Kyndal Stowers ’27

Upon her return, her parents, Don and Tina, felt she did not look like herself in an Oct. 6 match against Kansas State. They spoke with Baylor’s athletic trainers and, together, decided she needed more time to recover.

She never played another match for the Bears. While working her way back, Stowers was standing on the court as a target for passers when a wayward serve struck her in the back of the head. That was concussion number three.

“I was so frustrated, because it’s like, ‘I’m not even playing volleyball right now,’” she said. “I was literally just standing there, and somehow a ball just finds its way to my head. I had no idea that ball was coming.”

That officially ended her freshman season, and when a shanked ball hit her in the head during a spring practice in February 2024, a fourth concussion in seven months threatened her career.

Stowers and her parents met with doctors, including a neurologist and a sports physician. After extensive evaluation, she decided she wanted to continue playing. Baylor, unbeknownst to the family, made a different decision.

The school took the family by surprise when a team doctor, an athletic trainer and a member of the university’s compliance department informed Stowers and her parents that Baylor was placing her on an involuntary medical retirement.

“I didn’t have a single word come out of my mouth that entire meeting because I was so taken aback,” Stowers said. “I was shocked. We were all shocked.”

Stowers withdrew from Baylor in the summer of 2024 and returned home to Denton. Tina jokingly called Kyndal her “college dropout.”

Despite an uncertain future, Stowers trained alongside NFL players at Exos, a coaching and training company, and worked on her volleyball skills with Texas Advantage Volleyball, her former club team. On weekends, she traveled with her parents to watch her brother, Eli, play college football, where he became the nation’s top tight end in 2025.

In December 2024, Stowers sat on her couch, watching on TV, as Penn State won the NCAA Volleyball Tournament.

“She was not in her happy place,” said Tina, a Baylor graduate who played beach volleyball and coached at the high school and junior college levels. “It was hard for her and hard for us. We just didn’t know what the future held. There were lots of prayers.”

During her six months at home, Stowers met with numerous specialists, including neuropsychologists and neurologists. She underwent concussion rehabilitation, receiving Vestibular Ocular Motor Screening, a clinical assessment tool, at the Andrews Institute in Plano.

“I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about concussions,” Tina said. “There was a lot of learning. Of course, it was scary. That’s not supposed to happen in seven months. That’s not a sport you would expect to see concussions so consistently. It was a frustration of, ‘Why is this happening to her?’”

Eventually, Stowers’ symptoms subsided, and she was medically cleared to return to play.

“She would not have gone back on the court if we didn’t feel it was safe,” Tina said.

Stowers entered the portal on a Sunday, unsure whether any school would give her a second chance. Her phone blew up while she was at church, forcing her to place it on do not disturb.

Texas A&M was not one of the schools that initially contacted her. Stowers jokes that she recruited A&M herself, direct messaging head coach Jamie Morrison on Instagram. An expected transfer opened a scholarship opportunity, and Stowers visited College Station two days later before committing two days after that.

“It’s not like I was ignoring her or she was recruiting me,” Morrison said with a chuckle. “It was the timing of it all.”

A&M’s medical staff reviewed her records before giving their consent. Morrison called Stowers to inform her that she was cleared to play, a moment captured on video that went viral during the volleyball Final Four.

“It was an unknown for all of us,” Morrison said. “It takes a lot to look through that many files and make sure she was safe to return. I told her during that process, ‘You’ve got to be honest with me, because your life is in my hands,’ and I think it was the same thing for our medical team. They really scoured through those and made sure it was safe for her to return.

“I give them all the credit for giving her the opportunity to do the thing that she loves the most in the world. There were a lot of tears that she got to play the game again. We got to give that back to her.”

A&M allowed her to return but only while wearing a Q-Collar. The FDA-cleared, non-invasive neck device is designed to help protect the brain from the effects of head impacts during competition. The light pressure to the jugular veins slightly increases blood volume in the skull to reduce brain movement upon impact.

Stowers did not suffer a concussion in 2025 while wearing the Q-Collar despite taking some hits to the head. She was healthy, happy and heroic.

Her first season at A&M ended with a long list of honors, including All-SEC, All-Region, NCAA Lincoln Regional All-Tournament Team and AVCA second-team All-American recognition.

“Huge,” Morrison said of her impact. “Both from a personality standpoint and from a volleyball standpoint. In big moments, she stepped up. The thing about our team is it was so well balanced. There were times when other things weren’t working, and we could go to her.”

David Lessner, senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Arlington, centered his Dec. 21 sermon — the day of the national championship match — around Stowers’ story. Lessner, a TCU graduate who does not typically follow volleyball, was writing his sermon and surfing channels when he stopped on ESPN to watch the Aggies in the NCAA semifinal against the University of Pittsburgh. That is when he heard about Stowers’ comeback.

“This is the making of a Disney story,” Lessner said. “I’m pretty sure they have already sold the rights to her life story, because this is one of those ‘overcoming stories’ that we love to hear.”

Stowers is a national champion and has new NIL deals, newfound celebrity and a new diploma from Texas A&M after earning her bachelor’s degree from Mays Business School in the spring. Now she is pursuing a master’s degree in construction science.

But with two seasons remaining in College Station, Stowers has yet to write the ending to her Aggie story.

“Gosh,” she said. “Last year was so crazy. I don’t even know how we top that.”

Stowers’ comeback story has already become one of the most remarkable in college volleyball history, but Morrison believes there is much more ahead.

“I think you’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg of what she can be,” he said. “We have another two years to keep building on who she is as a volleyball player and human being, and I’m excited to see what comes next.”