Georgia Southern Volleyball 2025 Preview
The Georgia Southern Volleyball team is coming off a 22-7 (10-4 SBC) season in 2024. The Eagles lost to Arkansas State in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament before receiving a bid to play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. The season ended for the squad with a loss to Northern Colorado in the second round of the invitational.
Heading into 2025, there are some big shoes to fill. Ashlyn Lovett, Jillian Gray, Jordan Christy, Robin Rosser, Paige Powers, and Logan Jones all finished out their collegiate eligibility after 2024. Head Coach Chad Willis, Associate Head Coach Efrain Negron, Assistant Coach Lexi Uhrhan and the rest of the staff did a great job of reloading this offseason! The Eagles gained two players from the transfer portal in 2025: OH/RS Ava Olsen from Texas Tech and DS Maddie Cugino from Gonzaga. Both of those players should make an immediate impact this season. Olsen is 6’3” and played in 2 matches for the Red Raiders in 2024 and Cugino played in 93 sets for the Bulldogs in 2024 where she had 330 digs, 51 assists and 18 aces. After losing 2nd Team All-Sun Belt player, Ashlyn Lovett, Cugino will be part of the plan to replace her production. In addition to the two transfer signees, there are five new freshman making the jump from the high school ranks: DS Hadley Porter, MB Alex Myers, MB Amelia Robinson, OH Anna Powell, and OH Gabby Babinski. Myers, Robinson, Powell, and Babinski are all 6’1” or taller, so there is plenty of height in the development pipeline for Coach Willis and company.
Looking forward, the 2025 squad has just one senior in 2nd Team All-Sun Belt S Kirsten Barrett who is undoubtedly the leader of this squad. She is currently 9th in program history in assists with 1,816 (and counting) and will look to keep building on the foundation that Georgia Southern Volleyball has built throughout her playing career. The Eagles return two-time All-Sun Belt OH Reagan Barth which is huge for this squad. The 6’0” junior played in all 29 matches for the Eagles last season in which she had 356 kills, 290 digs, 51 blocks and 44 aces. Another key player returning is MB Lydia Seymour who also played in all 29 matches last season where she had 480 kills and 81 blocks for the Eagles.
Coach Willis has changed the culture of this program and consistently improved since taking the helm in 2020.
2020: 5-13 (4-9 SBC)
2021: 17-11 (9-7 SBC)
2022: 16-12 (7-7 SBC)
2023: 23-9 (10-6 SBC)
2024: 22-7 (10-4 SBC)
It is an exciting time to be a Georgia Southern Eagles Volleyball fan! The Eagles will play an exhibition match against the University of South Carolina at Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia on August 23, 2025 at 4:00 PM.
You can get your tickets here.
