SIUE graduate student Kyndia Smith has been playing volleyball since she was 11 years old and has been put to the test.
Smith already has her bachelor's degree in accounting and is now working on her masters in higher education with a focus on athletics. The St. Louis native currently plays as a right side for the SIUE volleyball team.
Her older sister Kaili Smith was the driving factor for Kyndia's love of volleyball. "Actually, volleyball was probably the first sport that I took seriously," Kyndia recalled. "My sister tried it, so I wanted to do it because I wanted to do everything she wanted to do. So, I got into it around 11 years old, which is pretty late, but then I played my first club season at 12."
From there, the relationship between the Smith sisters grew as they began to play high school volleyball together. The sisters are close, only two years apart from each other and one year apart in school. "That separation between middle school and high school was kind of rough for us," says Kaili.
The girls rejoined and played on the same team for the first time in high school. Kaili stated that playing in high school together was, "amazing, I loved having her by my side, I felt like it gave us more of a leadership role in high school. It was a good thing. I loved it." Kyndia added "with it being our first sport, that was just our own thing."
After high school, Kaili gained a scholarship to attend Missouri Baptist and play volleyball there. During the 2020 and 2021 season, her team won back-to-back national championships. In the meantime, Kyndia would graduate from Laude high school and begin her college volleyball career at Jefferson College, a junior college in Missouri.
Kyndia was at Jefferson from the fall of 2020 until the spring of 2023. It was this spring season when she faced her first serious injury, "I was hurt, I've kind of always had back problems, but it got really bad last spring," Kyndia said. "I actually transferred to SIUE as a regular student, and then I got back surgery in September, so then I was recovering."
In her first year here as a student, Kyndia spent much of her time trying to recover from surgery, "I didn't really have PT or anything, so I was doing it all on my own, in the Student Fitness Center and everything like that," Kyndia recalled.
During her time off, Kyndia stayed connected with her sister Kaili, "It was really hard, because she had never gone through anything like that before," Kaili said. "I had surgery on my ankle prior to that, so I kind of knew how she was feeling."
Older sister Kaili helped Kyndia through her surgery and recovery. "I knew it was important for me to be there for her so that she wasn't down on herself that she was more confident coming into the season," Kaili said.
The injury did not diminish Kyndia's passion for volleyball. Knowing that she still wanted to be a part of the game, she reached out to former SIUE assistant coach Kaysie Shebeneck and head coach Kendall Paulus.
"I wasn't really getting a response, so I think it might've been February that I just walked into KP's office and asked her if they needed anybody or even a practice player, so I could just transfer if I needed to," Kyndia said. "I took a tour of the facilities, and started paperwork to be able to practice, and then yeah, I pretty much walked on that spring, and then she decided that I could stay for the fall."
Since joining the Cougars, Kyndia has attributed her success and growth to her teammates. "Honestly, my personal success comes from feeding off the team and the coaches," Kyndia said. "I feel so much trust within the team, and I feel like we have a really good team culture."
Kaili is still around to support her younger sister in her final season of volleyball. "Like I said, I don't get to see her often," Kaili said. "So, when I come here, we have long hugs, and long talks afterwards. It just means the world to me that she's still playing; she's still chasing that dream. She's just doing amazing things for this team. I truly am a proud big sister."
In Kyndia's last season of eligibility, she wants to help her team win the conference tournament and play with no regrets. "I just don't want to look back on this season and wish I had done something different," Kyndia said.
After this season Kyndia is planning to use her bachelor's degree in accounting to work in finance or to find work abroad teaching English. She also hopes to fulfill her bucket list item of traveling to Italy soon.
Up next, Kyndia and the SIUE volleyball team will take on Morehead State Nov. 23 at 10 a.m. in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
