After graduating this spring, Monroe Catholic's Kayleigh Collins plans to head to volleyball state to continue her athletic and academic pursuits. Collins signed with York University in York, Nebraska, on Monday.
She will transition as an underclassman, having been one of only two seniors on a young-heavy Monroe Catholic volleyball team that finished 10-31-4 last season. However, she was also on her 2022 team at Monroe Catholic, where she reached the semifinals of the ASAA 3A Volleyball State Championships.
“I absolutely love it,” Collins said of her future home. “I liked the atmosphere. The school itself is similar to Monroe, and I like that it's more like a close-knit family.”
Collins has already visited campus and practiced with the team. Although she likes to travel and see different places, she is also comfortable spending time with her family in Omaha, an hour and a half away.
Even closer (less than an hour from York) is the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where the world record for attendance at a women's sporting event was broken last August at a volleyball game. The Nebraska Volleyball Day event also promoted the state's non-Division I programs.
York University is a small, private, Christian university that is part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which is independent from the more famous NCAA. York's track and field team is affiliated with the Panthers and competes in the Kansas University Athletic Conference against many other schools in the Great Plains region. He finished with 4 wins and 23 losses on the volleyball court in 2023.
“Kaylee has always wanted to play volleyball, and her team actually plays volleyball year-round,” Kaylee's mother, Amy Collins, said at the time of the signing. “So they're going to finish the fall season and then opt for tournaments and continue practicing and playing in the spring. So that would be great and I'm sure she would love it.”
Collins, a 5-foot-7 defensive specialist, began seriously considering playing at the next level after attending a USA Volleyball camp in Australia. She got a call from York's coach, which she said “gave me confidence.”
“I fell a little short of my goals as a freshman,” Collins said. “And I was like, 'Oh, I don't think I can do that.' And then when I went to Australia, I thought, 'Oh, I might actually be able to pursue a career in college baseball.'”
Collins plans to major in English and wants to become a novelist. She also wants to take a radiology technician course to have that option.