By: Joey Mullins
Samford Athletics
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Ally Cordes, a senior outside hitter on the Samford volleyball team, came to Samford from Wyoming, Ohio, in the fall of 2023. Since then, she has become the model of a true student-athlete. She has been a standout volleyball player and has been involved in several areas of campus and has given back to the local community as well.
 
Cordes became involved with Samford's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) as a freshman. During her sophomore year, she became a co-chair of the SAAC and then became the chair as a junior last season. As Samford's SAAC chair, she is the school's representative on the Southern Conference's SAAC. She then became the SoCon's chair and the league's representative on the NCAA's SAAC.
 
Cordes said she has really enjoyed serving on the SoCon's and NCAA's SAAC.
 
"It's been great," Cordes said. "I really enjoy the people. It's basically a room of 35 people who all want the best for college athletes. Who all want college athletics to be as great as it can be for everyone. I think everyone in that room is a great collaborator."
 
Cordes talked a little bit about the role of serving on the NCAA's SAAC.
 
"It's been great going into meetings and getting all of the information to be able to dispel it to everybody," Cordes said. "That's a lot of what D-I SAAC does is they have a lot of speakers come in and give us a lot of information. They say, 'these are our initiatives, this is what we'd like you to do.' And then we dispel it to our conferences who dispel it to the institutions."
 
In addition to her SAAC and Samford volleyball duties, Cordes coaches club volleyball for North Alabama Spikers Association (NASA), coaching at NASA South in Hoover.
 
NASA lists on its website as its mission to "promote volleyball in the North Alabama area, to prepare our players for the next level of competition, and eventually to attract college recruiters. NASA will strive to develop, through intense training, the skills, both physical and mental, to compete in volleyball at the collegiate level. The Club will provide a positive, well-balanced competitive environment in which young women develop skills to be successful in volleyball as well as life endeavors."
 
Cordes talked a little about her experience coaching club volleyball.
 
"It's been a great experience," Cordes said. "I've enjoyed coaching club. I've coached 14-year-olds and I've coached 17-year-olds. I've done it for two years now and it's been great. They are both very different ages, but it has been very rewarding to take my skills from college athletics and be able to help, especially my 17-year-olds. I love being able to prep them for college, because some of them are going to college to play volleyball."
 
Cordes began her volleyball career in her home state of Ohio. She was a four-year letterwinner at Wyoming High School. She set the school record with 1,524 career kills while also tallying 667 digs, 162 blocks and 161 aces during her prep career. She was a two-time First Team All-Ohio selection, she was named the District Player of the Year in 2022 while earning Cincinnati Hills League Player of the Year three times. In addition to her high school playing career, she spent five seasons playing club volleyball with Tri-State Elite Volleyball based out of Cincinnati.
 
When Cordes was looking for a place to continue her volleyball career and her academic career, she quickly grew fond of Samford.
 
"What attracted me to come to Samford was the culture, especially of the team," Cordes said. "The team calls it a sisterhood, and I think that is very true. Every girl on the team is my best friend and we all care about each other. We want each other to get better and that is something that really attracted me to Samford, especially the volleyball team. All of the other schools I visited, they never talked about the culture or how the girls interact with each other, where as here it was such an emphasis. We all love each other and want the best for each other. It's such a collaborative environment."
 
During her time as a player at Samford, Cordes has steadily improved as a player. During her freshman season in 2023, Cordes played in 17 matches, tallying 131 kills and 43 digs.
As a sophomore in 2024, Cordes played in 27 matches, starting 26 contests. She ranked third on the team in kills with 250, averaging 2.58 kills per set.
 
As a junior in 2025, Cordes had her best season yet. She started all 28 matches, ranking]second on the team in kills with 370 and third in digs with 253. She was named second-team All-SoCon at the conclusion of the season. She talked about how much she has grown in her time at Samford.
 
"I think being in college athletics has taught me discipline and it's taught me a lot about working with a team," Cordes said. "Because I feel like a lot of times with team sports, everyone can get to be so individual and think only about how they can get better. But I think the big thing with the culture is that everyone wants to get better so the team can get better. It's not just getting better for my own value, but it's more just getting better so that the team can get better. So we can all go out and win as a team, all 14 of us rather than just the six who are on the court."
 
As Cordes enters her senior season, the accounting major has a good idea of what she would like to do for a career once her playing days are over.
 
"I would like to get my CPA and I think I'd like to work in athletics in the future," Cordes said. "Whether it's being an athletics director or being someone who handles budgets or something like that. I'm not completely sure what route of college athletics I'd like to take that into, but I would like to get my Master's Degree and then get my CPA after I graduate."
 
As Cordes enters the 2026 season, it is obvious she has a bright future in front of her. No matter how this season goes, she has already made the Samford family proud.