Early 2025-26 PVF draft prospects watchlist
Here's a first look at the best incoming seniors who could make up the next PVF draft class.
A new PFV season is here, so it’s time to take an initial look at the college seniors who could comprise next year’s draft class. The 2024-25 draft featured five rounds of eight selections each, totaling 40 players. However, it is unclear at this point whether the draft format will remain the same in the upcoming year — it hinges on whether the promised franchises in Dallas and Kansas City gain enough traction to debut in 2026. If they do, and the draft retains its five round structure, that would allow for 50 players to be drafted into the PVF next year.
In order to be eligible for the PVF draft, a player must be at least 18 years old and defined as a “college player” enrolled in a 4-year college or JUCO program. In order to preserve college eligibility for potential draftees, players are not required to declare for the draft and are not required to sign with the team who drafts them. Therefore, drafted players may return to college to play out the remainder of their NCAA eligibility or sign with a European team.
However, that isn’t to say that teams are left entirely in the dark when it comes to deciding who to draft. There are NCAA rules compliant ways for teams to contact players and establish communication with their coaching staff. After the most recent draft, teams openly spoke about getting to know their draftees personalities as part of their scouting process. I’ve heard that teams had an understanding in place with most draftees that they would sign if drafted.
With two draft classes in the books, every player selected so far has either been an out of eligibility senior or grad student. It was a mild surprise to me that the league didn’t spring for a redshirt junior with a degree in hand, which would presumably make the choice between school and pro volleyball far less painful. I’ve included just one such player on this year’s list, Tennessee hitter Starr Willams. Every other player listed here will have no college eligibility remaining after next season.
Because players are not required to declare for the draft, there is no specific “draft pool” from which teams may select, leaving it up to guesswork which players a team may be interested in. It’s a massive job to sift through all of college volleyball and suss out the best pro prospects. I attempted the feat for PVF’s most recent draft class, and successfully identified only 18 drafted players in my final watchlist. That’s admittedly not a great showing for me. In my estimation, there were four major contributing factors:
(1) I underestimated the value PVF teams would place on depth hitters, leading to me cutting players off my initial list who went on to be drafted. (2) I left off players known to be affiliated with LOVB, wrongly assuming the PVF wouldn’t battle for their loyalties. (3) I overestimated the value teams would place on developmental prospects, leading to far too many setters and liberos on my watchlist. (4) I decided to take a stab at projecting a few small school players as draftees and whiffed entirely.
I’ve done my best to correct for those errors in my first crack at this year’s list.
Two rule changes from the inaugural season may also impact the way teams handle their draft strategy. Teams may now roster up to three international players, up from two players in the first season. Teams may also now place veteran players on the practice squad, rather than reserve those spots for first-year players. These changes emboldened teams to selected multiple international players in the 2024-25 draft and has also led to a greater league-wide commitment to rookies on the active roster.
There’s far too many players listed here to be drafted, but keep in mind that at this point, we’re eleven months out from the next PVF draft. There’s plenty of time for this list to evolve as some players drop off for underwhelming performance or jump up thanks to surprising growth.
Setter
Averi Carlson, SMU
Elle Glock, Louisville
Sarah Jordan, South Carolina
Brooke Mosher, Pittsburgh
Mokihana Tufono, Ole Miss
Maddie Waak, Texas A&M
Outside Hitter
Caylen Alexander, Missouri
Emoni Bush, Oklahoma
Mimi Colyer, Wisconsin
Flormarie Heredia Colon, Florida
Ayah Elnady, Northwestern
Jalyn Gibson, TCU
Carly Glendinning, Cincinnati
Cheridyn Leverette, UCLA
Julia Hanson, Minnesota
Eva Hudson, Kentucky
Ava Martin, Creighton
Tatum Parrott, Arizona State
Adriana Rhoda, Georgia
Elia Rubin, Stanford
Madison Scheer, SMU
Alexis Shelton, Oklahoma
Nia Washington, LSU
Starr Williams, Tennessee
Jordan Wilson, Arizona
Opposite Hitter
Lauryn Hovey, Bowling Green
Malaya Jones, SMU
Anna Kharchynska, Ohio
Logan Lednicky, Texas A&M
Allie Sczech, Nebraska
Avry Tatum, Indiana
Middle Blocker
Bekah Allick, Nebraska
Alicia Andrew, Baylor
Carter Booth, Wisconsin
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Texas A&M
Cara Cresse, Louisville
Kate Dean, Virginia
Kiki Granberry, Tennessee
Amiree Hendricks-Walker, Iowa State
Sarah Holcomb, Wyoming
Maggie Mendelson, Penn State
Liana Sarkissian, Dayton
Emrie Satuala, Utah
Libero
Gillian Grimes, Penn State
Emma Halter, Texas
Cammy Niesen, Ole Miss
Maya Sands, Missouri