4 newcomers on XULA’s 2021 volleyball roster

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has four newcomers on its 2021 volleyball roster. They are:

• Stella Dineva, a 6-foot-2 outside hitter/right side from Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Dineva is a psychology/pre-medical major.
• Giulia Follador, a 5-11 outside hitter from Caselle Torinese, Italy, and a transfer from two-year Florida Southwestern College in Fort Myers. Follador is majoring in business.
• Sydney Hoosier, a 5-6 outside hitter from Fort Worth, Texas, and All Saints’ Episcopal School. Hoosier is a mechanical engineering major.
• Cori Shipman, a 5-6 setter from Helena, Ala., and Hoover High School. Shipman is a biology/pre-medical major, and she’s interested in pediatric medicine.

Dineva, Hoosier and Shipman are freshmen; Follador is a sophomore. They’re part of an 18-player roster in Pat Kendrick’s fifth season as head coach.

Dineva (last name pronounced DEE-nuh-vuh) spent five years with club Maritza Plovdiv in Bulgaria and helped her teams win seven league championships. She won a league award for best server.

Follador (pronounced julia FALL-uh-der) helped Florida Southwestern go 20-9, win the Suncoast Conference championship and place eighth at NJCAA nationals last season. She played 10 years of club volleyball with match highs of 17 kills, four aces, four blocks and 20 digs.

Hoosier was first-team all-district as a junior and senior, and as a junior she produced 41 kills in one match — a five-set victory for the Saints. Hoosier helped All Saints’ qualify for the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools playoffs four consecutive seasons.

Hoosier helped her 18s club team, Texas Image, finish fifth at nationals this summer.

Shipman played club volleyball for eight years, the last five with Alabama Performance. She helped her 16s team win gold and silver medals at separate AAU national tournaments, and she was an AAU academic All-American in 2019. Shipman served seven aces in a match twice in 2021.

XULA, the preseason favorite in the Red River Athletic Conference coaches poll, will open its 14th season Aug. 27 with matches against Webber International and Reinhardt in the Wolf Pack Welcome Tournament at city rival Loyola.