WHAT MADE ME CHOOSE BAYLOR?

I Wanted to Be Pushed to Be My Best On and Off the Floor

Champions' TriBUne 12/5/2019 6:53:00 PM

Champions' TriBUne Archive

By: Yossiana Pressley

Champions' TriBUne is a special feature through Baylor Athletics that gives you the student-athlete's perspective and the chance for them to share their own story. Yossiana Pressley, a junior outside hitter from Cypress, Texas, is a three-time All-Big 12 first-team pick and honorable mention All-American who was the unanimous Big 12 Player of the Year this season for the No. 1-ranked Baylor volleyball team. Ranked second nationally with 5.52 kills per set, Pressley led the Bears to their first Big 12 championship. Baylor (25-1) faces Sacred Heart (21-10) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 7 p.m. Friday at the Ferrell Center.:

What made you choose Baylor?

This is the question I received after I announced my commitment on May 15, 2015, when I was a high school sophomore. At first glance, this may have seemed like a positive question, when in reality it was negative.

What made me choose Baylor?

It all started when I began playing volleyball in fifth grade with my god sister, Skye, at the local YMCA in Orange Park, Fla., simply as an after-school hobby to keep us occupied. I remember having so much fun and looking forward to our once-a-week practices after school on Wednesday's, because I enjoyed playing the sport, even though I was nowhere near knowledgeable enough to understand what was actually taking place.

I pressed the pause button on volleyball and picked it back up during seventh grade. During this time, family issues began to spur, and my aunt, Janice Pressley, told my dad (her brother) to bring me to a volleyball camp at a club she was coaching for at the time called Jacksonville Juniors Volleyball Association (JJVA). I came with no knee pads, shorts, some running shoes and a tank top because I literally had no idea what to wear and I did not care to ask. Even to this day, I would say that was the shift in my career from turning an every-now-and-then leisure pursuit into a passion.

Once my aunt noticed my natural athletic abilities, she convinced my dad to bring me to a club tryout. Even though I was terrible, I still managed to make the top team, but I'm sure it had nothing to do with my aunt (most definitely the biggest lie I've ever told), because that's not allowed. Throughout that year I managed to get slightly better, but no tremendous improvement was made. Then, my eighth-grade season, I'm certain a lightbulb turned on, because my level of play increased beyond belief. I started making more explosive movements, my reflexes were intact, my knowledge for the game increased, I developed more spatial awareness and my overall volleyball performance improved each day.

As you may have noticed, I bolded and italicized the words passion and knowledge. These words are two of many that describe my core values pertaining to volleyball and what I look for in my teammates and coaches.

Yossiana Pressley

During my 14s year, my dad decided that he and I were going to move to Houston with Aunt Janice. I was very upset because I was leaving behind so many friends, memories, my home, and most importantly my family, especially my mother, Erika. The reason we moved to Texas is because there were many opportunities there to get a fresh start. My aunt coaches at a club called Willowbrook, so I was going to play club there. We lived with her and we were planning on me attending Langham Creek High School. I went to camps there and started registration, and they said my address was not zoned to their school and that it was zoned to Cypress Lakes, so we moved and we were still not zoned to Langham but to Cypress Falls. We weren't going to move again because at this point it was God, and you shouldn't argue with God. So, my aunt, dad, and I went to register. Once that was pending, we checked out the volleyball program to contact the coaches and check out the players. I tried out, made the J=junior varsity team, and I was admitted to school.

My freshman high school season was a blur, but I remember making some great teammates that I still communicate with on a regular basis. Club season for 15s came around, and I was on the top team, 15RED, and I remember being in San Antonio for a tournament and seeing this one coach wearing a green jacket watching me every time I played. And I remember asking my aunt, "Who is that?" She said, "That's the head coach for Baylor, Jim Barnes." At that time, I had never even heard of Baylor. I didn't know where it was geographically, nothing. With the help of my aunt and dad, I emailed Coach Barnes and talked with the assistant coach at the time, Jeremiah Tiffin, and felt like they genuinely wanted me to contribute to their program. On a phone call with them one day, they gave me my very first offer for a full-ride scholarship to play Division I college volleyball. I did not say yes, because I was only 15 and I felt like I should wait until I knew for sure after weighing all my options.

Yossiana Pressley

Fast forward to 16s club volleyball season. By this time, unfortunately, Coach Barnes and Coach Tiffin were not retained, and they brought in a new staff. But, they kept Samantha Erger because of her passion, knowledge, contributions and spunkiness, in my opinion. The new coaches were head coach Ryan McGuyre and assistant coach Trevor Johnson. As club season tournaments started, I emailed Coach Mac so he could come watch me play and hopefully offer me again. It took him a few tournaments to see my full potential, and I guess he saw it eventually, so we scheduled a visit in April 2015 (the best month ever). Shortly thereafter, I decided to commit on May 15, 2015. After I committed, I started getting both positive and negative reactions. People started asking "What made you choose Baylor?"

Every time someone would ask, I had a different answer, and that's because there were more than one or two reasons for me to come here.

What made me choose Baylor is how much passion the coaching staff has, their knowledge and wisdom; my future teammates who are my teammates now are God-fearing women who share a sisterhood; and Baylor saw my full potential. What I mean when I say full potential is not just my volleyball potential but my character, leadership and spiritual potential.

So, when people negatively asked me, "What made you choose Baylor?" I tell them it's because I wanted to contribute to a program that believes in me and pushes me each day to be the best I can be.

Yossiana Pressley