FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Head Coach Todd Kress has announced the eight student-athletes that will join Fairfield University Volleyball for the upcoming 2020 season. The crop of newcomers represents seven different states as well as the country of New Zealand.
 
"The 2020 recruiting class is unique in a number of ways. First, in size alone. With eight new faces joining our program, this class will not only challenge our fans to know the roster but will also serve as our foundation for continued success over the next four years," said Head Coach Todd Kress.
 
"It's also a unique class due to the Covid-19 pandemic," the seven-time MAAC Coach of the Year continued. "We were putting the finishing touches on this class during the middle of the pandemic, and I credit our incoming freshmen for sticking with us throughout the process and not skipping a beat. To be honest, I've never been more fired up for an incoming class. We addressed some critical needs of our roster with this class but also continued our tradition of signing student-athletes of the highest integrity. I'm confident that everyone on campus and the Fairfield community will enjoy watching this group grow, compete and enhance the culture of our championship program."
 
A libero from Fishers, Ind., Kyla Berg played in the back row at Hamilton Southeastern High School. She was an Academic All-State honoree and a summa cum laude student. Berg will study Accounting in the Dolan School of Business as Fairfield.
 
Originally from Christchurch, New Zealand, Ella Gardiner played high school volleyball and basketball at San Clemente (Calif.) High School. The middle blocker was a two-time All-League performer in volleyball as well as a league MVP and First Team All-County as a basketball player. She was the San Clemente Student-Athlete of the Year as a senior and received the Princeton Club of Orange County Award for Leadership.
 
Gardiner's parents – Amy and Andrew – both played college basketball at San Jose State, and her father also played for the New Zealand men's national basketball team. She will major in Environmental Studies at Fairfield. Gardiner is the second New Zealander in program history after Liz Lemon, who played one season of volleyball and basketball for the Stags in the 1998-99 academic year.
 
Jordan Kress (no relation to Head Coach Todd Kress) is an outside hitter from Peoria, Ariz. In addition to earning All-Region and All-District honors in all four of her seasons at Mountain Ridge High School, Kress starred on the national level for Livewire Volleyball Club. She played on a pair of national championship teams with LVC, earning Most Valuable Player honors at the 2019 tournament. Academically, she is a four-year Honor Roll and Principal's List student. Kress will study Psychology in the fall.
 
Alexis LeClair was the 2019 SCAC Player of the Year and two-time SCAC Libero of the Year at Jamesville-DeWitt High School in Jamesville, N.Y. Also a two-time All-CNY First Team honoree, LeClair compiled 710 digs in her career. She intends to major in Communication at Fairfield.
 
A libero from St. Louis, Maggie Rogan was named Best Defensive Player in all four of her seasons at Lafayette High School. She helped lead her team to two second-place finishes in the state tournament. Rogan, who earned Academic All-State laurels in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, will major in Social Work. Her mother Carren is a Fairfield University graduate.
 
Simone Tyson comes to Fairfield from Maple Heights, Ohio after starring on the outside at Solon High School. Tyson was an All-District First Team performer for Head Coach Kaylee Rodriguez and earned the Student-Athlete Award at Solon for posting a cumulative GPA over 3.5. Tyson will study at the Dolan School of Business.
 
A libero from McKinney, Texas, Georgia Via was an All-District defensive specialist at Frisco Independence High School. A three-time Defensive Player of the Year, she ranked third in the Dallas/Fort Worth area as a senior with 5.9 digs per set and 584 total digs on the campaign. Via was a consistent face on the All-District Academic Team, eventually collecting Academic All-State honors as a senior and earning a place in the National Honor Society. She will enter the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield in the fall.
 
Rounding out the group of incoming Stags is graduate student Natalie Alechko. A native of Old Tappan, N.J., Alechko spent three seasons as an outside hitter at fellow MAAC member Quinnipiac and served as team captain in 2018, though she did not play due to injury. She was tabbed to the MAAC All-Rookie Team in 2016 after helping the Bobcats to the MAAC Championship Match and earned All-MAAC Second Team laurels in 2017 as Quinnipiac's leader with 334 kills. Alechko graduated from Quinnipiac in the spring of 2020 with a double major in Legal Studies and Economics. She will pursue a Master of Public Administration (MPA) at Fairfield.
 
The group of eight newcomers will join 12 returning student-athletes from the 2019 MAAC Championship team. The Stags went 24-6 overall and 17-1 in the MAAC last fall, wrapping up the campaign at #7 Minnesota – an eventual Final Four team – in the NCAA Championship First Round.