2026 Eagle Volleyball Season Preview

Morehead, Ky.-- The 2026 Morehead State volleyball team will feature a mixture of experienced veterans and talented newcomers as the Eagles look to once again battle for the Ohio Valley Conference championship this fall after opening with a challenging non-conference slate featuring matches with teams from the SEC, Big 10 and the Big XII conferences.
 
Last season Morehead State finished with a 23-9 overall record and a 15-3 conference mark and a share of the OVC regular season title. The Eagles ran all the way to the finals of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
 
Gone is last fall's Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year M.E. Hargan, who is playing professionally in Turkey. Hargan led the OVC last season with 493 kills, averaging 4.61 kills per set. Hargan finished her stellar career in the top 10 all-time and third in the modern era with 1,488 kills over her four years in Morehead.
 
Leading the Eagle attack this fall will be senior Hollan Everett, who finished with 335 kills last season and was selected to the All-OVC Second team. Everett enters the 2026 campaign with 835 career kills, 32 terminations away from the top 10 kills tally in the modern era at Morehead State.
 
"Hollan is one of the best pins in our conference," said Morehead State head coach Kyrsten Becker-McBride. "I would say she is the best blocking pin in our conference; she might even be the best blocker in our conference."
 
A sophomore transfer and a pair of talented freshmen join Everett in the attack. Riley McCloskey spent her freshman season last fall at Memphis. A Newport, Kentucky native, McCloskey was a standout at Notre Dame Academy, where she helped her team win a state title her sophomore season in 2022 and a state runner up finish as a junior in 2023.
 
McCloskey has definite Morehead State connections: one of her high school coaches was Leslie Schellhaas, MSU's all-time career leader with 2,232 digs who was named the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2013. McCloskey's mother, Megan (Hupfer) McCloskey was a standout basketball player at Morehead State from 1992-96, finishing with 1,444 career points.
 
Freshmen Ella Warrick and Mary Rindler both figure to significantly contribute to the Eagles' efforts this fall. Warrick, a native of Linton, Indiana, slammed 535 kills while hitting a .333 attack percentage last fall for Linton-Stockton High School and was named an AVCA Girls High School All-Region selection. She holds school records with 1,669 career kills and 359 career aces.
 
Rindler, a native of New Bremen, Ohio, amassed 929 kills with a .306 hitting percentage and 96 aces over her career at New Bremen High School. Last fall in her senior season, she smacked 357 kills and 67 service aces. She added 82 total blocks and was named 1^st-Team All-Conference and was selected as the District Player of the Year.
 
"Riley can make some great volleyball plays, she's a solid player with good ball control and can do some really nice things," said Becker-McBride.
 
"Mary Rindler is a little smaller, but she jumps well and she can hit some shots that are hard to read at times, and she hits with some pace. She used to be a middle, and this is the first season in her transition to the outside or right side."
 
"Ella is really solid: she's a good passer and springy off the floor," said Becker-McBride. "She likes to play at an up-tempo pace and she has a live arm. We are excited to see how her game develops."
 
Senior setter Sydney Sennett, who was named to the All-OVC First Team after posting 1,089 assists last fall returns to lineup this fall. Sennett ranks sixth in the MSU record book in the modern era with 2,022 career assists.
 
"Sydney has grown in her time here and has always been willing to do what the team needs," said Becker-McBride. "She had a fantastic season last fall and I'm excited to build off that growth."
 
A pair of freshmen, Jasmine Daniels and Josie Certa figure to be backups for Sennett. Daniels, from Fishers, Indiana, dished out 728 assists and smacked 24 aces for Hamilton Southeastern High School. Bloomington, Illinois native Certa tallied 789 career assists and 92 career service aces at Bloomington Central Catholic High School. In her senior season last fall, Certa totaled 235 assists and smacked 19 aces. In her junior campaign, she piled up 234 assists, adding 37 service aces and helped her team to a 35-5 and a state runner-up finish.
 
"Jasmine does a really good job defensively. She is not the tallest, but she is a solid blocker who is in the right place and takes up the space she needs to take up," added Becker-McBride.
 
"Josie has been solid in camp," said Becker-McBride. "She delivers a quality ball and it's funny: she comes from the same club as Sydney Sennett so often we can hear them talking about their common experiences in the club and Sydney can help coach her up in how we do things. We're still working on making all three setters feel similar. That is a process that we are going through."

Heading up the defense up front is returning senior middle blocker Amelia Nott, who was an All-OVC Second Team selection last fall after posting 85 total blocks, notching 237 kills while hitting a .350 attack percentage, the second-highest percentage in the modern era at Morehead State. Nott also slugged 44 aces, the second-most in school history in the modern era. Her 115 career service aces rank tied for second in the program record book for the modern era.
 
"Amelia has played some right side for us, and I just think she is good wherever you put her," said Becker-McBride. "She's also used to the way we move people around a lot; that's something that's a little eye-opening when we have new middles come in here. That's new to a lot of middles coming in here."
 
Sophomore Kylie Sharp returns for another season and is joined by freshmen middles Haidyn Carter, Anna Schiltz and Reagan Baxter.  Sharp, a product of Johnstown, Ohio, played sparingly in her freshman season, after setting the school records at Johnstown-Monroe High School for match, season and career blocks. In her five seasons, she amassed 674 total blocks and 1,944 kills.
 
"Kylie has come a long way; she worked really hard in the Spring and in the weight room so she's definitely stronger and faster than she was last year. She can play either in the middle or on the right side," added Becker-McBride.
 
Louisville native Carter played her junior and senior seasons at Our Lady of Providence High School in Indiana. Last fall, she smacked 197 kills hitting .320 with 100 total blocks, 34 solo.
 
A native of Hampshire, Illinois, Schiltz smacked 99 kills with 44 total blocks and 23 aces last season in her senior campaign at Hampshire High School.
 
Another Louisville native, Baxter set school records at North Oldham High School with 1,377 career kills and 362 career total blocks. Baxter was named 2^nd-Team All-State after a junior campaign where she posted 430 kills and a .438 hitting efficiency.
 
"All three of our freshmen middles have been doing a solid job," said Becker-McBride. "They have different strengths: Reagan is really good off of one foot, Haiden is fast and I think is a pretty good natural blocker and Anna executes well and understands what's going on so well."
 
Senior Courtney Fitzgerald heads up the back row for Morehead State. Fitzgerald was Morehead State's primary libero last season and led the Eagles with 456 digs and also posted 30 aces, third on the club. Fitzgerald finished the season with 989 digs, which ranks eighth in the MSU record book for the modern era.
 
"Courtney just plays solid volleyball. She's not going to make it look fancy; she makes the hard things look simple, she executes very well and is so calm on the court," said Becker-McBride. "I think she is one of the consistently publicly under-valued members of the program; I don't think so over-looked in a bad way, but if you don't know volleyball you don't realize how many hard things she makes look simple. That's what a good volleyball player does."
 
Junior Tinsley Brown, sophomore Kennedy Tinch and newcomer Norah Campbell join Fitzgerald in the back row. Brown, a Knoxville native, started all 32 matches last season finishing with 184 digs and 29 service aces in her sophomore campaign.
 
"Tinsley did a good job for us last year," commented Becker-McBride. "She's still a good server, she's even faster than last year and I think she got more comfortable with middle back last year."
 
Fishers, Indiana native Tinch appeared in 36 sets across 14 matches last fall. She smacked 13 aces, setting a career-high three versus Radford on September 6, and tallied 39 digs.
 
"Kennedy has had a good camp too," said Becker-McBride. "Last season was only her third season as a defensive specialist, after transitioning from being a setter. She does a pretty good job of being a second set of hands and she also has a pretty good serve."
 
Campbell, a Seymour, Indiana native, finished her senior season at Seymour High School last fall with 415 digs, averaging 4.94 digs per set and smacked 45 service aces. As a junior, Campbell posted 342 digs averaging 5.18 digs per set with 33 aces. She finished her career with 1,163 digs, averaging 3.65 digs per set.
 
"Norah can make some really incredible defensive plays," said Becker-McBride. "There will be moments where anything in her space will not get on the ground."
 
Morehead State opens its 2026 campaign with a pair of exhibition matches this weekend. Friday, the Eagles will host Northern Kentucky in the Academic-Athletic Center's Auxiliary gym at 5:00 p.m. Saturday, the Eagles travel to Richmond to take on Eastern Kentucky in Baptist Health Arena with a scheduled 2:00 p.m. start time.
 
Morehead State opens the season with a trip to Knoxville for the season's opening weekend. The Eagles will take on Fairfield Friday, the host Tennessee Volunteers Saturday and Colgate on Sunday.
 
After another road trip the second weekend of the season, the Eagles will host the Cincinnati Bearcats September 10 and then take on Michigan State September 12.
 
"The opening weekend is going to be tough. All three teams play really good volleyball and all three are incredibly physical," said Becker-McBride. "Hosting Michigan State and Cincinnati will be exciting: there is some freedom in being the underdog. There is some freedom in saying 'if they're going to score a point let's make them earn it. Let's make an All-American do something here.'"
 
MSU will open Ohio Valley Conference play at home on September 25 as the Eagles take on Lindenwood in a two-game series. The Eagles will wrap up regular season play at home against Western Illinois November 12-13.
 
"I think everybody in our conference has a chance to be pretty good," said Becker-McBride. "I think there are some younger athletes sprinkled around our league that now have a year or two under their belts that I expect to perform at a pretty high level. "