Draft Prospect Profile: L Nia McCardell
The Rice libero isn't a household name, but she has the athleticism and statistical results to be intriguing.
Rice University in Houston, Texas is an inconspicuous place for a potential future pro to be playing her college volleyball, but it’s where fifth-year libero Nia McCardell has spent her entire career. She’s thrived as a member of the Rice Owls, transitioning from a defensive specialist to take on a full time role after her sophomore season and never looking back.
As the leading American Conference libero by volume statistics, McCardell was 26th in the nation both in terms of total digs (560) and digs per set (4.96) in 2024. Well known liberos playing for premier teams don’t appear until further down the list, as those teams often have hitters more than capable of holding their own as passers. Nonetheless, McCardell’s end of year statistics are eye-catching for their sheer magnitude. The Owls’ rangy libero has plenty of confidence in the physical gifts that allow her to track down so many balls.
“I know for sure that most balls are not going to drop on me because I'm at least going to get a touch or it's going to be a good dig. I'm very quick on my feet. I can read the court really well. I have a lot of experience with just like setters who dump or reading a hitter's shots, their hands and stuff like that. I'm really good at change of direction. I think that's really important as a libero, having to run down the balls,” said McCardell.
Coach Genny Volpe, who has led the Rice program for 20 years, echoed that sentiment. She was overflowing with praise for her libero’s athletic ability.
“Her defensive range is just so large. You know, she can cover anywhere from the 10-foot line all the way to middle back. She just reads really well, she anticipates, she can use her hands, like, dig with her hands and dig behind her… She can be in a bad position and still make a really good play because of her range,” Volpe raved.
McCardell was a hitter until late in her club career, only making the transition to play libero after other girls outpaced her in height. (She laughingly told me that 2x2 drills are her favorite because it’s the only time she gets to hit these days.) As a former hitter, she has insight into what her hitters need when taking on out-of-system balls. It’s part of what makes her a quality out-of-system setter. McCardell walked me through her thoughts when she’s working as the emergency setter.
“It’s a very quick decision, so it depends on where I'm at on the court. If I'm pushed far to the right side, I'm maybe going to have to set the right side because they're in front of me. There's a lot of times where I have the conversation with my coach. She’s like, ‘Hey, this hitter is on fire, try to feed the balls more to her.’ So, I think that's the first thing in my mind. I'm thinking about who's on right now, who has the confidence. I have confidence in both my hitters, but I'm just trying to put them in the best situation,” she said.
“She's a really good out-of-system setter, and I try to encourage her to use her hands all the time,” added Volpe. “Now that the double touch rule has changed, she's probably going to do it more, but she never even had trouble. She's got beautiful hands.”
As a libero, McCardell’s primary value will always be as a defender. Anyone who plays back row defense will say that it’s a mental game; alertness and determination to win every rep is of utmost importance. In that respect, she lacks nothing. She walked me through what is happening in her head as a play develops on the other side of the net.
“I can track the ball really well. It's a lot of eye movement. It's watching the pass. It's like ball-hitter-ball-setter. I think about what could develop before it does, if that makes sense. So I'm seeing, ‘Oh, the ball is passed deep and I see a girl struggling to pass that ball,’ so that makes me think, ‘Oh, the ball is going to be passed off the net.’ So my mind immediately goes, ‘It's out of system.’ Then, I can maybe transition off deeper into my position because I think she's going to set the outside or the pin.”
“I'm constantly talking to myself in my head, staying on my toes, kind of moving with the ball, focusing on fast transitioning and just motivating myself, getting pumped, saying ‘I want this ball, I want this ball,’ so when it does come to me, I'm prepared,” explained McCardell.
Although she was awarded as the Conference USA Libero of the Year in 2022, McCardell lost out on that award after Rice moved to the American Conference in 2023. She puts that down to her serve-receive, where McCardell feels that she took a slight step backwards last season. She expressed that stepping up her receiving game this season would do wonders for her overall performance.
“I'm taking extra reps in the summer and making sure I'm getting at least 50 to 100 touches every day, even if we're not in the gym. For me, I think the serve receive was a big part of why I probably wasn't able to reach those accolades again. So I would say that is like my main focus right now, just getting some extra touches with my serve receive and being confident in my serve receive,” said McCardell.
Coach Volpe observed that McCardell is a quiet presence in the gym, a grinder who leads by example and is focused on improving her own game every day. She expects great things from herself and is willing to work hard to meet that expectation.
“That's really my goal for this year, just consistency with the serve receive. I don't want to have high highs and low lows,” McCardell continued. “I just want a consistent ride of like a good passing percentage, because my defense — I would say that, like, you put me against someone else? I have a lot of faith in myself. I can go back there and dig some balls. A consistent serve-receive would be the best thing for me this year because I feel like if I just add that on to my defensive plays then I'm set to accomplish a lot of things.”
Coach Volpe spelled out exactly what McCardell’s serve-receive troubles came down to — although she has all the physical traits to be successful, she still has to improve her decision making. She took on a ton of serves, far more than other liberos who played a similar number of sets, and in that number were some that should have been another player’s responsibility
“I knew that Nia took a lot of balls, but when I saw that number, I was like, ‘Okay, that's probably a little too much,’ but she wants to cover that amount of space, and she takes her job really seriously,” the coach said. “She would try to maybe go get a ball that was, you know, way over in the seam of an outside hitter, and they would back out, and she would try to play the ball, something like that. She took a lot of court and a lot of responsibility, and so her error percentage was too high.”
This isn’t a career-killing issue. Broadly speaking, coaches would rather have to pull the reins on a player than find a way to fire them up. When taking on a player with a small school background, athleticism, personality, and statistical excellence are a must. McCardell has a good head on her shoulders, and it makes her a supremely coachable player. Combined with her athleticism, she is someone worth gambling on.
Being a libero makes things a little less cut-and-dry for McCardell. As a professional, she’d be battling for one of two active roster spots. Theoretically, a team could carry her as part of the two-person practice squad, but PVF teams last season seemed to prefer setting aside those sports for hitters and middles — positions more statistically likely to require an injury replacement. If that trend holds, it’s active roster or bust for McCardell.
That puts a ton of pressure on her training camp performance, assuming she’s drafted or invited to participate with a team as a non-roster player. If the 2024 college season goes according to plan and McCardell takes the steps outlined by she and Coach Volpe, the most viable path to the PVF is as a draft-and-stash type project.
I could see a team who believes in her foundational traits asking her to play in, say, Puerto Rico for a few months to see how she holds up against pro competition. There, she could serve as a break-glass option if injury strikes or available to be called upon if the parent club needs to shake things up.
On the other side of that coin, there’s no room for error of McCardell is going to be on the PVF radar fat the end of the college season. Playing in the AAC means the bar for performance will be set very high, nit just in terms of total digs, but in how her physicality and volleyball IQ show up on the court.
“Nia's elite athleticism is an X factor, and I've always thought that. If she was not in school it's her profession, I have no doubt she could do it, and she could do it at an extremely high level because she is such an elite athlete. She can jump out of the gym, she's fast, amazing reaction time. If she dedicated all of her time to her craft, I think there's so much still untapped potential in her as a 22-year-old. That's what excites me about her is her ability to still improve,” Coach Volpe said as her closing statement.
“I would definitely have to switch a gear because the level of the game just gets greater. There's these big names, and I want to be a big name too. I picture myself having the greatest confidence and being a badass and owning the court and having so much fun with my teammates. Maybe I can venture out and get into some training with other players who are already experienced in the pro level. I think that would definitely help prepare me more just so I can be prepared for the shift that I'll be facing.”
Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity. To watch full Rice games, click here and here.