Izabella Mayes '27 Recruiting Profile

My passion for volleyball started when I was about 10 years old. I attended my first college volleyball game at Illinois State University that year and immediately fell in love with the sport, all of the strong hits and amazing passes. I also fell in love with the sounds and actions of the older girls on the court! At that point, I knew I wanted to be just like them when I got older. 

I started playing club volleyball at Illini Elite VBC at 10u, getting picked for the top team during my 10u, 11u, 12u and 13u and 15u seasons.  13u is the first year our club allows national appearances…getting to compete at AAU Nationals in Florida as a 7th (and 8th grader) was an amazing experience! Once the season ended, I quickly shifted gears to summer camps to try to prepare for my first upcoming high school club season.  As a freshman, I will once again be playing with the the highest level team for our club, competing in Open level tournaments across the Midwest and AAU Nationals in Florida over the summer. 

I couldn’t begin to count how many hours I spent on a volleyball court during the summer months, going from multiple full day club camps to evening tournaments with my high school team and sprinkling in weekly evening defensive lessons.  I have a dream to play at a high level post high school and college and want to try to perfect my craft as much as possible during these high school years.

I am not afraid of hard work. I have been a driven athlete as far back as I can remember! Most times simultaneously competing in multiple sports. I love the multi-sport athlete approach and feel that I have started to learn valuable life lessons with each passing season. At the middle school level, I was a 4-sport athlete competing in golf (where I was a state qualifier my 7th and 8th grade years), basketball (state qualifier 8th grade year), volleyball (state qualifier 8th grade year) and track. I competed on a track club during the summer of 2023 to help with my speed and vertical jump.  As a freshman, I competed in high school volleyball while simultaneously juggling a HS varsity golf season, school, etc! 

My parents have sent me to a private strength and conditioning coach for the past several years. He has become a friend and great sports advocate for me. He is engaged in my progress and helps me be the best student athlete that I can be, not only through regular training, but also stressing the importance of various nutritional needs of athletes and the importance of mental health and self belief!  With each passing sport, I have found teammates that have created a dynamic support group. One of the things I love most about playing volleyball is the team dynamic, and finding a sisterhood of girls who continually prop each other up at every level of play! 

I believe that athletically I have what it takes to perform at a college level down the road and I am willing to put in whatever work is necessary to improve my skills to get me there! One of my first club coaches would comment about my smile and how it was pasted on my face most of the time! I couldn’t help it though - I am the happiest when competing on the volleyball court! 

A fun volleyball fact about me is that … I-LOVE-TO-DIVE!!! My mom tells me that my knees might not love me later in life, but the thrill and rush of diving to get a ball that others feel is unattainable is so exciting to me! 

I am just learning about the various levels of collegiate play and am open to learning about as many colleges and universities as I can and how I might fit into various volleyball programs. My ultimate goal would be to play for a DI or DII school where I can be a valued member of a team and bring {what I hope is} my defensive excellence to the table to help the team SUCCEED!