 1993 when a Lokash-coached squad won the school’s second PSAC championship, advanced to the NCAA Division II “Sweet 16” for the first time and compiled a sterling 40-6 record – the best mark in school history.
The win total bettered by three the previous school record for victories. The 1980 team, the final one coached by
Dr. Marie Wheaton, had a 37-14-1 final record.
Six Rock teams have recorded 30 or more victories in a single season, the 2006 squad’s 31-win total the latest addition to that elite list.
The Rock’s 1983 team, coached by then-athletic director
Bill Lennox and associate AD
Bruce Boliver, won 34 and lost 19.
A year later, the 1984 team, Lokash’s inaugural squad, finished with a 33-6 record and captured The Rock’s first PSAC title. That squad also finished third in the Atlantic Regional tournament.
The 1994 squad coached by Lokash compiled a 30-15 record and earned a second consecutive trip to both the PSAC championship game and the NCAA Division II tournament.
The 1985 Rock squad had a 27-6 record in Lokash’s second season at the helm, but was denied an NCAA postseason berth.
The Rock made its fourth consecutive and seventh overall trip to NCAA regional competition in 2008.
Rock volleyball got its start in the mid-1960s under the tutelage of faculty member
Jan Stocker.
Rock volleyball enjoyed a lot of success in its early years, particularly under Dr. Wheaton, who took over the program in 1969.
The Rock spikers were perennial Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (EAIAW) regional contenders in the 1970s as they battled the likes of Pittsburgh and Penn State for top honors.
Dr. Wheaton posted an outstanding 162-89-3 record during her 12 seasons as head coach. Her 1979 squad earned runner-up honors in the first PSAC championship event.
The Lokash Era began three seasons – and three head coaches – after Dr. Wheaton stepped down as head coach in 1980.
Coach Lokash became the winningest coach in Rock volleyball history in 1992.
After 25 seasons as SRU’s head coach, Coach Lokash reached the 500-victory mark on Sept. 23, 2008 against PSAC rival, Indiana (Pa.).
