The unlikeliest journey to NCAA volleyball’s final four

day kindle stoves When she was told she could no longer play volleyball, she got into her car, turned off her phone, and drove around the city aimlessly.

It was the spring of 2024, and she had suffered concussions four times in eight months on Baylor’s volleyball court, once in a collision with a teammate and three times from being hit by a ball. “Why does this keep happening?” he asked himself. She figured she would wear the shirt again her sophomore season and give her brain time to recover.

But at the end of the spring semester of 2024, a team doctor called Stowers. She thought it was just another checkup. When she arrived she was greeted by a doctor, an instructor and a member of the university’s compliance department. They told him he was being medically retired, and his tuition would be paid but that his playing days – at least at Baylor – were over.

She eventually went home to Denton, Texas and watched the 2024 Final Four on her parents’ couch.

A year later, on Sunday, Stowers stood on the court at the Bob Deveney Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, to celebrate his Texas A&M team defeating the No. 1 — and previously undefeated — Cornhuskers in five sets in the regional final. He committed 25 murders and then found his mother in the crowd and started crying. Tina Stowers said she rarely does it.

But this is a story about the most unexpected player on the most unexpected semifinal team in the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament, and the moment sparked some emotions. It’s about a sports family that supports his decision to continue playing and takes the necessary steps to ensure he remains as safe as possible in the unpredictable terrain of high-velocity swings, crashing bodies and flying elbows.

On Thursday, she will play for Texas A&M against Pittsburgh in the national semifinals.

“I knew my job wasn’t done,” Stowers said. “How do I finish something I never got to start?”

stovers family Knows about the violence of the game. Kindle’s father, Don Stowers, played football for New Mexico State in the 1990s and was invited to the NFL combine. He played in NFL Europe for one year, and before that he was an undrafted free agent. cincinnati bengals Before pre-season cuts by the Bengals and denver broncosBut he said there is video of him tackling Emmitt Smith in a preseason game,

He has coached high school football in Texas, and his son, Elithere’s a hard end to VanderbiltTina Stowers graduated from Baylor, played beach volleyball for over a decade, and coached high school and junior college volleyball, She said she never had a concussion in more than 30 years of volleyball, but she acknowledged that at the time, there were no protocols, and evaluations typically ended with the words “ring your bells,”

But injuries in volleyball are not as rare as it seems. A 2023 study found that volleyball had the highest injury rate (4.93 per 10,000 athlete exposures) among limited-contact sports including softball, swimming/diving, and baseball, and the rate was higher than men’s basketball, which is considered a high-contact sport. NCAA has one collision safety protocol Schools must follow this which applies to all sports. This includes immediate removal from a game or practice if a concussion is suspected and continued evaluation by the team physician in the hours and days following the injury.

When Kindle first suffered his injury at Baylor during the summer of 2023, before his freshman season, he called his mother. Tina Stowers said she was angry, but otherwise OK. Then came a September game when he jumped for a ball and a teammate flew through the air and knocked him over the head.

Baylor sat her out for 10 days, Tina Stowers said, but about a week after returning she looked tired. After the game in early October, Tina and Don talked to the coaches.

“So they were like, ‘You know what? We’re just going to take you out of the gym for a little while,'” Tina Stowers said. “And then she was shaking balls and she got hurt [a serve] Maybe going 70 mph. Hit him right in the back of the head.”

When Stowers played, she was dominant. During his freshman season, he scored double-digit wins in 12 of the 14 games he played. She had 29 kills and 16 digs against SMU; She hit above .450 in three games and was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week once.

But she never played after that October 6 game against Kansas State.

She was hit by a shanked ball during spring practice in February 2024. He was diagnosed with a stroke for the fourth time.

Baylor coach Ryan McGuire said the decision to medically retire was difficult for him and the Stowers family.

“We were both frustrated at not being able to move forward or at least wait longer and let it heal on its own,” he said.

come back home At Denton, Stowers lifted weights and worked on his speed and explosiveness alongside football players. She used to train and play volleyball alone in her club gym. She fellowshipped at Christian athlete camps, watched a few TV series, and dog-sat to earn money. His symptoms subsided.

The biggest benefit of being on leave for the entire fall was that she was finally able to watch her brother play football for Vanderbilt.

“On the weekends, I was going to all his games,” she said, “which was really cool because I never got to do that because we were both playing at the same time.”

While living at home his mother fondly called him “the college dropout”.

During the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Tournament, she entered the transfer portal. She wasn’t sure how the market would react to the 19-year-old outside hitter, who has an extensive concussion history. She was at church one day when her phone started being bombarded with calls and texts. It was so intrusive that she had to activate the “do not disturb” feature.

Texas A&M coach Jamie Morrison was among those who arrived to help. The Aggies were coming off a 21–8 season that ended with a five-set loss to Wisconsin in the regional semifinals. They were returning a talented roster, but there was room for more. Soon, Stowers visited College Station. Her brother started his football career there before transferring to New Mexico State and then Vanderbilt, so she was familiar with some of the faces and the culture of the athletic department.

“But obviously meeting the volleyball staff and seeing what they were doing with their program meant a lot to me,” she said. “So, yes, I fell in love with it and then committed two days later.”

Morrison said Stowers had two priorities when he arrived. He wanted to give her back what she loved – the ability to play volleyball. He said he is also committed to keeping her safe.

Stowers wasn’t just working out during her time away from volleyball. He underwent concussion rehabilitation at the Andrews Institute in Plano, Texas and received the VOMS (Vestibular Ocular Motor Screening), a clinical assessment tool.

“When I moved home, I saw a lot of doctors in Dallas,” Stowers said, “a lot of well-known neuropsychologists. Neurologist. Even some, like, normal people, across the board that I could think of because I didn’t want to put myself at risk.

“I mean, my dad played football… my brother is going to go to the NFL. The world of concussions is not foreign to me, and I obviously know what that can do. So I didn’t want to put myself at risk in any way. Part of it was like, I want to get all this evidence that I’m OK to continue playing, but I also want to make sure I’m good.”

She said that eventually, the symptoms of the long-lasting concussion she experienced at Baylor went away, and her personal doctors cleared her to continue playing volleyball.

“I never would have taken my daughter out of court if I thought it wasn’t safe for her,” Tina Stowers said. “We definitely got a lot of approval from a lot of people who know better than me. And then it kind of worked out.”

Morrison said A&M’s medical staff examined all of his medical records, which accounted for approximately 60 hours of work. One of the conditions he set for Stowers to play was that he wear a Q-Collar, a horseshoe-shaped safety device that is worn around the neck and is approved by the FDA.

Dr. Julian Bales, a renowned neurosurgeon and concussion specialist who was part of the research and development of the Q-Collar, said there is a spring inside the device that compresses the collar.

“And what that does,” he said, “is it puts a little more blood into the cranium, which reduces the brain’s ability to rotate or move around. …

“If you get hit by some mechanism to the head, if the brain doesn’t move, it’s not injured. It’s the movement of the brain that creates the brain injury, whether it’s a concussion or, you know, a major blow in a car accident or a fall, something like that.”

Although there is skepticism about this device, which has become common in the NFL, most agree that more research needs to be done on concussion prevention.

Stowers said he has worn a Q-collar all season and it sometimes hits his head. That said, it’s going to happen to everyone. But he hasn’t been hurt again and isn’t worried about a head injury.

“I am absolutely fine,” he said.

it has been done A busy December for the Stowers family. Ealy won the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top player, and the William V. Campbell Trophy, which honors the top scholar-athlete.

The family jetted off to New York and Las Vegas for Eli’s awards, then watched the Kindles play in the postseason in between. Sometimes it’s hard to remember what time zone they are in – or where they are.

Texas A&M came back from a two-game deficit to beat No. 2-seeded Louisville last weekend, then had the audacity to cancel the plans of thousands of Nebraskans who were supposed to travel three hours south to see their undefeated team hoist the trophy.

“I’m not surprised at all by what she’s doing,” said Baylor’s McGuire, who has known Stowers since she was in junior high. “I’m really excited for him. My wife was the first one to tell him, ‘Hey, if you don’t feel like you’re done playing, go play. You’ll excel.’

“We were cheering so loud at that Nebraska game. To see him do what he just did, it’s another kind of shock, like, ‘Oh, what if?’ But I think both families still believe that there is a purpose and a plan to this life. …I believe in winners. I wouldn’t be [talking] If I didn’t believe he was something special.”

The Stowers family will be there Thursday to watch Kindle try to do what seemed impossible 12 months ago. And if the Aggies beat Pitt, Ealy hopes to make it to Sunday’s championship game.

On Tuesday, Kindle, who was struggling to pack for Kansas City, paused for a moment to reflect on the Aggies’ postseason performance. When she arrived in College Station she felt like she fit in effortlessly, that she was around like-minded teammates with just the right measure of confidence and silliness.

No one has time to worry about the gravity of the moment.

,[Last year] I was sitting on my couch at home watching all these games,” she said.

“I believe God put me here. And I said, ‘This is a really good story. God, if you want me to come out of this, how silly would that be?’ I mean, medically retired, and now we’re here? This is unrealistic.”