How Wisconsin volleyball found this 'under the radar' future Badgers middle (2024)

Kymora Scott had no way of knowing how her life was about to change when she and her Xtreme Performance Volleyball Club team competed in March's Mideast Qualifier.

Scott’s team was playing on a court deep in the corner of the sprawling Indianapolis Convention Center, and one of the spectators was Gary White, associate head coach for the University of Wisconsin.

After watching for a bit, White texted coach Kelly Sheffield and said he had to come over and watch, even though it was about a 20-minute walk.

“I had no idea who Gary was at the time,” Scott said. “I didn’t really recognize him. Once I saw Kelly, I was like whoa, he’s here. I saw him talking to coach Gary, so I figured they must have some type of connection.”

What Sheffield saw was enough to intrigue him about this previously unknown player, so much so that on the first day he could offer scholarships, one of the eight offers he made went to Scott, who accepted almost immediately. First she had to stop crying.

It’s a moment that Scott, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker from Flossmoor, Illinois, will remember the rest of her life.

“Right then and there, I put my hands over my mouth and I just started to cry,” Scott said. “My parents also shot out of their seats, as well as other family members who were downstairs listening to the call. They tried not to scream too loud.

“My immediate reaction was that I just began to cry, just to see how far I’ve come to get a full-ride scholarship to one of the best volleyball programs in the nation was truly a dream come true.”

Summer See, her XP club coach, had pretty much the same reaction as she and assistant coach Eddie Drozd were in on the Zoom call.

“To watch her in that moment receive that offer and see the authentic reaction of her getting so emotional and her family getting so excited, as a coach, that’s what it’s all about,” See said. “To see these girls be able to live out their dreams, it was so exciting. It definitely brought some tears to my eyes. It was a really touching moment.

“I think the way Kelly handled it was really perfect, saying, 'I’d like to make your dreams come true.' That’s a dream come true for her. It was really awesome.”

Scott’s story is perhaps the most remarkable one of the recruiting season so far, as she’s risen from obscurity to a spot on one of the elite programs in the nation.

Scott started playing volleyball in fifth grade and was on the junior varsity team her freshman year at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. She joined the XP club, an upstart club that’s in its third year, just to be able to keep playing.

She made varsity last fall, and her game started taking off.

“My sophom*ore year, I was on varsity and that’s when I really started thinking, I’m good, I need to get more looks from colleges and I wasn’t getting that,” Scott said. “Of course, I’m praying, am I doing something wrong?”

It turns out all she needed was to get some people to watch. She and her club team reached out to a number of college programs, urging to check her out. And that process started on that corner court in Indianapolis.

“After this past high school season, we could really see all the hard work she put in in the weight room, on the court and after-hour sessions that we hold, it all came to a head,” See said. “This was a big year for her in terms of recruiting, but she did fly under the radar for a long time.

“At Indianapolis, that was the first time that she was like I’m capturing the attention of all these coaches. I really am here. She was dedicated before, but after that she was really pushing her limits of how much work she could put in to achieve that goal. She was late to the game, but she made up for it with hard work.”

The Badgers coaches saw enough in Scott at Indianapolis to follow up on her, with Sheffield attending a practice at the XP facility in Mokena, Illinois.

“It was really cool to show that he was watching her,” See said.

Scott attended a camp at Wisconsin earlier this month and got another chance to show the coaches her abilities. It also was a chance for her to learn.

“Going into camp, I knew that I wasn’t going to go in there like I know everything because I didn’t,” she said. “I was just going there hoping to learn from the best. They taught me even simple things like in warmups, make sure you follow through on your swings. I love the learning part and talking to the players already on the team about Wisconsin.”

She also got to see parts of the Wisconsin campus that she didn’t get to see on her regular campus tour a day earlier.

Now that her future is set, Scott is determined to make sure she’ll be ready for when she arrives in two years.

“I definitely want to get even stronger,” she said. “I am strong now, but I want to get stronger. I also want to make sure that in practice I’m getting after it even more than I already am.

“I know these two years are going to fly by. It’s like one blink and I’ll already be moving in, so I need to make sure that I’m ready for practice and the independence as well and making sure I’m holding myself accountable.”

She’s also hoping that her experience will provide inspiration for other young players who have yet to see the limelight.

“I know I have to prove myself even more because I know going into this I’m the underdog,” Scott said. “I didn’t come from a super known club and I’m not highly ranked. Like, I’m not ranked on Prep Dig or any of the things like that.

“But that just motivates me to prove myself even more on why I deserve this opportunity and why I deserve to be here. I didn’t get that full ride for no reason. I also want to show other people that they don’t need all those high rankings. Those things are nice, but anything is possible when you have a dream and you stick to it and you work hard to accomplish it.”