Preseason Position Review, Part Four: The Liberos
8/21/2025 3:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
This article is the final submission of a four-part series featuring the Boise State volleyball team in a season preview of each position. Today, we look at the libero position. The Broncos have two student-athletes returning from 2024 with extensive experience in Bre Mitchell and Bella McGirr.
The libero anchors the back line and organizes the team's defensive efforts on the court. "It starts with passing and controlling the service receive on our side," said head coach Shawn Garus. "It is important that the libero is communicating with the other passers about what's coming from the opponent's attack. The libero needs to know a little bit more than everybody else about what we need to do with our service receive, taking enough court that they can make the people around them better. They then need to play scrappy defense, which I think will be a real strength of this team with our liberos leading the way."
The libero position is the most experienced for the Broncos entering the season. Both Mitchell, a senior, and McGirr, a redshirt-junior, have played extensively at the libero/defensive specialist position. Both will be major contributors to the team's game plan this fall.
"Bella had a season-ending injury in week three last year, and we really missed her," said Garus. "She had done so many great things for us the two years previous and in the early part of last year; it was somewhat surprising we were able to have as much success as we did without her. However, she recovered from that injury and had a strong spring, actually growing her abilities. She has continued where she left off in the spring and is having a great training camp. Bella possesses excellent all-around skills and has worked on developing the intangibles that make the people around her better through her communication and leadership.
McGirr is a redshirt-junior who has played in 63 contests, primarily at libero with some time as a defensive specialist. The native of Novato, California, has averaged 1.91 digs per set and 0.43 assists. She has accumulated 403 digs, 90 assists, and 24 service aces during her career.
"Bre has excelled at the libero position for us for much of her career," Garus said. "She's as good a service player as I've ever coached, and she has a real good volleyball IQ that she shares well with the people around her. She tactically understands what will make the team successful, and is good at knowing what other teams are going for, which makes her that much more effective as a libero."
The 2025 Preseason All-Mountain West honoree transferred to Boise State following her freshman season at Cal State Northridge (CSUN), where she was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team. The senior from Temecula, California, has played in every match (58) since becoming a Bronco, recording 798 digs, 278 assists and 85 service aces. She has averaged a team-high 3.73 digs in her Boise State career to go with 1.3 assists and 0.4 service aces. As a senior, she led the MW and was ranked 40th nationally in service aces per set at 1.62 and second in the MW and 44th in the NCAA for total service aces with 49, which is 13th all-time in program history. In addition, Mitchell was fourth in the league for total digs with 435, eighth all-time at Boise State, and second in digs per set at 3.99, ninth all-time.
The Broncos are headed off to Reno, Nevada, tomorrow for an exhibition match against Sacramento State on Saturday. They will open the 2025 campaign next Friday, Aug. 29, against Navy at the Utah Valley Invitational in Orem, Utah.
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