Former HCU setter Kayla Spiess returned to her alma mater as assistant volleyball coach in January 2022. Later that year, she was unanimously elected to the HCU Sports Hall of Honor.
She enters her third season as on the sidelines of Sharp Gym after helping HCU to a 19-13 overall record and 13-5 finish in Southland play last year. In her first season back in Sharp in 2022, Spiess helped lead the Huskies to a 23-11 overall record and Southland Conference regular season title with a 14-4 record in her inaugural season. She was instrumental in the development of the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year and second team all-conference player Grace McLaughlin, along with three other all-conference selections.
The four-year starter from 2013-16 finished her career as HCU’s all-time assists leader, ranking among the top 10 in Southland Conference history, with 5,070. She is the only Husky with 5,000-plus assists and ranks fourth all-time in school-history with 10.36 assists per set. All four of her single-season assist totals rank among HCU’s top 15, including ranking seventh all-time at HCU with 1,331 assists as a freshman and ranking eighth all-time and leading the Southland with 1,320 as a senior.
She recorded only the second triple-double in HCU history and the first in more than 14 years when she tied her career high with 62 assists along with 11 kills and 11 digs against Lamar on Nov. 1, 2016. She was a three-time all-conference selection, earning first-team honors in 2016 and honorable mention in 2014 and 2015. She was also a three-time academic all-conference honoree from 2014-16 and was tabbed CoSIDA Academic All-District in 2014.
Also a standout as a three-year letterwinner in beach volleyball for the Huskies, Spiess is tied for fourth in HCU history with 46 career wins. She and Tori Hinojosa rank second all-time with 40 wins as a pair and they qualified for the 2018 U.S. Beach Volleyball Championships.
Spiess spent three seasons at ULM, where she was the assistant indoor coach and associate head beach coach. In her first indoor season, the Warhawks posted their highest win total since 2015 and a winning record in Sun Belt Conference play.
Spiess earned her bachelor of science in psychology from HCU in 2017 and was selected to the HCU Sports Hall of Honor in 2022.
