Elena Radeff Transfers To Marquette Volleyball

Just when you think that there’s not going to be transfer news, Ryan Theis changes the questions.

Hey, remember when I tricked myself into thinking that Marquette volleyball wasn’t going to have any incoming transfers for 2025? Oh, man, those were the days.

Anyway, on Friday, Santa Clara outside hitter Elena Radeff announced that she will be transferring to Marquette for the 2025 season.

That was quickly followed up by a press release from Marquette announcing said transfer along with the addition of Allyson Eckel.

Radeff hails from Menlo Park, California, and is listed by Santa Clara at six feet tall. She will be at Marquette for just one season on her COVID bonus year of eligibility after redshirting in the 2022 campaign. That extra year of development as a player seems to have paid off, as she went from 25 total sets in 17 matches in her first two seasons with the Broncos to 74 sets in 23 matches during the 2023 campaign alone. Radeff finished the 2024 season as Santa Clara’s #2 attacker by way of kills per set, averaging 2.69 per frame and hitting .266. She ended up playing in just 85 of Santa Clara’s 105 sets last fall, but I’m going to let the Marquette press release get into the details here:

She hit a career-best .266 as a redshirt senior in 2024 with 2.69 kills and 0.54 blocks per set, and ended her tenure at Santa Clara with the best six-match stretch of her career. Over her final six contests, which included wins over San Francisco, Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga to end the year, Radeff led the squad with 4.90 kills per set (98 total), 1.15 digs and 0.85 blocks per frame for a 5.43 point-per set average and a hitting efficiency of .368. She recorded a career-best 20 kills and five blocks in a sweep of the Gaels in the penultimate match of the year and hit .630 with 18 kills to sweep Gonzaga in the season finale.

We’ll see what happens in Milwaukee in the fall, but if Radeff is more of a 4.90 and .368 player than a 2.69 and .266 player, then Ryan Theis may have just pulled off a tiny heist in terms of restocking his roster after losing most of his starting lineup to the end of their eligibility.

Radeff also played beach volleyball for four years with the Broncos. She was on their top pairing in 2024 and earned All-West Coast Conference honors along the way. That’s a lot of collegiate volleyball experience, and given that you have to be good at a lot of things to play the two-person beach game, that may pay off in a big way for Marquette and Theis’ somewhat “you gotta contribute all over the floor” coaching tactics.

That’s not just me guessing at that, either. Here’s Theis in the press release:

“Elena is a great fit for us,” Theis said. “She has a lot of collegiate experience on the right side and I actually think her collegiate beach experience has made her a very well-rounded player. Elena has an extremely fun personality and is looking to help us make another run in the NCAA tournament.”

While we’re here, let’s swing down to the Ally Eckel portion of the press release. Here’s the commentary from Theis:

“We are excited to add Ally’s skills and experience to the program,” Theis said. “I watched hundreds of her touches from this fall and was very impressed with her steady platform and ball control. We think she can help us from a serve receive and defensive standpoint.”

I would imagine that it’s not a coincidence that the rundown of her statistical contributions to Middle Tennessee make sure to note that Eckel had 11 service aces in 2024. Noting a 14 dig, five assists, one ace performance against Louisiana Tech is also not by chance, as Theis’ liberos/defensive specialists are expected to be able to pass for assists. That’s the “gotta contribute all over the floor” thing I mentioned a moment ago.

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