The most dominating attacker in the history of Rutgers-Newark women’s volleyball, Domini Lanzone went from NCAA record-setting freshman in 1999 to the leader of Scarlet Raiders’ first NCAA Championship Tournament team in 2003.
She started her career as the New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year and capped it by being named the league’s Player of the Year as a senior after leading the Raiders to an NJAC Championship. The 6-foot-1 outside hitter was the first women’s volleyball player named to the All-NJAC first team four times.
The River Edge native was twice named the Rutgers-Newark Female Athlete of the Year while dotting the NCAA record book with her career totals. She completed her career ranking 10th in NCAA Division III history in total kills with 2,210 and third in kills per game average at 5.47.
In the Rutgers-Newark record book, Lanzone finished her career ranked first in points with 2,620.5 and points per game average at 6.49, kills with 2,210 and kills average at 5.47, aces with 267, digs with 1,141 and solo blocks with 95.
In a Herculean rookie season, Lanzone set NCAA single season marks with a 7.21 kills average and 18.48 attacks per game, but the numbers came with a cost. She underwent shoulder surgery when pain forced her to terminate her true sophomore year after just eight matches.
In 2001, she returned an began three-year partnership with fellow R-N Hall of Famer Robin Pearce (Cook) as the most dominating duo in Scarlet Raider history. Rutgers-Newark posted a 58-28 overall mark for those three campaigns with a superlative 20-3 NJAC ledger. In 2001, she ranked second in the NJAC (behind Pearce) in kills with a 4.62 average as the Raiders finished 18-9 and earned an ECAC South playoff berth. As a junior, she led the squad with a 4.06 kills average.
As senior, Lanzone averaged an NJAC-leading 5.51 kills per game (which ranked third in NCAA Division III) while leading the Raiders to their fifth women’s volleyball championship and the program’s first berth in the national championship tournament. She appeared in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” while earning NJAC Player of the Week honors four times. Lanzone was named the MVP of both The Golden Dome Invitational and the Pitt-Bradford Tournament while also making the all-tournament team at the Springfield Invitational.
