Kennedy Bryan will finish up her senior volleyball season this fall, with plans to graduate in May, but that is not the end of volleyball for the Alpharetta, Georgia native.

Since she first visited the program as a high school junior, her goals were academically driven, touring many departments from human nutrition, foods, and exercise to the School of Visual Arts. Volleyball was important, but thinking about the sport beyond college was in the back of her mind.

“I toured the art department and watched a practice for the first time,” she said. “That’s kind of what did it for me – seeing a major that I wanted to do and loved. I had another visit planned at another school afterwards, but I cancelled it.”

On her final recruiting visit, Bryan was sold on Virginia Tech and cancelled the rest of her trips.

“I felt like she practically moved in here during the spring of her junior year because she visited so much,” Tech head coach Chris Riley said. “She just kept coming back, and we loved having her. Her family is fantastic. It was always a pleasure having her.”

Over the past three years at Tech, Byran excelled both in the classroom and on the volleyball court. However, this past year, she has taken off as an outside and right side hitter for the Hokies, playing in every match.

“Kennedy has really progressed to play the right side and be an opposite where she does some really good things and can use her athleticism in more in-system capabilities,” Riley said. “She’s always been a good attacker, but playing the outside means the whole game. Kennedy’s really progressed in that part of the game.

The senior has posted double-figure kills in 13 matches – the ideal time to reach one’s collegiate peak with goals to play professionally.

“She’ll be a very, very good next-level player when she graduates because she has all the necessary skill sets,” Riley said. “She can pass, she can defend, she can block, she can attack. She really stepped up at the end of last year. In hindsight, we move her to the right side a lot earlier. She’s done a really good job and I see her being a really elite level right side in the future.”

As an art major with an art history minor, playing professionally in Europe would be a golden opportunity for the senior. While playing the sport she loves, Bryan can travel and experience the art she has studied throughout her time at Virginia Tech.

“I want to go somewhere in Europe where I can travel,” Bryan said. “Being an art major with an art history minor, Europe is the most amazing place in the world. If I do get the chance to play professionally, I’d want to go there. Then I could travel and see everything while getting to play volleyball, too.”

Although a professional volleyball career is the goal, Bryan has not stopped pursuing internships and volunteer opportunities to expand her skills as an artist. Currently, the senior is completing two internships during volleyball season – perfect preparation for a career in Europe. On campus, Bryan has been working with her professor, preparing works and running prints. In Christiansburg, she works with an artist as a studio assistant on cataloging and keeping inventory the collection while also gessoing, or prepping, a canvas for use.

In the spring, Bryan plans on adding two more internships to her academic resume: working with an elementary school art teacher and mentoring troubled kids using art as a form of expression.

“In a perfect world, I’d love to make it as an artist and live off of selling my work,” Bryan said. “But I think I would be, not bored, but I’d need something more to do. I’ll always draw, but I’d need something.”

Even though Bryan’s time at Virginia Tech is coming to an end, the experiences she has had with the Hokies have set her up for a promising future both academically and athletically.

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