2026 Volleyball Preview: Several incoming seniors look to embrace bigger role for Bloomington

BLOOMINGTON — Bloomington volleyball will look to several players who are ready to take the next step up and replace four impactful seniors who graduated.

The Purple Raiders are coming off a year where they went 12-23 overall, but finished fourth in the Big 12 Conference with a 6-4 mark in conference play. Despite the sub-.500 season, head coach Joe Sanders’ group showed it could hang with strong competition after taking Washington and Normal West to three sets and notching solid wins over Lincoln and IVC.

Now in his 29th year leading the Purple Raiders, Sanders will have to fill the shoes of setter Lauren Shuey, outside hitters Mara Copes and Elle Cvetan and middle Emma Kracher. 

The good news? Bloomington retains a majority of its roster from last year, which boasted six juniors who are now seniors. 

The Purple Raiders will look to hitters Lorelei Hulsing, Ruby Moore and Audrey Elver to fill big roles this fall. Hulsing, who also stars for Bloomington’s cross country and track and field teams, put together a strong freshman season while Moore and Elver each had moments leading the team in a statistical category in at least one match in 2025.

Senior middle Logan Taylor will be a key presence at the net while McKenna Ward and Karen Castro give Bloomington two presences at defensive specialist. Senior setter Kendall Greenlee looks to be a candidate to step in the spot that Shuey, a Big 12 all-conference honorable mention, occupied for multiple years. 

Bloomington’s first seven matches will be played away from Robert Frank Gymnasium as they travel to Washington and LaSalle-Peru before going to the Edwardsville Invitational on Sept. 5-6. The Purple Raiders will welcome Chatham Glenwood for their home opener on Sept. 8.

They’ll get plenty of strong competition during the regular season, including the Bloomington/Normal Intercity tournament on Sept. 26 and Bloomington Central Catholic’s Saints Fall Classic on Oct. 9-10. 

The several powers that Bloomington will face during the year should prepare the squad well for a Class 3A postseason bracket that will be more crowded than previous years. Bloomington Central Catholic was moved up into Class 3A while Big 12 foe Richwoods moves down from Class 4A. 

Bloomington volleyball’s season kicks off at Washington on Aug. 27 with first serve scheduled for 7 P.M.