STANFORD, Calif. - Head coach John Dunning has announced the six freshmen that will join the women's volleyball program this fall and help it contend for a Pac-12 championship and the team's seventh NCAA title.
The class, which was rated No. 1 overall by PrepVolleyball.com, consists of Audriana Fitzmorris (Overland Park, Kan.), Jenna Gray (Shawnee, Kan.), Morgan Hentz (Lakeside Park, Ky.), twins Caitlin Keefe (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) and Michaela Keefe (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), and Kathryn Plummer (Aliso Viejo, Calif.).
"This is a class we have been looking at for a long time," said Dunning, who begins his 16th year at Stanford in the fall. "When our current senior class [2015 roster] came in it had a big impact. We knew from experience that when they leave that it better be a good year in recruiting for us.
"We are lucky to have a lot of really good students who are also great volleyball players in this class, and who were very interested in Stanford. It needed to be a class for us that can make an impact, and I definitely believe that it will."
Fitzmorris is a 6-6 middle blocker out of St. James Academy in Lenexa, Kansas. The 2015 USA Today National Player of the Year helped lead the Thunder to three Kansas 5A state championships (2012, 2013, 2015), while finishing second in 2014. The No. 2 Senior Ace (PrepVolleyball.com), Fitzmorris is a high school All-American and has been named the 2015 player of the year by Volleyball Magazine and PrepVolleyball.com. She also has represented the United States on several youth national teams and has been named to the U.S. Collegiate National Team, which will tour China this summer.
Gray, a 6-1 setter, was a teammate of Fitzmorris at St. James Academy. The Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year, Gray captained the Thunder as a junior and senior. A four-time high school All-American, Gray is the No. 14 Senior Ace and the 2015 PrepVolleyball Co-National Player of the Year. She helped guide St. James Academy to the 2013 PrepVolleyball national championship with a perfect 47-0 record and a 46-1 mark in 2015 as the school won its third state title in the past four years.
Hentz is a 5-9 libero hailing from Lakeside Park, Kentucky. A standout at Notre Dame Academy, Hentz was the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year and the No. 22 Senior Ace as named by PrepVolleyball.com. She captained her squad as a junior and senior, leading Notre Dame Academy to four regional championships, runner-up finishes at the state championships in 2013 and 2014 and a semifinal appearance in the state tournament in 2015. Hentz also has international experience as a member of the U.S. Girl's Youth National Team which finished second in the U18 World Championships in Lima, Peru.
Caitlin Keefe is a 5-11 defensive specialist out of Marymount High School in Los Angeles. She helped guide the Sailors to three league titles (2013, 2014, 2015) and CIF Division IAA quarterfinal finishes as a junior and senior. A captain in her final season, Caitlin earned all-league honors in 2014 and 2015 and secured PrepVolleyball Academic All-America honorable mention status in 2015. She was also a two-time all-CIF performer in basketball and a captain of the beach volleyball team her senior year.
Michaela Keefe, a 6-2 outside hitter from Marymount High School, is the No. 31 Senior Ace as listed on PrepVolleyball.com. She is a two-time all-league first team pick as the Sailors garnered three league championships during her time with the team. She also earned four letters in basketball at Marymount, collecting MVP honors of the Mission League as a junior and senior.
Rounding out the class is Plummer, a 6-6 opposite/setter from Aliso Niguel High School in Aliso Viejo, California. A three-time captain, Plummer was the California Gatorade Player of the Year and the No. 3 Senior Ace according to PrepVolleyball.com. A first team All-American and three-time high school MVP, Plummer helped lead her squad to three Sea View League championships (2013, 2014, 2015) and the 2014 CIF Division IA title. She is also an accomplished beach player, becoming the only player (male or female) to win FIVB medals in both indoor and beach play. She captured a silver medal with the U.S. U18 World Championships squad in Lima, Peru and won gold at the FIVB U17 Beach World Championship in Acapulco, Mexico, earning Most Outstanding Player in the process.
In addition to the six newcomers, the 2016 Stanford squad will include redshirt senior Inky Ajanaku, senior Kelsey Humphreys, redshirt juniors Merete Lutz and Ivana Vanjak, junior Sidney Brown, sophomores Tami Alade, Payton Chang, Alexis Froistad, Hayley Hodson and Halland McKenna, and redshirt freshman Courtney Bowen.
