THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: “She’s had a lot on her shoulders’: Former Lakeland star Katy Ryan closing out stellar WSU career as the Cougars’ go-to hitter

When she was a freshman at Lakeland High in 2017, Katy Ryan wasn’t even sure if volleyball was something she even wanted to play after high school. 

Now, the Washington State opposite (formerly called right-side hitter) doesn’t want to stop playing. 

After one of her matches that freshman season at Lakeland, her coach pulled her aside and told her coaches from the University of Hawaii were there to watch her play. 

“It was kinda overwhelming at first,” the lefty swinging Ryan recalled, “because I didn’t even know if that’s what I wanted at the time. I didn’t have my sights set of playing college volleyball at that age.” 

WSU became interested her sophomore year, and she committed to the Cougars the summer before her junior season. 

FAST-FORWARD to 2024, and Ryan, who led Lakeland to the program’s first state volleyball title in 2020, is wrapping up a splendid career at WSU.  

The 6-foot-5 Ryan played in every match as a freshman, and has started every match since, including in 2023, when the Cougs advanced to the Sweet 16.  

She’s just outside the top-10 all-time in kills at WSU, and this year is the Cougars’ top hitter. 

“She’s made so much growth through the entire year,” said first-year WSU head coach Korey Schroeder, an assistant with the Cougars last year. “And she’s had a lot on her shoulders; people know she’s getting the ball.”

RYAN ALSO had some interest from Colorado State and Oregon State while in high school. But she went to a couple matches at WSU, did a couple unofficial visits, was impressed with the coaches and players, so figured, why wait? 

“I’m a Christian, and my faith is the biggest part of my life,” Ryan said. "My coaches at (WSU at) the time had those values, and there was one player at the time that was a Christian, and we had some really good conversations, she was telling me the team culture was pretty good, and the coaches had built their program on Christian values, and that stuck out to me.” 

And she’s loved her time at WSU ever since. 

“The community really cares about the school, and there’s a great alumni network ... it’s definitely a thing,” Ryan said about being a Coug. “It makes me realize that you can find community anywhere. It's been awesome, I’ve loved it here.” 

RYAN DIDN'T expect to play right away as a freshman, but saw action in all 32 matches. After seeing action in her first Pac-12 match, against Colorado, “it was a cool realization that I can contribute to a high-level team,” she said. 

Ryan, who was in the pool of athletes selected to try out for the USA Volleyball U-20 junior national team, made the Pac-12 all-freshman team her first year, then earned honorable mention as a sophomore and junior. This year, with the collapse of the Pac-12, WSU played as an affiliate member of the West Coast Conference, and Ryan was named first-team all-WCC earlier this week. 

Ryan was fourth on the team in kills last year. After that season, several top players either exhausted their eligibility, or entered the transfer portal. 

Ryan became the team’s go-to hitter.  

“It was different at first, especially,” Ryan said, “It was cool to get into that role. It feels like you have to handle more pressure, you have to be OK with more errors, which was the harder part at first, because usually if I was making errors, oh, they’ll set someone else, so I had to accept that, OK, they’re going to keep setting me. Be ready.  

“I could tell they (the other teams) were a little more ready for me. It was a good challenge.” 

When the Pac-12 dissolved and several of her teammates left, Ryan said she “kept my options open.” But it was more about who the new coach was going to be, after Jen Greeny resigned following last season to take the head coaching job at West Virginia, where her team finished 8-21 this year.  

But when Schroeder, an assistant in 2023, was named head coach, coupled with a core of returning players, Ryan opted to stay in Pullman. 

RYAN IS on track to graduate in the spring, with a degree in elementary education, then plans to play volleyball professionally in Europe.  

But first things first. 

After WSU qualified for the NCAA tournament her first three seasons, the Cougs (16-11, 11-7 WCC) was invited to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, WSU’s ninth straight postseason appearance. The Cougs will play Utah Valley (20-10) in the first round today at 3 p.m. PST in Laramie, Wyo. Wyoming and Idaho State play in the second match. Winners play Friday in Laramie. 

WSU has played in the NIVC just once, winning the championship in 1992. 

Early on in her collegiate career, Ryan got a taste of what it means to be a Coug. 

“We went to South Carolina my freshman year for our first preseason tournament, and me and a couple of teammates were walking around downtown Charleston, and some random lady walks up to us and says ‘Go Cougs,’” Ryan recalled. “And we’re like wait, what? I was like, no way there’s someone all the way over there that knows the logo. It was cool.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports. 

    ASHLEY DAVIS/WSU Athletics Washington State volleyball senior Katy Ryan, the former Lakeland High star, leads the Cougars in kills this season.