She promised a title to Wichita State volleyball. Six years later, Brylee Kelly delivered
For six years, Brylee Kelly stayed in the Wichita State volleyball program in pursuit of a trophy.
She vowed to head coach Chris Lamb when she stepped foot on campus in the summer of 2018 to help win a championship.
She persevered through the program’s lowest moments during back-to-back losing seasons, the first in nearly two decades. She stuck around during the coronavirus pandemic when everyone’s world was flipped upside down. In the era of the transfer portal, she remained committed to WSU because she felt like she had a job to finish.
She worked her way up from a raw talent to a certified star, being voted preseason Co-Player of the Year in the American Athletic Conference, then in a cruel twist, had an injury derail her final season with the Shockers.
Six long, arduous years later, Kelly’s loyalty was rewarded with the championship trophy she had been waiting to bring to Wichita State after the Shockers swept UTEP to win the National Invitational Volleyball Championship on Tuesday evening in El Paso, Texas.
Her career was over and the moment had finally arrived, but it was nothing like she had envisioned: sidelined and unable to contribute in the championship match. Still, she had persevered and done what she said she would do — and that was worth it all.
“God works in mysterious ways, and everything happens for a reason,” said Kelly, who had tears streaming down her face during the championship celebration. “I think about the last six years and how time flies and I never thought I would be a Wichita State volleyball player for six years. I think about all of the relationships I’ve built along the way and I feel like what happened was what was meant to be.”
Since guiding WSU to an undefeated championship season in the AAC in 2017, Lamb has been methodically building the program back up to being good enough to compete for championships again. Kelly has been the lone constant in that process.
After winning the NIVC championship, Lamb and his longest-tenured player in his storied career shared a special moment together.
“We’ve been together for a long time and been through a lot together, and I’ve seen her go through a lot of things in her life,” Lamb said. “I’m sad she couldn’t be out there for us, but I’m happy she was a part of this. She has been a really fun person to spend a long time with.”
After leading WSU in kills the previous two seasons, Kelly was primed for her best season yet in her final go-around with the Shockers. But the 6-foot-2 outside hitter suffered an abdomen injury at the start of the season and it lingered for the entire season.
Kelly played through the pain, but the most potent attacker in the American was never the same. She finished the season with 171 kills, less than half of her total from last season, and a .160 hitting percentage, her lowest since her first season.
“It was a hard pill to swallow to go from being the girl and scoring the most points to an entirely different player,” Kelly said. “But honestly, it helped me figure out who I am without volleyball. I think it made me a better teammate and a better person.”
How Brylee Kelly shifted mindset to help Shocker volleyball win
Instead of sulking about not being able to play, Kelly invested herself into becoming a mentor to her replacement, sophomore Emerson Wilford. She acted like Wilford’s personal coach on the sidelines, studying her movements and swings and providing feedback and advice during timeouts.
Kelly doesn’t think she would have been mature enough to handle the situation like that when she was younger.
“I am so competitive and I didn’t really get rid of it outside of volleyball, so being injured kind of put everything in perspective and made me realize I need to be a little more kind, a little more empathetic,” Kelly said. “People are going through different journeys that I don’t even know about. I’m on a team with 21 girls and I don’t know what every single one is going through and some of them probably don’t know what it was like for me. So just being kind is what I’ve learned through it all.”
WSU winning 26 games and its first postseason championship in program history becomes even more impressive when considering the team did it without Kelly healthy this season.
But even when she wasn’t fully herself on the court, Kelly found a way to still make an impact on the team.
“I’m honestly so impressed with Brylee and how she handled everything,” WSU setter Izzi Strand said. “She pushed herself and her body so far and she played her absolute heart out every time she could be on the court with us. And then (Tuesday) she was there cheering us on every step of the way. She really is an amazing person and I know she’s grown a lot in this program. And being able to give her that championship trophy at the end was exactly what she needed, I think.”
It was a bittersweet ending for Kelly, who gushed with pride watching Wilford rise up time and time again from the left side to put down crucial points for the Shockers. In the end, her replacement finished with a team-high 11 kills.
“I had tears in my eyes and the first thing I did was go up to Emerson and tell her how proud I was of her,” Kelly said. “This is how people find themselves as players, in big moments like that. Of course I would have loved to be on the court in the championship match, my final game, but my role this time was to be a great teammate.”
What comes next for Wichita State star Brylee Kelly
The prospect of a long drive back home to Wichita with a championship trophy afforded Kelly the opportunity to reflect some more on her career.
She can laugh now about how difficult the rebuilding process was when WSU finished 9-19 in her second year. Then the pandemic struck and the program’s growth felt like it was delayed.
She could have bailed on WSU following her breakout season or decided to use her final year of eligibility for a power-conference team. But through six years and 60 different teammates, Kelly remained a Shocker.
“We’re starting to enter this new lottery we find ourselves dealing with,” Lamb said. “So you’ve got to feel good about the ones who want to commit to something and stick it out. That’s worthy of recognition.”
Kelly has the talent to become a professional volleyball player, but her body is beginning to betray her. She’s accepted she must begin life after volleyball, and with her new master’s in business administration, she’s already applied to work at a financial investment firm in North Carolina.
She’ll always wonder what could have been if she had stayed healthy this year, but Tuesday’s championship made Kelly feel like the job had been finished.
“We had to rebuild from scratch, and look at us now,” Kelly said. “We were definitely (unfairly left out of) the NCAA (Tournament), but we went out on top and proved that we’re bringing Wichita State volleyball back to where it belongs. Leaving this program, I feel like that’s all that we could have done.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2023 at 6:17 AM.
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