Muoneke ‘A Totally Different Player’
September 08, 2025 | Volleyball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Watching Bianna Muoneke soar and strike as she goes on the attack, she exhibits a potent mix of power and grace. And when she celebrates, she looks as happy as anyone has ever been.
As her Georgia volleyball teammate Chloe Elarton said, Muoneke "has a great presence" on the court. Your eyes are drawn to the 6-foot outside hitter with the long hair, huge smile, elite leaping ability, and way more power than you'd think for someone with her frame.
"She's got a hammer of an arm," Georgia head coach Tom Black said after Muoneke had a match-high 13 kills in the Bulldogs' 3-0 win over Duke at Stegeman Coliseum last Friday.
After Georgia got down 19-12 to the Blue Devils in the opening set, Muoneke had five kills during the Bulldogs' rally to take the set 30-28. In the third set, on the team's second match point, it was Muoneke who closed things out with her 63rd kill of the season. Georgia is 5-0 heading into Tuesday's match at Clemson.
"She's 10 times better than last year," Black said. "She's made dramatic changes in her game, especially her passing and hitting. She's a totally different player."
The most obvious change, Black said, was in her approach when setting up for a kill. She's more aggressively stepping forward and into her swing, which is leading to better vision, more power, and more kills.
"Some people never fix it, but she's completely changed it, and it's just made all the difference," Black said. "She can get a full head of steam when she's attacking, and it's a big change. I'm really proud of her."
Muoneke, a junior from Cypress, Texas, began her collegiate career closer to home at Texas A&M, where she earned SEC All-Freshman Team honors after notching 297 kills, 191 digs, 41 blocks and 17 aces.
After transferring to Georgia, she improved on nearly all of those numbers last season: 294 kills (2023 SEC Player of the Year Sophie Fischer led the Bulldogs with 320), 202 digs, 43 blocks and 28 aces. Muoneke twice had a career-high 23 kills in a match, and she finished last season with a team-high 10 double-doubles.
Now, with Fischer gone, Muoneke is emerging as Georgia's go-to hitter. Despite playing in only four of the team's five matches — she sat out against Alabama State on Thursday — Muoneke has a team-high 63 kills, 21 more than second-place MK Patten, the 6-5 sophomore. Muoneke's 4.85 kills per set lead the team and rank third in the SEC; she also is third on the team with 29 digs.
Against Duke on Friday, she wasn't subbed out the whole match. "She never does," Black said. "It's just the nature of her position; it's kind of like a point guard. There are going to be times when she's our best passer and our best attacker, so there are going to be rallies where she's two out of the three contacts."
What he means by that is, Muoneke will sometimes be on the receiving end of an opponent's kill attempt or volley, she'll pass it to a teammate like Elarton or Kaiya Tyson, Georgia's setters, and then be set up by one of them for a kill. Muoneke said she likes to be out there competing the entire match. She also said that Black "only gives me what I can handle and what I can help the team with."
For Elarton, a 5-11 freshman, the chance to play with and set up someone like Muoneke at the start of her career has been a great learning experience.
"Bianna is just the go-to girl," said Elarton, who had 17 assists against Duke. "I know if I'm setting her, she's going to get a kill. I always have confidence in her, and she's a great teammate. She gives me such good feedback. This is our first season playing together, and so I'm really excited to see our relationship grow and our connection grow — I think it's going to get even better."
Along with her training and development on the court, Muoneke has worked hard to develop her mental and physical abilities off it over the past couple of years. Since she got to Georgia and started working with volleyball strength and conditioning coach Sean Hayes, Muoneke's vertical leap has increased by four inches.
Already a gifted athlete, whose father, Gabriel, was an All-Big 12 power forward at Texas, Muoneke wanted to take her game to another level.
"It starts in the weight room, it starts with my sleeping, my eating. Everything that I do on the volleyball court, I work on outside the volleyball court," Muoneke said. "There are girls that are bigger than me, and I have to train my brain that it doesn't matter how big they are, I'm still going to do my job."
Muoneke is often going up against middle blockers who have four or five inches on her. Her spectacular leaping ability, combined with her confidence and power, helps make that difference in height irrelevant.
"She's putting herself in a spot to be an elite hitter," Black said.
Muoneke likes hammering home a kill, but it's not her favorite thing about the game. Her teammates are.
"We're super, super close. I feel connected with them the whole time," she said. "My teammates are always right there to back me up, and just celebrating with them is my favorite feeling. Getting kills and aces and digs is great, but it means nothing if my teammates aren't there to celebrate with me."
The way she's playing to start the season, there might be a lot of chances to celebrate in the months ahead.
Staff Writer
Watching Bianna Muoneke soar and strike as she goes on the attack, she exhibits a potent mix of power and grace. And when she celebrates, she looks as happy as anyone has ever been.
As her Georgia volleyball teammate Chloe Elarton said, Muoneke "has a great presence" on the court. Your eyes are drawn to the 6-foot outside hitter with the long hair, huge smile, elite leaping ability, and way more power than you'd think for someone with her frame.
"She's got a hammer of an arm," Georgia head coach Tom Black said after Muoneke had a match-high 13 kills in the Bulldogs' 3-0 win over Duke at Stegeman Coliseum last Friday.
After Georgia got down 19-12 to the Blue Devils in the opening set, Muoneke had five kills during the Bulldogs' rally to take the set 30-28. In the third set, on the team's second match point, it was Muoneke who closed things out with her 63rd kill of the season. Georgia is 5-0 heading into Tuesday's match at Clemson.
"She's 10 times better than last year," Black said. "She's made dramatic changes in her game, especially her passing and hitting. She's a totally different player."
The most obvious change, Black said, was in her approach when setting up for a kill. She's more aggressively stepping forward and into her swing, which is leading to better vision, more power, and more kills.
"Some people never fix it, but she's completely changed it, and it's just made all the difference," Black said. "She can get a full head of steam when she's attacking, and it's a big change. I'm really proud of her."
Muoneke, a junior from Cypress, Texas, began her collegiate career closer to home at Texas A&M, where she earned SEC All-Freshman Team honors after notching 297 kills, 191 digs, 41 blocks and 17 aces.
After transferring to Georgia, she improved on nearly all of those numbers last season: 294 kills (2023 SEC Player of the Year Sophie Fischer led the Bulldogs with 320), 202 digs, 43 blocks and 28 aces. Muoneke twice had a career-high 23 kills in a match, and she finished last season with a team-high 10 double-doubles.
Now, with Fischer gone, Muoneke is emerging as Georgia's go-to hitter. Despite playing in only four of the team's five matches — she sat out against Alabama State on Thursday — Muoneke has a team-high 63 kills, 21 more than second-place MK Patten, the 6-5 sophomore. Muoneke's 4.85 kills per set lead the team and rank third in the SEC; she also is third on the team with 29 digs.
Against Duke on Friday, she wasn't subbed out the whole match. "She never does," Black said. "It's just the nature of her position; it's kind of like a point guard. There are going to be times when she's our best passer and our best attacker, so there are going to be rallies where she's two out of the three contacts."
What he means by that is, Muoneke will sometimes be on the receiving end of an opponent's kill attempt or volley, she'll pass it to a teammate like Elarton or Kaiya Tyson, Georgia's setters, and then be set up by one of them for a kill. Muoneke said she likes to be out there competing the entire match. She also said that Black "only gives me what I can handle and what I can help the team with."
For Elarton, a 5-11 freshman, the chance to play with and set up someone like Muoneke at the start of her career has been a great learning experience.
"Bianna is just the go-to girl," said Elarton, who had 17 assists against Duke. "I know if I'm setting her, she's going to get a kill. I always have confidence in her, and she's a great teammate. She gives me such good feedback. This is our first season playing together, and so I'm really excited to see our relationship grow and our connection grow — I think it's going to get even better."
Along with her training and development on the court, Muoneke has worked hard to develop her mental and physical abilities off it over the past couple of years. Since she got to Georgia and started working with volleyball strength and conditioning coach Sean Hayes, Muoneke's vertical leap has increased by four inches.
Already a gifted athlete, whose father, Gabriel, was an All-Big 12 power forward at Texas, Muoneke wanted to take her game to another level.
"It starts in the weight room, it starts with my sleeping, my eating. Everything that I do on the volleyball court, I work on outside the volleyball court," Muoneke said. "There are girls that are bigger than me, and I have to train my brain that it doesn't matter how big they are, I'm still going to do my job."
Muoneke is often going up against middle blockers who have four or five inches on her. Her spectacular leaping ability, combined with her confidence and power, helps make that difference in height irrelevant.
"She's putting herself in a spot to be an elite hitter," Black said.
Muoneke likes hammering home a kill, but it's not her favorite thing about the game. Her teammates are.
"We're super, super close. I feel connected with them the whole time," she said. "My teammates are always right there to back me up, and just celebrating with them is my favorite feeling. Getting kills and aces and digs is great, but it means nothing if my teammates aren't there to celebrate with me."
The way she's playing to start the season, there might be a lot of chances to celebrate in the months ahead.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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