For four consecutive years — 3 playing and 1 redshirting — Kansas libero Ryan White watched her seasons end short of the NCAA Tournament, with all four Oregon State teams she was a part of ending with a losing record.
Despite the losses, the Richland, Washington native still had fun. She made good friends, lasting memories and got to play the game she loves. But something was always missing.
Thanks to her decision to come to Kansas for her final season of college volleyball, it no longer is.
Not only does White now have NCAA Tournament experience, her team is still playing.
“This is my first year even having a winning record,” she told R1S1 Sports this week during a sit-down interview. “And I’m playing in a Sweet 16 match. It’s crazy!”
Crazy is one word for it. Determined is another.
For years, all White wanted to do was get a taste of postseason play. That first sip came last week, when the 4th-seeded Jayhawks hosted High Point for a Round 1 match at their home gym.
White has always prided herself on being consistent. With her effort. With her attitude. With her approach. With everything.
But last Thursday, as she looked down at her white No. 22 KU uniform before suiting up, the consistency was gone. She was entering new turf.
“It definitely felt different,” she said. “You have the NCAA patch on your jersey and I literally looked down and just thought, ‘This is so cool.’”
Images of Ryan White during KU's first- and second-round NCAA Tournament wins at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena. [Kansas Athletics photo]
The Jayhawks swept High Point that night, bringing White not only her first NCAA Tournament appearance, but also her first NCAA Tournament win. She was her usual self in that one, diving on the floor, jumping up and down, firing up her teammates and doing everything she could to keep every ball alive as long as possible.
Not for herself or her stats. But for her team.
See, the way she goes about her pregame business is designed to leave all of the personal stuff in the locker room.
She constantly fills up her Notes app with fears and affirmations and was even seen and heard mouthing some of those affirmations to herself before the Jayhawks took the floor.
The reason is simple. The more she gets all of that stuff out of her head, the more she can be there for her team and her teammates during the match.
“It definitely felt different. You have the NCAA patch on your jersey and I literally looked down and just thought, ‘This is so cool.’”
“She was just like, ‘I’m so excited to play. I’m gonna do this, this and this and get every ball.’ It’s just so motivating and it makes you want to play harder,’” KU freshman and White roommate Logan Bell said of her teammate before postseason play started. “She is so passionate, so determined, loyal and she’s a servant to all those around her. She doesn’t do it for herself, she does it for those around her.”
“To see her go through this is so special, because you can see she wants it. She wants it so bad.”
With Round 1 in the bag, the next night brought another new experience for White. Not only was it a bigger match against a better opponent, but it also marked the return of some pregame nerves.
“Before the Miami match here was the first time since the first match of the season where I was like, ‘Oooh, there’s some butterflies,’” White said, laughing.
Like with everything else, she had a plan for how to handle those, too.
“My mom always says, ‘Put your butterflies in formation.’ It’s a matter of how you think about things. So, if you think about it like, Ooh, I’m nervous or ooh, I’m scared, that’s the same feeling in your brain as, ‘Oooh I’m excited.’”
So, yeah; the thought of facing All-American attacker Flormarie Heredia Colon in a do-or-die match was a little intense. But White stuck to her plan and addressed it head on.
In her Notes app, she wrote the simple words: I’m scared I’m not going to defend well tonight and I need to be the best defender on the court.
She then flipped that around and spent most of pregame reminding herself why she was going to be great. She even issued a challenge, pushing herself to keep every ball that Colon ripped her way from hitting the floor.
She did that, all but one time, and Kansas topped Miami, 3-1, to earn a trip to the Sweet 16.
“It’s only a fear if you don’t confront it,” White said.
Added Bell: “After the match, she was a little teary-eyed. That was a big one.”
The Jayhawks, including senior libero Ryan White (22), celebrate their win over Miami in Round 2 of the NCAA Tournament last week at Horejsi. [Kansas Athletics photo]
Following the victory, something unexpected happened. When White found her parents to hug it out after the win, her father, Trevor, was unable to hide his emotions.
“When I hugged my dad, he was like bawling,” she said, nearly tearing up again at the very memory of it. “He whispered in my ear, ‘I’m so proud of you. You are having this moment because you’ve worked so hard.’”
This from a former college football player who spent 30 years as a police officer.
“He’s very stoic,” White said. “I don’t really see his emotions all that much. And he was just bawling crying, just because of the thought of everything I had endured during my collegiate career.”
There’s more to go now. And, by this point, it’s all old hat for White.
The patch won’t shock her this week, when the Jayhawks (24-0) take on top-seeded Nebraska (32-0) at 8:30 p.m. Friday night in Lincoln. The stage won’t scare her. And the family will be there in full force, with her sister, Emerson, even successfully convincing a couple of her professors at the University of Montana to flip the dates of her finals so she can make the trip.
Heck, even the gym and the environment won’t be new. KU played the Huskers during a spring match in Lincoln earlier this year, and the reason they took on that challenge was to be ready for this exact moment.
“We have to have the mentality of we’re going in, getting into a fight,” White said. “So, we have to be not only physically ready but also mentally ready. What an opportunity it is for us to just go in and ball out.”
“Nebraska really wants a natty,” she added. “And one of our biggest things has been ruining people’s seasons. Kansas volleyball is very good and very, very aggressive when it comes down to that point-for-point type of thing, and we don’t have anything to lose.”
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