By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Less than a week after the Tennessee Tech volleyball team and head coach Jeannette Phillips celebrated eight members of the squad with Senior Day festivities, the Golden Eagles announced the signing of one of the largest classes of freshmen in the history of the program.
The purple and gold is set to welcome seven fresh faces to Cookeville for the 2025 season, including liberos Caroline Fruge, Brooklyn Rapp, and Ella Watford, middle blockers Tuva Falk and Jordyn Milhouse, right side Sarah Noto, and outside hitter Eryn Spradley.
"This is the biggest recruiting class we have brought into Tech, but due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had two classes morphing together and our graduating class is sizeable this year," Phillips explained. The talent level is also very sizeable in this 2025 class. They know they have some big shoes to fill and they are ready for the challenge. This class is all very passionate about Tech and the buy-in from them is already so high, that the sky really is the limit."
Over the next few days, we'll be taking a closer look at each of the newest members of the Golden Eagle volleyball family. Today, we take a look at Mishawaka, Ind. native Ella Watford.
Ella Watford
Libero | 5'7
Mishawaka, Ind. (Mishawaka HS)
Northern Indiana Volleyball Association (Club)
Watford was a four-year letterwinner as a libero for head coach Randa Adams at Mishawaka High School, earning Defensive MVP for the school three times during her career. She was a two-time All-Conference First Team honoree as well, earning a place on the JVA Watch List and being selected as an AVCA Phenom.
Throughout her career, Watford covered the floor at an impressive rate, sporting 305 digs as a freshman, 413 scoops as a sophomore, 475 digs as a junior, and 387 more scoops as a senior. In 2024 as a senior, she delivered 399 service receptions and produced an 11.4 service ace percentage.
During her junior season, the newest signee of the purple and gold brought in 543 service receptions while turning in a 14.0 service ace percentage. Those same numbers reached totals of 487 service receptions as a sophomore and 464 as a freshman, not to mention service ace percentages of 13.6 in 2022 and 16.4 in 2021.
"Ella's energy and determination stood out to us immediately," Phillips expressed. "Oftentimes, it is difficult to have players 'go there' and put it all out on the line, but I think that Ella doesn't know how to do it any other way. She is an 'all-in' individual and our team will benefit from that both when she's on the court as a libero and also off the court with her as a new member of our family. Ella is someone who draws people in by both her competitive spirit and, even more so, by her authenticity. We cannot wait to see her in action next fall."
