Image
Ht
6'
9"
Class
Senior
Hometown
Ravenna,
Italy
Last School
Manfredi Azzarita
Roster Years
2019-2022
Personal:
- Father is Andrea Gardini and mother is Novella Cristofoletti
- Father, Andrea won the FIVB World Championships three times and was a three-time Olympian in 1996, 2000 and 2004)
- Major: Pre-Business
- Speaks Italian
Before BYU:
High School:
- Member of the U-19 National Team in 2016 and 2017
- Member of the U-21 National Team in 2016 and 2017
- Competed in the U-19 FIVB World Championships in Bahrain
- Competed in the U-21 FIVB World Championships in Czech Republic
- Helped the U-19 National Team win Gold at the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival
- Helped the U-19 National Team place second at the 2017 European Championships, where he received the Best Outside Spikers award
Club:
- Played for Club Italia Roma in Italy's A2 league
BYU Hall of Fame
Freshman Year
2019
- AVCA Honorable Mention
- MPSF Freshman of the Year
- All-MPSF Second Team
- MPSF All-Freshman Team
- Three-time Off the Block National Freshman of the Week
- MPSF Offensive Player of the Week
- Second on the team in kills (319), digs (125) and aces (28)
- Started all 24 matches played in 2019
- Topped 20+ kills seven different matches
- Recorded aces in 17 different matches
- Had double-digit digs in three matches
- Recorded a career-high 26 kills (0.432 clip) along with five digs, three total blocks and an ace vs. Grand Canyon (4/4)
- Totaled 23 kills (0.277 clip) and a career-high five aces to help BYU beat Stanford in the MPSF Tournament (4/13)
- Collected 20 kills (0.421 clip), 10 digs and five total blocks vs Concordia (3/28)
Sophmore Year
2020
General Notes
(2020 season canceled 18 matches into the season due to COVID-19)
- AVCA First Team All-American
- Back-to-back MPSF weekly awards to start the season:
- MPSF Defensive Player of the Week (1/6) - Recorded 15 digs and eight blocks while totaling 40 kills on a .412 clip in wins over No. 6 Lewis and No. 11 Loyola Chicago
- MPSF Offensive Player of the Week (1/13) - Totaled 24 kills on an exceptional .600 hitting percentage while recording a pair of aces in consecutive sweeps over No. 15 Penn State
- Started all 18 matches and was the only player to play in all 64 sets helping BYU to a 17-1 record
- Recorded double-digit kills in 14 of the 18 matches, leading the team in six matches
- Led the team with 126 digs and 1.97 digs per set
- Second on the team in kills (231), kills per set (3.61), aces (16) and points (276)
- Third on the team with 58 blocks
- Had a hitting percentage of .370, 17th-best in the NCAA
- Tied for the 10th highest hitting percentage in a single match (min. 12 kills) with a total of 13 kills on a .750 clip against Penn State (1/10)
- Opened the year with a season-high 21 kills against No. 11 Loyola Chicago (1/3)
- Recorded three double-doubles on the year
- Matched his career-high of six blocks against No. 1 Hawai'i (3/6)
- Totaled a career-high 12 digs against No. 5 UC Irvine (1/24), later matched the number at No. 1 Hawai'i (3/6)
Junior Year
2021
- AVCA First Team All-American
- Started in all 24 matches and played all 81 sets
- Totaled 247 Kills on 496 attempts for a .327 hitting percentage
- Ranks 20th in the country and 4th in conference in aces per set with .410 and 33 total
- Leads the team in digs with 130
- All- MPSF First team
- MPSF Offensive Player of the Week, week of March 23
Senior Year
2022
- Off the Block Preseason First-Team All-American
- All-MPSF First-Team
- Played in 24 matches and started in 91 sets
- Led the team with 433.5 points and 378 kills
- Achieved a new career-high tally of 30 kills against UCLA (4/16)
Graduate Year
Redshirt Year
Medical Redshirt Year
- M Volleyball | Apr, 27
Gardini named AVCA All-American
- ImageM Volleyball | Feb, 19
No. 13 BYU comes up short in fifth straight loss
- ImageAthletics | May, 29
Y Awards Cap Successful Seasons
- M Volleyball | May, 01
Five Cougars named to 2020 MPSF All-Academic Team
- ImageM Volleyball | Apr, 20
Four Cougars Claim AVCA All-America Honors
- ImageM Volleyball | Apr, 02
Garcia Fernandez, Olmstead headline BYU’s eight MPSF honors
- ImageM Volleyball | Mar, 07
Garcia Fernandez breaks single-season aces record in five-set loss to No. 1 Hawai’i
- ImageM Volleyball | Mar, 06
No. 2 BYU downs No. 1 Hawai’i in straight sets
- ImageM Volleyball | Jan, 18
No. 2 Cougars win sixth straight
- ImageM Volleyball | Jan, 13
Gardini receives MPSF Offensive Player of the Week
- ImageM Volleyball | Jan, 06
BYU sweeps MPSF weekly honors