Having Fun While Setting Records

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Late last Wednesday, as Kansas State senior outside hitter Shaylee Myers and her coaches and teammates celebrated a grinding, exhausting, five-set victory over a stout West Virginia team that had lost only once all season, and as disappointed Mountaineers fans emptied a quieted WVU Coliseum, a TV announcer tapped Myers with an important announcement.

"You had a career-high 34 kills," he told her.

"Oh my gosh, really?" she replied.

"Yeah."

"Wow," she said, "that's awesome."

Once inside the visiting team's locker room, K-State head coach Jason Mansfield made another announcement: He announced that Myers set the K-State record for kills in a single match in the rally-scoring era. In fact, Myers is only the fourth player in K-State history to reach 34 kills ever, joining Dawn Cady, Kathy Saxton and Liz Wegner-Busch.

Here's another fact to know about Myers' feat: No Division I player has recorded more kills than her in a five-set match this season.

"That's crazy," Myers said. "I would've never expected it."

Less than 48 hours later, on a night in which K-State teammates Ava LeGrand recorded her 700^th career assist and Aniya Clinton reached her 600^th career kill in the Wildcats' five-set victory over Cincinnati at Fifth Third Arena, Myers put together her second career double-double and first since her freshman season with 24 kills and 11 digs against the Bearcats.

That gave Myers a remarkable 58 kills and 20 digs in the pair of hard-earned road victories last week, while K-State, winners of five of its last seven matches, improved to 9-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big 12 Conference, as it returns to Manhattan to face Iowa State on Wednesday night.

"It's so exciting," Myers said. "I'm having so much fun, really. I love all these girls. We want to keep doing this, keep winning, keep giving our best every day and every game no matter who we're playing."

Myers' big week came just weeks after the native of Lincoln, Nebraska, posted a then-career-high 27 kills in a five-set victory at No. 25 North Carolina to earn her first Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honor.

Now Myers has six career matches with at least 20 kills, including five this season.

She finished last week ranked sixth in the country with 4.98 kills per set, and sixth with 5.61 points per set.

"She carries that ability to hit every shot," Mansfield said. "She's so physical now. She's basically a nightmare for defenses because she has a lot of confidence and a great ability to attack, and she doesn't make a lot of errors. She's the complete attacker. I'm really proud of her. She deserves everything she receives."

It's been quite a journey for Myers, who began playing volleyball at the YMCA in Lincoln during elementary school. Although she also played basketball and soccer, volleyball was her first love. Her passion for volleyball only grew in the eighth grade as she joined Premier Nebraska, and over time she developed the craft of executing a kill, which has served her well through the years.

Myers arrived at K-State on July 4, 2022, after a legendary career at Lincoln Southwest High School, where the First-Team Super-State selection by the Lincoln Journal Star amassed a school-record 1,536 kills and 161 service aces. She powered Lincoln Southwest to a 30-5 record and a spot in the state quarterfinals of the 2021 Class A Nebraska state tournament. Her senior season included her 489 kills and .372 hitting percentage — sixth best in the state of Nebraska.

And now?

She has 755 career kills and a .224 hitting percentage to go along with 236 digs, and she has recorded 850.0 points, averaging 3.26 points per set in her four seasons at K-State. Lots of impressive numbers. Lots of work.

"No, no, I didn't envision this, not at all," she said. "I actually think I wanted to play soccer in college, but I realized I had some talent in volleyball so I might as well try to use it. No, I would've never dreamed of having 34 kills and setting a record and having the experience and fun that I have here.

"It feels like it's been a long time, but also not that long. I know the coaches have faith in me. I had kind of a rocky sophomore year into junior year where I wasn't always playing or starting, but I always came in and did what needed to be done. This is a perfect way for my senior year to go, and I hope it keeps going that way. Just getting to play at the Division I level is awesome and I'm grateful for it."

The team goals are simple: Win the Big 12 and compete in the NCAA Tournament.

"It'd definitely mean a lot," Myers said. "I've never been in the tournament, and I'm willing to put in whatever it takes for us to get there and have that experience."

The Big 12 is plenty talented as the AVCA Top 25 Poll includes No. 8 Arizona State, No. 12 TCU, No. 15 Baylor, No. 18 Kansas and No. 19 BYU. That makes the month of October plenty arduous as the Wildcats travel to face the Bears, Horned Frogs, Jayhawks and Cougars over a stretch of 16 days. The Wildcats will go nearly a month without playing a match at Morgan Family Arena.

But Myers and K-State have shown they can pack a punch — even inside enemy venues.

"Everybody wants it, and we're so supportive of each other," Myers said. "We have each other's backs, and we rely on and trust each other in tough moments. That's hard to find. We're such good friends on the court, but we're even better friends off the court. We'll go to practice an hour or two early just to hang out with each other and it's so fun.

"I just love our fight. We don't want to lose, and we're going to put in the work it takes to win."

There will be a time when a remarkable career in the annals of K-State women's volleyball history comes to an end. Myers isn't currently pondering a pro career — that's for another time. She's cherishing every moment in Manhattan.

"It definitely feels like home to me," she said. "I'll talk to my friends and say, 'I can't wait to be home.' And I'm talking about K-State. And that's crazy because I love Lincoln and where I'm from, but yeah, K-State is definitely a home, a second home, or whatever you want to call it, but I fit in well there, and I love everything about it. It feels like I've been at K-State a long time but also not long at all. The days are long, but the months and years seem so short."

As for the memories, like recording a school-record 34 kills in a five-set match? Those will remain.

And Myers hopes that she and the Wildcats make many more pleasant memories down the stretch of this season.

"I mean, we're going to continue to play good teams from here on out," she said. "We want to keep this up. It's so fun."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Aniya Clinton

Ava LeGrand

Shaylee Myers

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