You might have heard of her as the 2024 MAAC Preseason Player of the Year. You may have seen her as No. 16 on Quinnipiac’s volleyball team. 

But did you know that senior outside hitter Ginevra Giovagnoni has a twin? And if it wasn’t for Lucrezia, Ginevra might not have played volleyball at all. 

She and her sister grew up playing volleyball and tennis together. Eventually, playing two highly demanding sports at the same time was no longer an option. So the twins had to make a choice. 

“My mom didn’t wanna be a taxi driver, she sat us down and said ‘pick a sport,’” Ginevra said, laughing. “I went with tennis, she went with volleyball. (We did) rock, paper, scissors — I lost. That’s how I got into volleyball full time.” 

For the first year, Ginevra wasn’t on board with the decision for both to play volleyball. However, with time, that all changed. 

“I’m very competitive,” she explained. “I didn’t have much control over my emotions. Volleyball is a group sport, I didn’t wanna yell at people, I didn’t wanna yell at myself, I didn’t wanna yell at my sister and bring those issues back home. But I like the game, I just didn’t like the early version of myself playing it.”

Ginevra has been leading the Bobcats in kills and points at many different times across her years on the court. However, being a hitter wasn’t her original choice for a position. 

“I was a setter, but so was my sister. She’s …. (really) good,” Ginevra said with a mix of pride and envy, that only siblings will understand. “I had no chance to play over her. My coach told me that I have a great touch and to think about being an outside (hitter). I said that if it’s the only way I can play then I’m switching cause I didn’t wanna sit on the bench for my sister.” 

Despite dubbing her sister “better,” Ginevra was the one who decided to pursue a career in U.S. collegiate volleyball. 

Her biggest reason and inspiration? Her cousin. 

“I always looked up to her, she was my role model,” Ginevra said. “Me and my sister kind of followed her. When she got here, she struggled a little bit. But after she pulled out this resilience, that I really admired. So I said, ‘OK G, do you really wanna challenge yourself? Then go.’” 

Manuela Nicolini played six years at Fairfield University as a starting setter, graduating in 2022, earning MAAC Setter of the Year four times, being named MAAC Pre-season Player of the Year and MAAC Player of the Year, while consistently making the All-MAAC Team. 

“I was a Stag fan,” Ginevra admitted. “I didn’t know the conference and how the system worked. I was cheering for my cousin.” 

While Ginevra might be a Stag fan turned Bobcat, her cousin is the opposite, cheering on Ginevra even during the MAAC Championship games when they face her alma mater. 

“(She’s at) all the finals,” Ginevra exclaimed. “She came with a QU T-shirt and a Fairfield sweater!”

Nicolini was the primary reason why Ginevra chose a school in New England, helping her choose Quinnipiac by seeing the potential the program had, especially since she was familiar with head coach Kyle Robinson. The other three top contenders were American University, Auburn University and Boston College.

Ginevra wanted to stay close to her cousin, who planned on staying in the area. However, just a few weeks before Ginevra sat on a plane and made her journey across the Atlantic, Nicolini got a job all the way down in Tampa. 

“I got (a gesture meaning nothing),” Ginevra said laughing. “But I was still happy to be here. What we have done so far makes me proud. I love the people, I love my coach.”  

Ginevra joined the program alongside five other freshmen, four of which were international, and a few of which became the starters. That made the transition from Montale Rangone, Italy to Hamden, Connecticut a little less daunting but no less easier. 

“I felt like a fish out of water,” Ginevra said. “The food was the biggest difference. The people, the friendships, they take time. Volleyball wise, everything went smooth. I found a great support staff, anytime I needed they would be there for me. I started to appreciate the little things instead of the material stuff that I was used to and made myself happy.”

That class, alongside the seasoned players, ended up propelling the Bobcats to their first ever MAAC Championship. 

A rather memorable feat, especially for the fact that six out of 13 players were in their first year of their collegiate career. For Ginevra, however, it was a regular Sunday.

“For me it felt normal,” Ginevra explained. “Maybe now it would feel different because of all the story I’m carrying and all the love for people, so maybe now it would mean more because I’m more attached than I was when I first came here. But for the first year, that was the purpose. That was the goal and we achieved it. Great, that was the task.”

And that was the philosophy she carried with herself into the next season as well. 

There is no doubt that as a sophomore, Ginevra was one of the strongest players on the team. She led the team with 261 kills and even led the conference with kills per set, as well as points per set. She had four 20+ kill games and recorded just shy of 200 digs. 

But then came the 2024 season. After her stellar performance in the year before, she earned the MAAC Pre-season Player of the Year title and all eyes were on her. 

“Until you actually get it I don’t think it means anything,” Ginevra admitted. “It’s just a responsibility that you have towards your teammates. They trust you enough to get you in that spot. I’m not a big fan of awards, I don’t care, I think it’s a pressure but I was lucky to add that pressure. You gotta have on your mind that you’re an example. Act like it.” 

And Ginevra was clearly prepared to deliver on everyone’s expectations. In just the first four pre-season games, she recorded 50 kills and registered 60.5 points with 48 digs and 3 blocks. 

Then came the game against Long Island University on Sept. 3, 2024. It was a close and tough match that eventually went into five sets.

It’s the third set. After an early run from the Sharks, the Bobcats caught up in a little game of tug-of-war, trading points, kills and errors back and forth. 

The score is 20-21 for the Sharks. Senior (then junior) setter Damla Gunes sets the ball to Ginevra who jumps, swings and kills the point, evening out the set.

However once she hit the ground her knee buckled and she went down. 

“I knew immediately,” Ginevra said, her voice strained. “I remember the crack, I remember the feeling, I remember that my knee twisted. I didn’t even need the MRI, I knew I was out. The thing that got me crying was seeing all of my teammates at the end of the game crying on the sideline.”

“The first thing I said was ‘Guys, I’m so sorry.’” 

Quinnipiac’s volleyball prides itself on the team’s sisterhood. It shows in the chemistry they have on the court. It shows in their relationships with each other in and out of the locker room. And it showed when her teammates would help Ginevra walk when she was on crutches.

“I was a burden for them, mentally and physically, they needed to help me and they needed to be there,” Ginevra recalled. “It’s mentally very tough. Now, you’re scared. Is it gonna happen again? Is it fixed? Do you really know? It was a mess.” 

She was out for quite a while. First a surgery, then a tough recovery. For a few days, she wouldn’t have gotten up from the couch. How could anyone blame her? There was no warning of her injury. One second she was in the air, the other she was on the ground in pain. It would be enough to make anyone say that they are done with the sport. 

But not Ginevra. 

While many would think that her story and determination to come back to the sport and the people she loves are impressive, she believes otherwise.

“I don’t think (it’s admirable),” Ginevra noted, struggling to find the right words. “The first two months I couldn’t even watch a ball. I couldn’t even talk. I was a parasite. A dead bug on the couch. But then something snaps you and you talk to yourself. ‘Okay G, now, it’s not you against your knee, it’s you AND your knee. Do we wanna get out of this hole? Pick — yes or no.’”

And Ginevra picked yes. 

So she got up. She walked around on crutches and did her physical therapy every day. She joined her teammates on the sidelines, for a long time still in a cast, sitting in a chair. 

“This type of resilience takes time, but when it comes, you are unstoppable,” she added. 

Eventually the cast came off and Ginevra stood up. But instead of joining her non-playing teammates, she started standing closer to Robinson, until eventually she ended up mimicking his mannerism on the side-lines.

“Everyone tells me that,” she exclaimed and then emphasized: “I don’t wanna stay all the way in the back, I don’t wanna chit-chat, I’m very … locked in. Standing (straight) for two hours gets tiring, sometimes you just go (and she promptly demonstrated the exact position Robinson stands in for the majority of the game).”

Ginevra became someone the girls could rely on. As she said herself, her teammates would look to her for advice even when she was sidelined. And no matter how difficult it was for her, she always tried her best to support them.

“I wanna make sure that they are fine,” Ginevra said of her teammates. “Everyone can rely on me. They know it. I want them to see me as a cornerstone. It’s been tough watching them playing from the bench, when you were supposed to be with them and help them. It was tough to talk to them in the breaks without crying.”

Despite being sidelined and not playing a single conference minute that season, Ginevra was still named into the Preseason All-MAAC Team alongside senior setter Damla Gunes. She, however, believes she shouldn’t have been the one to get it.

“(Senior outside hitter) Yagmur (Gunes) was amazing last year, (Junior outside hitter) Leilani(-kai Giusta), it was just the two of them,” Ginevra insisted. “I went down like this (she snapped her fingers). Nobody was expecting it. They had to adjust, support and carry the burden of being the only two outside hitters on the team that is supposed to go to the finals. Pressure is a privilege but it wasn’t easy. A lot of people expect something great and you don’t wanna disappoint them. I took (the award) as a compliment, I think it’s unfair towards the two of them.” 

Then came Quinnipiac’s 2025 MAAC season opener against Sacred Heart University. For the first time in 388 days, Ginevra stood next to her teammates dressed in the new uniform, being cleared to play just a mere three days before. 

“I had two days of practice and (Robinson) knew I was cleared for the back row,” she said. “I didn’t actually think that he would put me in, but going in even for a few points … I wasn’t expecting much from myself.”

And then as the Bobcats led two sets to none and were tied by 13 points in the third set, a referee substitution whistle made everyone’s heads shoot up as Ginevra walked to the net and switched places on the court with freshman outside hitter Vittoria Tonelli.   

Her return was heavily anticipated, not just by the fans but also by her teammates. 

“I’m really excited for her to play,” graduate student opposite Elena Giacomini said of Ginevra in a pre-season interview with The Chronicle. “She’s starting to practice again, a little drills and stuff, but I’m confident that with time she’s gonna get back on court. I didn’t get to play with her but my teammates did and they know how important she is for us. We’re just waiting for her moment to come.”

Despite being only cleared for the back row so far and not yet recording a single attack, just her presence back in the line-up signals a lot of hope for the team. 

“I got so emotional,” Gunes said after the game, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m very proud of her and I’m very happy that she’s back.”

“I didn’t come back from the war,” Ginevra joked after being told her teammate’s reaction. 

No one knows what the future will hold. Not even Ginevra. Will she be able to play the whole season? Will she come back for one more year with her extra year of eligibility? Will she be able to continue playing after her collegiate career ends? Will her injury limit her going forward?

These and many more are the questions Ginevra has no answer to. 

“This season dictates a lot,” she reluctantly admitted. “If I’m constantly in pain, there’s no way I’m getting into it again. I still have two months to decide.”

But right now there’s hope. Hope that Ginevra generated by her hard work and her dedication, not only to the sport she loves but to the people she grew to love in the process. 

“I was like ‘Now, I’m really back,’” she said, smiling ear to ear. “I’m on the court with them. Every single day that I’ve spent in the ER was worth it. Just the smile, cheerings and the pride that I could see in their faces was priceless.”