The Case Western Reserve University volleyball team will look to continue its best stretch in program history in the 2025 season. The Spartans are coming off back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament and have recorded a 68-23 record over the last three seasons, including a third-place finish in the University Athletic Association during the 2024 regular season.
Last year, CWRU went 24-8 during the campaign, including a 5-2 mark in UAA play. The Spartans started the season with a 12-match winning streak, the longest in program history, and traveled to Holland, Michigan, for the first round of the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive year. The team is looking to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in program history in 2025 and secure its second-ever postseason victory. The Spartans enter the season ranked 25th in the preseason poll released by the AVCA.
Newcomers
Head Coach Karen Farrell, who reached the 500-career win milestone last season, will start her 24th season on the end of the bench for the Spartans. Farrell added six players in four positions for 2025, including outside/right-side hitters Elena Stone and Olivia Myers, middle blockers Kate Williams and Isabel Haytayan, setter Kaitlyn Harris, and defensive specialist Thea Beran.
Outside/Right Side Hitters
Senior captain Kalli Wall and junior Emily Goodpaster are slated to be mainstays on the outside for the Spartans during the 2025 season. Last season, Wall averaged 1.71 kills, 0.68 blocks, and 2.09 points per set, appearing in 111 of a possible 125 sets. Across three seasons, she has totaled 633 kills and 159 total blocks in 88 matches. Goodpaster shined defensively, averaging 2.15 digs per set in 31 matches in 2024. She has 125 kills and 405 digs in 58 career matches. Sophomore Madeline Halter (17 kills, five total blocks in 2024) and junior Katie Yanni (11 kills in eight sets last season) will likely see increased playing time with senior Elizabeth Onyekwere and sophomores Colleen Nudd and Sienna Olson adding experienced depth at the pins.
Middle Blockers
Senior captain Amanda Ngo will look to duplicate and improve upon her performance as a junior when she was named to the AVCA All-America Third Team, All-Region VII First Team, and All-UAA First Team. Last year, she started every match in the middle for CWRU, putting down 290 kills with a team-leading .300 attacking percentage. Defensively, she paced the squad with 108.0 blocks, the 34th-highest total in Division III. Her 203 career blocks are 13th in program history, while her 521 career kills ranks 27th in CWRU lore.
After appearing in 66 sets across 27 matches last year, senior Kiya Levy will see likely an increased role in 2025. In 2024, she had 106 kills on a .299 hitting percentage and totaled 67 total blocks. In 127 career sets, Levy has 205 kills, 105 blocks, and 266.5 points.
Setters
Playing primarily in a two-setter system last season, sophomore Avery Basinger made an immediate impact in 2024. She totaled 410 assists in 86 sets and added 186 digs, finishing the year with seven double-doubles. Basinger will likely split time with Harris and sophomore Elena Esquivel (nine assists across five sets in 2024) directing the team's offense in 2025.
Defensive Specialists
Sophomore Sophia Datto and Sude Naz Item split time at the libero position last season. Datto missed just three sets in 2024, leading the squad with 419 digs. She contributed offensively with 30 service aces, the second-most on the squad, and 96 assists. Item appeared in 71 sets across 21 matches in her debut season, averaging 1.97 digs per set and adding 32 assists.
Schedule
The Spartans open the season with a trip to Southern California for the Pacific Coast Classic. CWRU takes on a pair of 2024 NCAA qualifiers in 15th-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and seventh-ranked La Verne, who reached the national quarterfinals last year. After a road match at Mount Union, CWRU hosts Heidelberg, Earlham, and Westminster for a two-day quad at the Veale Center on September 5 and 6. The team makes the short trek to Berea, Ohio, for a midweek matchup against Baldwin Wallace prior to the Muskie Invitational hosted by Muskingum. The team ends the invite with a match against NCAA qualifier and 16th-ranked Marietta. Case Western Reserve hosts Oberlin on September 17 for Faculty Appreciation Night, which is followed by three tough matches at the ONU Invitational hosted by Ohio Northern, including one against 12th-ranked Millikin, who reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2024.
After conference play begins, Case Western Reserve has just five non-conference matches left on its schedule. On October 4, the Spartans play Ohio Wesleyan (an NCAA participant in 2024) and Denison in Delaware, Ohio, as part of a tri-match hosted by the Battling Bishops. CWRU heads across town for a matchup against John Carroll on October 15, and hosts Otterbein (the final 2024 NCAA qualifier on the schedule) for Senior Day on November 1. The Spartans end the regular season with a trip to Wooster on November 8.
CWRU opens conference play with the first UAA Round Robin on September 27 and 28, hosted by Emory University in Atlanta. The Spartans will face Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, and defending league champion and fifth-ranked Emory. The second round robin will take place in Cleveland on October 12 at the Veale Center with CWRU taking on Rochester and 11th-ranked WashU. Regular season conference play concludes in Chicago on October 26 as the Spartans play 23rd-ranked NYU and host 20th-ranked Chicago. Including CWRU, six members of the UAA reached the postseason in 2024 with Emory reaching the national quarterfinals.
Brandeis will host the 2025 UAA Volleyball Championship on November 15 and 16 with the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship going to the tournament champion. For the second consecutive season, at-large bids to the postseason will be made by the NCAA Power Index (NPI) with the full bracket released on Monday, November 17. CWRU will be looking for its third bid in a row to the 64-team championship tournament which will commence on Thursday, November 20.
