JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley is doing more than producing winning volleyball teams.

It's producing collegiate volleyball players.

Two senior members of the Lady Raiders — setter Lauren Balmert and middle hitter Justine Carrow — signed letters of intent with Fairfield (Conn.) University and Edinboro, respectively, Monday afternoon.

They became the third and fourth SV volleyball players in two years to continue with the sport in college. Angie Heagy is a freshman at Hiram (Ohio) this year and senior Jen Boyd signed early with Ball State (Ind.). The fourth senior on this year's team — Emily Hannan — will attend Penn State in the fall, but will not play volleyball.

"Lauren and Justine will do well in the college game," Raiders volleyball coach Karen Martini said. "They love to compete and they are incredibly hard workers. They've been two leaders at two different positions for us."

Balmert has been a three-year starter at setter while Carrow has been a two-year starter at middle hitter for Seneca Valley. The Raiders finished fourth in the WPIAL both of the past two seasons and posted a 17-5 won-loss record last fall.

Fairfield is a Division I program that has been regular season champion of the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference each of the past four years. The Stags have also dropped the MAAC title game in each of those seasons.

Balmert is guaranteed to start as a freshman. She is the only setter on the team.

"I've got all the confidence in the world that she can do the job for us and maintain our high level of play," first-year Fairfield coach Alija Pittenger said. "I love her personality. That's why I went after Lauren hard, since we're in a unique situation.

"We had a setter due to come back as a junior this year, but she decided to transfer to Bakersfield (Calif.). We had to get someone ready to play right now."

Balmert was team captain her final two years at Seneca Valley. She was a first team All-WPIAL and all-state selection last fall.

Pittenger accepted the Fairfield post in March after spending the last five years as an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh. She had been recruiting Balmert for the Panthers.

"I knew her well from that," Pittenger said. "She has the type of work ethic you need in a setter. That position is the quarterback on the court. If you're not vocal and aggressive, forget it. Lauren will win the respect of our returning players and she'll set an example for our other five incoming freshmen to follow."

Fairfield was 21-13 overall last year, 17-1 in MAAC play.

Balmert considered Bucknell, Gettysburg and Pitt before settling on Fairfield.

"It's already a good program and I can step right in and play," she said of Fairfield. "It's an ideal situation."

Balmert and Carrow have been teammates with the Pittsburgh 3-Rivers AAU team as well as at Seneca Valley. SV assistant coach Rob Snyder runs the Pittsburgh 3-Rivers program.

Carrow played middle and right hitter for the Raiders. She played left hitter for her AAU team.

"Justine is an extremely versatile player," Snyder said. "She can play anywhere up front. And Lauren is such a complete player. She's our top server, one of our best passers, she can attack the net and score."

Carrow considered Gannon, Robert Morris and Clarion before opting for Edinboro, which is Martini's alma mater.

"My goal is to play as a freshman and I have a realistic shot there," Carrow said. "I like the team, I like the coach and I like the location."

Missy Soboleski is entering her fourth year as head coach at Edinboro, which finished 28-11 overall, 6-4 and in third place in the PSAC-West. The winning conference season was the Fighting Scots' first since 2003. Edinboro volleyball had a winning record in PSAC-West play every year from 1991-2003, including three division championships.

"We had some great teams when I was there and the coach is doing an excellent job of bringing the program back to prominence," Martini said. "Justine will play a big part in that."