Latrobe grad Emma Fenton shines in more prominent role for St. Francis (Pa.) volleyball

A freshman season of learning for former Latrobe girls volleyball standout Emma Fenton has evolved into a sophomore year of applying at St. Francis (Pa.).

Fenton was learning the life of a college athlete last season as a wide-eyed first-year player before a year later applying all that in a prominent role on the court for the Red Flash.

Very recently, the Northeast Conference recognized the 5-foot-7 setter as its women’s volleyball player of the week after Fenton averaged 9.7 assists in a pair of matches.

“It’s pretty special,” she said of the award. “I don’t think I was expecting it, especially when we were swept (in one match by Fairleigh Dickinson).”

Fenton’s double-double of a combined 50 assists and 16 digs led St. Francis to a five-set victory over Central Connecticut State after the Red Flash were swept in three sets by Fairleigh Dickinson, despite 17 assists and two service aces from Fenton.

“Obviously, I could not have done that without my teammates’ passes and hits,” she said.

Fenton, an all-WPIAL second-team all-star at Latrobe in 2020, absorbed as much as she could last season from St. Francis’ Kimmie Sweeney, an all-NEC second-team setter and Fenton’s early mentor.

“Kimmie was definitely my older sister,” Fenton said.

Playing behind the then-senior Sweeney, Fenton saw limited match action as a freshman in 2021, but she was locked into her predecessor’s every move.

“I got into the lineup here and there,” Fenton said, “but for the most part, it was a very eye-opening experience. This year, I’ve got more of a role on the court.”

And, oh boy, has Fenton made her presence known.

Although St. Francis’ season has been a bit of a struggle — the Red Flash were 6-14 (4-3 NEC) heading into a weekend conference rematch with Fairleigh Dickinson — Fenton’s team-leading assists total of 653 trailed only Sacred Heart’s Sarah Ciszek (729) in the conference.

“Emma, as a freshman, watched Kimmie Sweeney,” St. Francis coach Sara McMullen Spielvogel said. “She learned a lot. She took it as everything she did was a learning experience.”

Fenton, of course, had other mentors. She’s from a family of accomplished athletes.

Younger sister Lily, a senior at Latrobe, is committed to Notre Dame to play women’s volleyball. Brother Reed, a former Latrobe boys basketball and volleyball standout, is a senior guard for the Lehigh men’s basketball team.

Another brother, Jack, also played boys volleyball at Latrobe.

“Jack was one of the best liberos I’ve ever had,” Latrobe coach Drew Vosefski told the Tribune-Review in September 2021.

Their father, Neal Fenton, played basketball at Navy with Basketball Hall of Famer David Robinson, and their mother, Sandy Fenton, played college volleyball at Division II Seton Hill and Division III Moravian.

An uncle, Keith Fenton, played basketball at Bucknell.

It’s quite a family tree. Is it any wonder McMullen Spielvogel is happy to have a Fenton on her squad?

“Emma is just a natural athlete, a quick learner,” said McMullen Spielvogel, herself a former women’s volleyball at Division II Cal (Pa.). “Some things you just don’t teach. I’ll be watching her at any given time, and I’ll see her contort her body and look like she’s all out of whack. And then, miraculously, she’ll get to the ball. She makes the play. She does athletic emergency things.”

Fenton has had little doubt she belongs in Division I volleyball, and the tiny Division I school in the mountains of northern Cambria County, she said, is the place to be for her.

“It’s a whole different world. I love it,” said Fenton, who is a health science major in the physician assistant program with aspirations of perhaps a career in dermatology.

“I came to St. Francis for athletics, but also for academics,” she said. “It isn’t just for my decision to play volleyball, which I know will end some day. It’s more for my career and education, which goes on all my life.”