Old Dominion Volleyball is off to a 3-1 start this season with wins over Marist, UTSA and William & Mary. Their lone loss came to UVA in the Quest for the Crown but it was much closer than the 3-0 in the box score. The Monarchs dropped the first two sets 26-24, the narrowest of margins.
This weekend ODU heads up to Pennsylvania for the Villanova Classic. They will face Princeton, Loyola (Md.) and finish the classic on Sunday with host Villanova. You can follow along with live stats for the first two and FloVolleyball will stream the final matchup on Sunday.
2024 marks the fifth season of Volleyball at Old Dominion and the Monarchs have slowly but surely begun leaving their mark on the sport. 2023 saw a new program record win total and Myah Conway earned her second consecutive All-Conference First Team honors. ODU looks to set that program record for wins again this year.
In the Preseason SBC Coaches Poll, Old Dominion was picked to finish fourth in the very competitive East division.
The Monarchs return 10 from last year’s squad.
Redshirt junior LeeAnne Lowery broke out in 2023, recording 93 kills in 75 sets played with a .317 hitting percentage. Libero Kate Kilpatrick led the Monarchs with 117 sets played last season and a team high 374 digs.
Senior Outside Hitter Alice Munari returns after racking up 192 kills, including nine double digit kill games. Sophomore Elisa Maggi will also be an important piece for the Monarchs as an Outside Hitter. The Italian native played in 92 sets with 186 kills, 10 service aces, 164 digs, 24 blocks and 222.5 points.
It’s incredibly difficult to boot up a new program, but it’s made even harder with new transfer portal rules and the injection of NIL cash in the established power.
And yes, there’s considerable NIL money in volleyball and the arrow continues to point up. Last season, Nebraska Volleyball put 91,000 fans in their football stadium for their match with Omaha. So it’s not surprising that five of the seven highest NIL earners in Volleyball play for the Cornhuskers.
The Monarchs have eight newcomers to the 2024 squad, six of them are true freshmen and a couple have already made an impact this season. Emma Schelah has started in all four matches, recording 11 kills and two aces. Alexa Earle, from Lake Travis High School in Austin, TX, has played in 10 sets as a defensive specialist.
Transferring into ODU are Hailee Blankenship from Kings University (Tenn.) and Tshilanda Diouf from McNeese State. Blankenship racked up some insane stats over her four years in the DII ranks and has carried that right into DI. The grad transfer has started in all four matches and ranks second on the team with 39 kills. Diouf was the Southland Conference’s Freshman of the Year in 2023 and will strengthen the Monarchs’ Outside Hitter position.
Be sure to make plans to see ODU Volleyball in action this season at the ODU Volleyball Center.