One Last Ride for Volleyball Seniors at Home

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The journey from the staircase outside of the Southern Miss volleyball locker room to the floor at Reed Green Coliseum is 53 steps. However, the journey to Southern Miss for Dani Ajayi, Katherine Still, Alexis Coombs, Sarah Bell, and Kylie Grandy started well before they descended upon those 53 steps.

In fact, it started before they even reached the Southern Miss campus. For some, the decision was simple. And for some, it took a little more convincing. However, they can all agree that one common agreement brought them to Hattiesburg – the family that Southern Miss volleyball is.

"I came here and as soon as I came on campus, it was immediate. This was nothing like any visit I'd ever been on," Grandy said. "The other ones were very business oriented, but they really cared about me as a person here. They wanted to know my life and my background."

It was 1,165 days ago that they took the floor for the first time at Reed Green Coliseum. Tonight, against Alabama A&M, they'll take it for one final time. Win or lose, the stories and memories will never be forgotten.

Memories Galore

Once the five finally got on campus, the chemistry continued to grow. Four of the five were roommates and all five lived in the same dorm their freshman year. The stories that ensued that year are plentiful, but perhaps the one that best describes that group stems from burping contests between Coombs and Grandy. According to Bell, the one that spilled the beans on the burping contests, the arguments that came from the contests could be heard from throughout the dorm hallway.

But just as Bell delivers that story, Still fires back with one about Southern Miss' all-time career assists leader. It was a story that drew plenty of laughs from the group as it was told.

"We were all running to the athletic training center for rehab and it was pouring rain," Still said. "Sarah slid and wiped out in front of the whole football team. The football team was in there stretching and you hear everyone go 'ooooooh'.

"Then we had to walk through the whole line of football players to get to the training room."

Embarrassment aside, Bell shared a laugh about that moment and couldn't help but add that she wished she avoided the spill. With that bond built, it was back to the reason why they were all brought together – volleyball.

Leaving a mark on the court

All five knew what they were going to be a part of. They joined a team that was coming off one of the best seasons in program history. That 2014 squad recorded 20 wins, something that had only been done twice since 2000 at that point. Southern Miss greats like Mary Pursell, Elise Ames and Stephany Purdue were just some of the few that groomed the five into one of the best senior classes in Southern Miss history.

The group currently has 81 career wins and is just six off of tying last year's seniors for the title of the most wins by a class in program history.

"Stephany Purdue was a great role model for us," Ajayi said. "You had Elise Ames and Mary Pursell, who you could put darts and knives on the floor and she'd still go after a ball -- she was just crazy."

That talent around them rubbed off onto players like Bell and Grandy. Against Alabama State earlier this season, Bell passed Crystal Zane for the most assists in Southern Miss history. With at least three games remaining, Bell's 5,051 assists rank her in second of all active NCAA Division I volleyball players.

In terms of the mark Purdue left on Grandy, it's something that can't be measured. Grandy was left with big shoes to fill and she has done nothing but fill them. Chasing Purdue's all-time kills record, Grandy currently sits in third with 1,499, 132 behind Purdue. The other three have also had their share of success that can't be ignored.

In Ajayi's senior campaign, the Georgia native has tied her career high for season kills and also recorded a season-high seven kills against Alcorn State. Still's 33 digs this season total more than she had recorded in her three previous seasons combined. Coombs has had arguably the best defensive season of any Southern Miss player.

The Leesburg, Va. native has recorded 103 blocks and is averaging a block per set. For a short period of time this season, Coombs was atop the Conference USA blocks per set leaderboard. Her .359 hitting percentage ranks first on the team and is the third-best in C-USA. She also recorded a career-high nine blocks against Ole Miss.

In the end, it doesn't matter what the accomplishment was, but they would find a way to turn a personal feat into a group accomplishment. It's just the type of people Still, Coombs, Ajayi, Bell, and Grandy are.

"It's not just me, everyone around me has helped me," Bell said of her record. "Yeah you can put assists as stats written down in the book, but you can't put a stat for when you're going home crying after you've had a bad game and your friends are there to help you out. You can't put that stat in the book. It's not just me."

That's just Southern Miss volleyball. It's one big family and it's something these five are never going to forget wherever they go in life. They wore black and gold for four years, but they'll bleed black and gold forever.

Wins, losses, good practices, bad practices and even trials in life, Still, Grandy, Bell, Coombs, and Ajayi will be teammates and friends forever.

"Southern Miss To The Top," said the five seniors.

One Last Ride for Volleyball Seniors at Home

Players Mentioned

Dani Ajayi

Sarah Bell

Alexis Coombs

Kylie Grandy

Katherine Still

Related Videos