December 4, 2025
Colorful and energetic Hope Davies is thriving as the Ferris State volleyball team’s libero – and ‘paintball’
Hope Davies is listed as a libero for the Ferris State volleyball team as it starts the NCAA DII Midwest Regional Tournament tonight, but she describes her role a little differently.
"I'd say I'm almost like a paintball,” she said with a smile. “It's like, they're colorful, and they kind of explode all over you but in a good way. I would say I am someone with a lot of energy and definitely interesting."
Davies, of Grand Rapids, is competing in her first full college season and has been a fast learner on the Bulldogs, with a 24-7 record and ranked 20th in the nation.
The Bulldogs play in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Tournament on Thursday, Dec. 4. Ferris State, the No. 3 seed, will take on No. 6 seed Quincy University in the opening round in St. Louis.
Davies is already gaining recognition, earning All-GLIAC Honorable Mention honors. That follows all-conference, all-region, all-district and all-state honors while playing for Forest Hills Eastern High School.
"This year, I had the mindset of doing everything I could to help make our team better. Obviously, we're a younger team, but we're working every day to continue to get better," Davies said. "I came in with the mindset to get one percent better every day. A lot of progress that happened during the summer and early in the preseason."
Spending the summer on campus helped speed up her development.
"That was part of what I think helped me develop my game even more," Davies said. "Coming into this year, we all had the mindset of getting one percent better every day."
Sophomore standouts Emily May, Gabby Piazza and Hayley Wegener earned All-GLIAC first-team honors while senior Logyn Geren received All-GLIAC second-team recognition.
Those All-GLIAC honorees had limited opportunities to play in 2024 with a team dominated by seniors that compiled a 34-1 record with GLIAC regular-season and tournament championships and an NCAA Division II Midwest Region championship.
While some of the Bulldogs' younger players did not play as much on the court during last season's matches, they watched and learned.
"Last year, while we were redshirting, it wasn't like we weren't also working hard while we were on the scout team," said Davies, who has registered 422 digs with 29 service aces. "We were playing against the No. 1 team in the nation every day in practice. We were working hard to make them better, and they were helping us get better every day. We knew what we were capable of doing because we've been putting in the work to get there."
This season, Davies said the team has focused on consistent improvement.
"I think my biggest area of growth has been with serve receive. It's so different from what it was in high school, and I don't think I realized how different it was until I got to college and had the chance to experience it," she said. "This summer, I worked on it and got better, and that growth has continued during the preseason and throughout this season."