OLMA player attacks volleyball full steam

Natalie D’Ottavio wasn’t going to let a couple sore arms and broken blood vessels ruin her first volleyball experience.

The Buena resident was tired of playing softball and wanted to try a new sport. She decided one day in her backyard that volleyball might be the answer. But D’Ottavio had one problem: She didn’t own a real volleyball.

“Nobody in my family played volleyball,” said D’Ottavio, a junior at Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Newfield. “I was outside and I started [forearm underhand] passing in the air. But I was using a basketball. I went inside that night, and I literally had broken blood vessels on my arms. But it didn’t matter. I said, ‘Mom, I want to play volleyball.’”

The much heavier basketball only did temporary damage, and D’Ottavio was ready to give the sport a serious second chance. As the youngest of four siblings in a softball and baseball family, it was a bit of a stretch to pursue volleyball. 

“It’s definitely difficult,” D’Ottavio said. “Being in the gym the first two years was really frustrating. I started with all these older girls, and it can be a hard sport to pick up. Even now, I make mistakes. But it comes with maturity to realize you’re going to make mistakes. … With time and commitment, I work hard off the court.”

Natalie’s older sisters, Gabby and Emily, won a South Jersey Group 1 softball title together at Buena Regional High School in 2019. Their brother, Dominic, added to the family trophy case with a Non-Public A baseball state championship in 2024 as a senior at Saint Augustine Preparatory School. D’Ottavio is hoping to guide OLMA to its first volleyball hardware. 

After playing on the junior varsity team her freshman season, D’Ottavio found a key role last year as an outside hitter as the team pieced together a 5-16 season. It’s a position quite familiar to first-year Villagers coach Olivia Stefano, who filled that role as a student at OLMA before heading off to Ursinus College in 2021. The new coach has already found a leader and a spark plug in D’Ottavio.

“One of the things I talk with her about is how much she has improved since last season,” Stefano said. “From stats alone, in the first five games of the season, she almost doubled what she had last year. And she’s just a great leader and very level-headed at all times.”

Those first five games were all wins for the Villagers, who finally had their undefeated streak snapped at Cherry Hill East on Sept. 15 in a match between two unbeaten teams. The Villagers led at the 17-point mark in both sets before falling to the powerful Cougars. 

“We’re confident in ourselves, but we also know we can’t be overconfident going into these matches,” D’Ottavio said. “We have something to prove. We play hard and that’s how we win games.”

The Villagers have no seniors in the starting lineup and just two on the entire roster. It makes mature leaders like D’Ottavio so much more valuable, especially to a new coach. 

“She’s like the calm in the eye of the storm,” Stefano said. “She’s a fantastic leader, an all-around great girl and intelligent on the court. I’m incredibly grateful for her.”

In her first six matches this season, the 5-foot-10 D’Ottavio led the Villagers kills (28) and service points (32). She also contributed 16 aces and 14 digs, polishing up her all-around game. 

“I knew junior year was going to be a big year for me, and I worked really hard on and off the court,” D’Ottavio said. “I worked out in my basement doing vertical workouts. I go to the gym and I have a trainer. And I just play a lot of volleyball against the wall.”

Only now, she uses a regulation volleyball.