Elizabeth MerrillDec 18, 2025, 07:00 AM ETCloseElizabeth Merrill is a senior writer for ESPN. She previously wrote for The Kansas City Star and The Omaha World-Herald.Follow on X
Aggies overflowing with emotions after win over undefeated Nebraska (1:15)Logan Lednicky, Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and Kyndal Stowers discuss the unwavering grit 3-seed Texas A&M plays with day in and day out as they advance in the NCAA Tournament. (1:15)
THE DAY KYNDAL STOWERS was told she couldn’t play volleyball anymore, she got in her car, silenced her phone, and drove aimlessly around town.
It was the spring of 2024, and she had endured four concussions over eight months on the volleyball court at Baylor, once in a collision with a teammate and three times from getting hit by the ball. “Why does this keep happening?” she asked herself. She figured she would redshirt her sophomore season and give her brain time to heal.
But near the end of the 2024 spring semester, a team doctor summoned Stowers. She thought it was just another checkup. When she arrived, the doctor, a trainer and a member of the university’s compliance department greeted her. They told her that she was being medically retired, and that her tuition would be paid for but her playing days — at Baylor at least — were finished.
One year later, on Sunday, Stowers stood on the court at the Bob Devaney Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, celebrating her Texas A&M team’s five-set upset over the No. 1 — and previously undefeated — Cornhuskers in the regional finals. She had 25 kills and then found her mom in the crowd and cried. She rarely does that, Tina Stowers said.
He has coached high school football in Texas, and his son, Eli, is a tight end for Vanderbilt. Tina Stowers graduated from Baylor, played beach volleyball for more than a decade, and coached high school and junior college volleyball. She said she never had a concussion in 30-plus years of volleyball, but acknowledges that back then, there were no protocols, and assessments were generally concluded with the term “getting your bell rung.”
When Kyndal sustained her first concussion at Baylor during the summer of 2023, before her freshman season, she called her mom. She was annoyed, Tina Stowers said, but otherwise fine. Then came the September game when she dove for a ball and a teammate went airborne and kneed her in the head.
“So they were like, ‘You know what? We’re just going to take you out of the gym for a little bit longer,'” Tina Stowers said. “And then she was shagging balls and she got hit by [a serve] probably going 70 mph. Hit her right in the back of the head.”
When Stowers played, she dominated. During her freshman season, she had double-digit kills in 12 of the 14 matches she played. She had 29 kills and 16 digs against SMU; she hit above .450 in three matches and was once named Big 12 offensive player of the week.
During a spring practice in February 2024, she got hit by a shanked ball. She was diagnosed with her fourth concussion.
Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre said the decision to medically retire her was difficult for him and the Stowers family to take.
One of the biggest perks of being off for an entire autumn was that she was finally able to see her brother play football for Vanderbilt.
“On the weekends, I was going to all of his games,” she said, “which was really cool because I’ve never been able to do that ever because we’ve both been playing at the same time.”
During the 2024 NCAA volleyball tournament, she entered the transfer portal. She wasn’t sure what the market would hold for a 19-year-old outside hitter with an extensive concussion history. She was at church one day when an onslaught of calls and texts hit her phone. It was so intrusive that she had to activate the “Do Not Disturb” feature.
Texas A&M coach Jamie Morrison was among the many reaching out. The Aggies were coming off a 21-8 season that ended with a five-set loss to Wisconsin in the regional semifinals. They were returning a talented roster, but there was room for more. Soon, Stowers visited College Station. Her brother started his football career there before transferring to New Mexico State and then Vanderbilt, so she was familiar with some of the faces and the athletic department’s culture.
MORRISON SAID HE had two priorities when Stowers arrived. He wanted to give her back the thing she loved — the ability to play volleyball. He said he was also committed to keeping her safe.
Stowers wasn’t just working out during her time away from volleyball. She underwent concussion rehabilitation at the Andrews Institute in Plano, Texas, and received VOMS (Vestibular Ocular Motor Screening), which is a clinical assessment tool.
She said that eventually, the lingering concussion symptoms she’d experienced at Baylor were gone, and she was cleared to continue playing volleyball by her personal doctors.
“I would never have put my daughter back out on a court if I thought it was not safe for her,” Tina Stowers said. “We definitely got plenty of clearance from a lot of people that know better than I do. And then it just kind of worked out.”
Dr. Julian Bailes, a renowned neurosurgeon and concussions expert who was part of the research and development of the Q-Collar, said the device has a spring inside that compresses the jugular.
“And what that does,” he said, “it puts a little more blood in the cranium, which reduces the ability of the brain to move or slosh around. …
“If you get hit on the head by any mechanism, if the brain doesn’t move, it doesn’t get injured. It’s the movement of the brain that creates brain injury, whether it’s concussion or, you know, major injury in a car accident or a fall, something like that.”
Though the device, which has become common in the NFL, has its skeptics, most everyone agrees that more research on concussion prevention needs to be done.
IT HAS BEEN a busy December for the Stowers family. Eli won the John Mackey Award, which is given to the nation’s top tight end, and the William V. Campbell Trophy, which honors the top scholar-athlete.
The family has jet-setted to New York and Las Vegas for Eli’s awards, then watched Kyndal play in the postseason in between. Sometimes it’s hard to remember what time zone they’re in — or where they are.
Texas A&M came back from two games down last weekend to knock off No. 2-seeded Louisville, then had the gumption to cancel the plans of thousands of Nebraskans who were supposed to flock three hours south to see their undefeated team hoist the trophy.
“Zero surprise to me what she’s doing,” said Baylor’s McGuyre, who has known Stowers since she was in junior high. “I’m really excited for her. My wife was the first to tell her, ‘Hey, if you don’t feel like you’re done playing, go play. You’ll flourish.’
“We were cheering super, super loud in that Nebraska match. Seeing her do what she did just kind of is another sucker punch to the gut a little bit, like, ‘Oh, what if?’ But I think both families still believe there’s a purpose and plan in this life. … I believe in over-comers. I wouldn’t be [talking] if I didn’t believe she’s something special.”
The Stowers family will be there Thursday to watch Kyndal try to do what seemed impossible 12 months ago. And if the Aggies beat Pitt, Eli hopes to make it to Sunday’s championship game.
On Tuesday, Kyndal, who was scrambling to pack for Kansas City, paused for a moment to reflect on the Aggies’ postseason run. She felt as if she fit in seamlessly when she arrived in College Station, that she was around like-minded teammates with the perfect measure of confidence and goofiness.
“I believe that that’s where the Lord had me. And I was like, ‘This is a really cool story. God, if you want me to come out of this, how dope would that be?’ I mean, being medically retired, and now we’re here? It’s surreal.”
Aggies overflowing with emotions after win over undefeated Nebraska (1:15)Logan Lednicky, Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and Kyndal Stowers discuss the unwavering grit 3-seed Texas A&M plays with day in and day out as they advance in the NCAA Tournament. (1:15)
Logan Lednicky, Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and Kyndal Stowers discuss the unwavering grit 3-seed Texas A&M plays with day in and day out as they advance in the NCAA Tournament. (1:15)
CloseElizabeth Merrill is a senior writer for ESPN. She previously wrote for The Kansas City Star and The Omaha World-Herald.Follow on X
On Thursday, she’ll play for Texas A&M against Pittsburgh in the national semifinals.
“I knew that I wasn’t done,” Stowers said. “How can I be done with something I never got to start?”
But she never played after that Oct. 6 game against Kansas State.
