The Graybill wall
Senior middle blocker Erin Graybill thought she was done with volleyball after her senior season at Skyline High School.
As a three-year letter winner for the Eagles, Graybill picked up a second-team all-state honor her senior year and helped Skyline to two state titles. Couple that with an active club team schedule and Graybill played a lot of volleyball in four years.
“I decided I wasn’t going to play volleyball after my senior season,” Graybill said of her plans coming out of high school.
It wasn’t that schools didn’t want her; it was just that Graybill wasn’t sure she wanted to play anymore, she said. Following the rigorous playing schedule with her club and high school, Graybill said she was burned out with volleyball.
She said she decided to follow in the tracks of her older brother and sister and attend BYU, where she was offered an academic scholarship.
Although she said she had no intentions of playing for the Cougars, the BYU coaches were familiar with Graybill’s talents and tried to get her to change her mind.
“The coaches there [at BYU] had been talking to my club coaches through out [my last] season and they asked me to come play for them,” Graybill said. “I kept telling them ‘no’ and they kept bringing it up.”
Following her last tournament with her club team, Graybill said BYU gave her one last chance to sign with the Cougars.
They promised that if she agreed to come play, there would be a spot for her on their squad, she said.
“I was like, ‘Oh, no, I’m not going to – but thanks,'” Graybill said of her response to BYU’s final offer.
“The next couple of days, I felt so sick to my stomach,” she said.
The thought of never playing began to settle in and she said that was terrifying.
“I guess I didn’t know what I was doing when I said no, so I called them back and said ‘Can I still come?'”
Graybill redshirted her first year at BYU and then went on to play in 20 matches for the Cougars in her freshman season.
Following her second year at BYU, Graybill married her husbnad Riki Graybill and she said they decided they would start their lives together in Logan while attending Utah State.
“He didn’t want to go to Provo … and with volleyball, I wanted to get more playing time,” she said. “It’s just a better place for both of us after we got married.”
With the move to USU, Graybill said she had to juggle her school and volleyball schedules as well as mix them with her husband’s. She said it’s been a great experience for her, although at first, it was a challenge being away so much.
“My first year was the hardest because it was really hard when I traveled and being away from him,” she said. “I’ve gotten used to it now, but it’s still hard.”
Graybill said she had counted the days and figured she would be on the road for 41 days this season, not including any post-season games, if the Aggies make it to the NCAA tournament.
“It’s a lot of time to be away in three months,” she said.
Now in her third year of marriage and playing for the Aggies, Graybill said she has learned attitude is how she keeps everything balanced.
“I think you just have to be focused. You know that you’re going to be gone no matter what, so you just make the best of it. That’s the kind of attitude I have now.”
With the challenges, she said she also finds strength in knowing there is always someone to come home to when things get tough.
“I always have someone to go home to and take care of me and cry to if I’ve had an emotional day. [Volleyball] can get be really hard emotionally, not just physically.”
The Aggie volleyball team has benefitted from the Graybills’ decision to come to Logan.
Erin has played in all 29 of Utah States matches this season while leading the team in blocks.
This season, with 157 blocks, Graybill set a new single-season record in blocking at USU. With 136 blocks assists, Graybill has also tied the single-season record in that category at USU.
– stm@cc.usu.edu