Volleyball

In fall 2010, Blair organized an intramural program to feed a growing interest among Blair girls in the sport of volleyball; the program has since evolved into a varsity team.

Volleyball begins in late August with a week-long preseason camp that consists of several practices and team activities a day, as well as scrimmages. In season, Blair competes against other NJISAA schools. Rutgers Prep, Lawrenceville, Pope John and Warren Hills are commonly seen on the schedule.

About Coach Raley

History faculty member Anna Raley joins the Blair volleyball coaching staff in 2021, serving as the assistant varsity coach and head JV coach. In 2022, she became the head varsity volleyball coach. Previously, she was the head JV volleyball coach at the Rabun Gap Nacoochee School. A former collegiate soccer and basketball player at Huntingdon College,  Ms. Raley will also serve as the assistant girls' varsity basketball coach.

About Coach Gerdsen

Cassi Gerdsen was the former head girls' volleyball coach and is now serving as the assistant coach. She became the School’s director of admission application management in 2016, following three years of work in the communications office. Cassi and her family have been part of the Blair community since moving to campus from the Pennington School in 2004, where Cassi was director of the school’s student center. A native of Aiken, South Carolina, she studied education at the University of South Carolina-Aiken. Cassi and her husband, Rod, an associate dean of students and science teacher at Blair, have two children, Kate ’20 and Jack '24. The Gerdsens live in Insley Hall, a freshman and sophomore boys’ dorm.

View directions to athletic events. To read recaps about past events, go to the "Team News" tab above.

View more photos from the fall 2022 season on Photoshelter.

Meet Coach Devaney

Ying Devaney is assistant coach of the girls' varsity volleyball team and head JV coach. Before relocating to the United States in 2006, Mrs. Devaney earned her undergraduate degree in sports science at the Physical Education College in Bangkok, Thailand, in the late 1990s. Over the course of her career in Thailand, she served as a health club instructor at Shell Co., Ltd., a health club instructor and supervisor at the Radisson Hotel, an instructor with Outward Bound, a teacher at Khamasiri Memorial School and Sanarangsun Municipal School, and a sport supervisor at the Le Meridien Khao Lake Beach & Spa Resort. She has lived at Blair with her husband, language teacher Tim Devaney, since 2010, and has held various positions across campus, including in the Childcare Learning Center and Golf Shop. A sports enthusiast, she was a gold medalist in Judo at the All-Thailand Physical Education College Games during her undergraduate years, and her hobbies include playing volleyball, swimming and running.

Meet Coach O'Neil

Sarah O’Neil serves as the assistant JV girls' volleyball coach. She joined Blair in 2005 as a Spanish teacher. She came to Blair after teaching for two years in AmeriCorps and completing her undergraduate work at Wesleyan University. Sarah earned a master’s degree from Middlebury Language Schools in 2009 and taught Spanish for 13 years before bringing her language expertise to the English department in 2018. She currently teaches English 1 and a mindfulness elective in the religion and philosophy department. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Sarah has coached field hockey and lacrosse for 15 years. She now teaches yoga and fitness at Blair in the afternoons and resides in Marcial House with her husband, history teacher Quint Clarke ’87.

View directions to athletic events. To read recaps about past events, go to the "Team News" tab above.