NEWBERG, Ore. -- It's a fresh, unified look for the George Fox women's volleyball team in 2025.

The Bruins finished the 2024 campaign with a 14-12 record, including a 10-6 Northwest Conference mark. Thanks to their record, the Bruins advanced to the conference tournament — their second straight year making the tourney since it was reintroduced in 2023 — losing in the first round to a nationally-ranked Whitworth squad.

?But now, it's a complete flip of the script for head coach Emily Davis and her squad. Along with three seniors, the Bruins had four fifth-year players, including NWC Libero of the Year Piper Hilgaertner, who utilized their COVID waiver to play an additional season. Now, those seven players, who combined to start 77 matches, will step away and leave an opening for younger players.

" Something that I've noticed over the past eight days that's been really special is the team just feels very unified," Davis said, "There's not a huge gap in ages or life situations, like there can be sometimes on senior-heavy teams."

As opposed to the 2024 roster, which was 55% upperclassmen, the 2025 squad will be 71% underclassmen; the Bruins have just one junior and four seniors on the roster. Though the on-court inexperience will raise some interesting questions — Fox will begin the year without a true libero — it also brings a lot of excitement to the forefront. 

The four seniors for Davis bring a wide array of talent to the forefront. Lexi Baer, a third-year athlete who will graduate a year early, was third on the team with 189 kills and blocks with 43. Allaire Gilder, meanwhile, started 21 of Fox's 26 matches, leading the team in blocks (50), notching 96 kills and 63 digs in an all-around effort at middle blocker. The two are joined by Kloee Harris and Mikaila Kronholm, two community college transfers who will look to make an impact in their second year with Fox.

"The four of them are fantastic humans and have been working hard this summer to prepare for their last year," Davis said,"They're just such a good example of how to connect with some of our younger players and show that this team is not divided in any way. So I'm really excited for them."

With Baer graduating early, Gracie Bearden remains the lone junior in her class — and her stats from 2024 speak for themselves. Bearden quickly became a key component of the Bruin attack on the right side, eventually leading the team in kills with 266. Bearden was second in the team in digs (270) and third in aces (33); her versatile all-around efforts led to an All-NWC Honorable Mention honor.

"[Gracie] has come back fresh and ready to go," Davis said, "My biggest struggle with her is that she could do so much for us. How do I find the right spot to put her in? So I'm excited — she could be in multiple different roles and in all of them, I know she'll do great."

There is one other All-NWC talent returning for the Bruins in the sophomore class in Jordan Hahn. The middle blocker found her footing in the rotation by the time NWC play started, and proved to be an invaluable asset for Davis as the season progressed; Hahn finished the season with 105 kills on a .281 attacking percentage en route to an All-NWC Second Team honor.

Joining Hahn in the sophomore class are Jenna Knibbs, who showed flashes as a freshman in 20 games of action, Isabella Avila, Chloe Wiersma, and Laelie Rasmussen. All five women were also on the team in 2024, with the entire class staying for year two.

I'm pumped that they are all back, and I'm excited for some of the improvements I'll see," Davis said, "I'm really excited about their potential."

Stepping into the fold are seven freshmen — Breanne Dowdy, Bridget Philipsen, LeAna Cimarra, Lexi Herber, Addison Goff, Hannah Huffman, and Gabriela Yepez Suarez. This large group comes from all around, with two athletes from Colorado and Washington, one apiece from Idaho, California, and Oregon — but no matter where they hail from, they are all ready to take the leap to collegiate volleyball.

" Sometimes you have freshmen who struggle with the speed and the shift to college," Davis said, "And as an entire class, the freshmen seem like they're so excited to be here. They're really positive, they're encouraging, they're very coachable. As a group, I've just really loved coaching them."

The young group will have to show that they've gelled quickly, as the team begins the season in a different way than in years past: after two years staying local and co-hosting the Oregon Trail Classic, the Bruins will head to Georgia for four games in the Covenant Classic before two additional home games against Colorado College and Pacific Union before NWC play begins.

These six nonconference games will feature a variety of teams, ranging from NAIA squads like Pacific Union to a Southern Virginia team that qualified for the 2024 NCAA Tournament. In those games, Davis hopes to play a variety of lineups to prepare for conference competition.

"It will be a lot of controlling our side of the court, adapting and adjusting," the Bruin coach said, "I hope that we'll be able to get some new lineups in the next two weeks to be ready for conference."

Then, it's conference time. The Bruins had a statistical quirk in 2024, going 10-0 against teams ranked below them in the NWC standings and 0-6 against those above them. But in 2025, they'll look to win the big games they were oh-so-close in last season to improve upon their standing.

The NWC preseason has the Bruins slotted right back in the fourth position, but Davis knows that this group is ready to take the conference by storm.

After all, a fresh look can bring fresh results.