Today the OSN Spotlight, presented by Blackbeard Marine, shines on Kylie Smith!
• Southern Nazarene volleyball
• Hometown: Deer Park, Texas
• Marketing major expected to graduate May 2020
• Played volleyball, soccer and track in high school; plays volleyball at SNU
• Favorite teams: SNU Volleyball (obviously), Houston Astros
• Favorite sports moment – personal: “I’ve had the opportunity to experience winning a national championship twice playing club volleyball. My first national championship was when I was 15 and still remember this game like it was yesterday!
“I will always remember my sophomore year game against OBU. Each set was tight and we ended up beating them in five sets. This match was some of the best volleyball I have ever played and it’s one of my favorite college games I have ever been a part of.”
• Favorite sports moment – overall: “I think it’s hard to have a favorite sports moment for someone other than myself because I think every athlete can agree, watching your favorite professional team achieve something is great but achieving something with a team that you are personally apart of tugs a whole different set of heart strings.
“Overall some of my favorite sports moments would have to be beating Northwestern in the first round of conference after losing to them twice during the regular season, winning conference tournament my freshman year, and obviously the Astros winning the word series (HTOWN FOREVER)!!”
• What do you like most about SNU? “The size of the school allows students to be apart of many different clubs and organizations and I enjoy staying busy and being involved.”
• Who do you most look up to? “This is one of my favorite questions ever!!
“I look up to so many people in many different areas of my life. Surprisingly, I do not have any professional role models, but I would say my mom is basically a professional at being a mom! I’m a big momma’s girl and she’s a big reason I play college volleyball.
“Growing up she was with me at every tournament. Every win, every loss, I could and can count on my mom to be the first one to encourage me to play this sport because she truly understands how much it means to me. My mom is someone I look up to because she would do anything so that I can have everything!”
• Goals: “Most of my short term goals are all athletic minded. Each game I wrap tape on my forearm and write “Beat your best” in sharpie. This is something I started my sophomore year as a way to remind my self each point that my efforts on and off the court need to continue to improve. At first, it was about the stats but eventually it became more than just the stats. I began to set standards for my leadership and this reminder on my arm was a great way to ensure that every game I could walk off the court knowing I gave myself a new standard to reach for my next game.
“For my long term goals, I want to graduate college on time with a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Also, winning another GAC Championship wouldn’t be too bad and without being biased or anything, I’m positive we have another one coming soon!”