Purdue volleyball alum Azariah Stahl has signed a contract with Genéve Volley to play professionally in Switzerland. She’ll head to Europe in August to begin her first season of professional volleyball.
Stahl is a 6’0 tall, 6-rotation outside hitter originally from Elkhart, Indiana. She was a member of the 2012 USA Volleyball U-20 team that took a bronze medal at the NORCECA Women’s Junior Continental Championship and the Gatorade High School Player of the Year for Indiana as a high school senior.
In her senior season with Purdue, Stahl ranked 3rd for Purdue with 2.33 kills/set and 334 points, and ranked 2nd (first among non-liberos) in digs with 278 (2.38/set). She also set career-highs in aces (25) and blocks (44) during her senior year, while landing kills on 40% of her swings. Her defense really stands out among outside hitters – she’s an excellent serve-receiver, and was the team’s primary receiver as both a junior and receiver, successfully receiving over 94% of the serves she saw.
Genéve Volley won the 2nd-tier National League B in 2017-2018, which means that they promote back to the National League A for next season. That puts the team ahead of schedule on their “2020” plan to promote by the year 2020. Stahl turns 23 in June; 7 of the 10 players listed on the team’s 2017-2018 roster were 23-or-younger last season, including 3 teenagers.
The Swiss league has been dominated by Volero Zurich, who have won the last 9 consecutive league titles and 14 out of the last 15.
Purdue volleyball posted this video of Stahl thanking Purdue for her time there on Twitter on Tuesday. Stahl joins U.S. National Teamer Annie Drews and Impel Wroclaw (Poland) setter Val Nichol as Purdue volleyball alumni playing professionally.
No… THANK YOU @azariahstahl! #RiseHigher #BoilerUp pic.twitter.com/m16bFVu12r
— Purdue Volleyball (@PurdueVB) May 22, 2018
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