FAIRFIELD, Ill. – The three-time defending Region 24 Champion Vincennes University volleyball announced another big addition to their 2024 recruiting class Monday afternoon with the addition of setter Rylee Edwards from Fairfield, Ill.
Edwards joins the Trailblazers as the second VU Val/Sal Scholarship recipient for the 2024 VU Volleyball class and third recipient overall for the team, joining incoming Ashley Earp (Mattoon, Ill.) and returning Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.).
“The neat thing is that Rylee is our second incoming Val/Sal student and will be our third one on the team next year including Grace,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “We are usually pretty smart, so it’s going to be pretty nice to have that many kids that are at the top of their graduating classes here.”
“Rylee reached out to us, not only as an athlete but also as a next level student, being Valedictorian of her graduating class,” Sien added. “My job is to know everybody that I can at least in Indiana and the surrounding bordering states, so I already knew who she is and knew she was a next level type setter because she had a high school teammate who is going on to play at Utah State.”
“Rylee was also a two sport athlete, being a real top notch basketball player as well in high school,” Sien said. “She was someone who also had some leadership responsibilities on the basketball team as well as volleyball. A new wrinkle for her for this past year was that she got to hit a little bit. We like to recruit the best setters that we can. Someone who can possibly run a five-one offense, if called upon, like Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) did for us last year. Someone who is consistent and makes good choices and is open to learning.”
“This is a really tough position to train at our level,” Sien added. “We’ve been able to get some really nice athletes but it really takes time to get used to the level that we are at because we run multiple crossing patterns and play sets. We really do a lot more with our offense than most teams at our level and even some at the four-year level. Every year we are looking for someone who has the potential to learn that system and really learn it on the fly because we really only have about two weeks from our first practice to our first game.”
Edwards obviously comes to Vincennes University with a host of academic honors, including being on the High Honor Roll for four years, being an Illinois State Scholar and a member of the Scholastic Society.
Edwards was also named Illinois Volleyball Coaches Association (IVCA) Academic Girls All-State for two years and winning the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Best and Brightest Award.
Edwards was a two-sport athlete at Fairfield High School, scoring over 1,300 points in her high school basketball career and being named Black Diamond All Conference three times and Conference MVP once.
Edwards was also a three time selection to the All South team by the Southern Illinois Coaches Association (SICA) in basketball and was IBCA Third Team All-State.
“One of the first things that we would work on would be footwork,” Sien said. “Taking the ball in a neutral stance, so the blockers can’t tell where you are going with the ball. That’s something we teach our setters because you want to hold the opposing middle blocker for as long as possible. Even if you can hold her for one count, we’ve got an advantage. We just really want to make it difficult for that middle blocker to know where we are going with the set.”
“Any setter who has been here will know what I mean when I say, ‘it’s a chess game’,” Sien added. “You as a setter, it’s you against that middle blocker. That’s why when we talk about the setter position, it’s such a high level position. You need to have quick hands. We don’t want our setters to hold on to the ball we want them to get the ball out quickly to the hitters to make those attacks go quicker.”
“When you bring someone in who has the footwork and has the quick hands, then we work on coaching the decision making part of the position,” Sien said. “That’s the part that is going to take some time to work on. But she’s got all of the potential and all of the tools to do all of the things I mentioned.”
On the volleyball court, Edwards was again named Black Diamond All Conference and being named Conference Captain in her senior season.
Edwards was a Second Team All-State honoree as a senior and an Honorable Mention All State recipient as a junior.
Edwards was named All-South three times by the Southern Illinois Coaches Association.
Edwards helped guide the Fairfield High School volleyball team to an incredible 35-4 record last season, with 550 set assists, 345 digs, 159 kills, 50 aces and 46 blocks.
Edwards also helped guide the Mules to four Black Diamond Conference Championships, three Fairfield Kickoff Tournament Championships, two Regional Championships, two Sweet 16 appearances, two Tiger Classic Tournament Championships and two Fairfield Invitational Championships.
“Rylee is a gem of a person and a player,” Fairfield H.S. Volleyball Coach Chet Snyder said. “She is a multi-sport athlete, who has never concentrated on one sport. So I can’t wait to see her really bloom with her focus just on volleyball.”
“She is a talented, high IQ setter,” Snyder added. “Her athleticism and competitiveness will help her compete at a high level. Vincennes University is getting a player who can help contribute right away. I am very excited to watch her career take off.”
“Our returning group that we have is pretty good,” Sien said. “Yes, we graduated some people, but we’re bringing back close to 50-percent of our offense from last year. We also have a returner coming back for every position and at this level, that’s hard to do. That’s a pretty nice foundation to build on for this year.”
“This returning group also comes back with the experience of playing in a Region Championship and a District Championship,” Sien added. “No other team in the Region coming back has that. That’s big.”
“But while we do have returners at every position, we will have some competitions for playing time,” Sien said. “Our libero position is still wide open at the moment and it’s nice to have two setters back, but that position is a little bit open at the moment too. That’s why the spring season was so important because we were able to get everybody playing time. I cannot imagine us making a leap of any kind if we did not have the spring season that we just had.”
Edwards is the daughter of Jill Edwards and the late Gregg Edwards and will be graduating top of her class at Fairfield High School with plans to be a PT Assistant major at Vincennes University.
The Vincennes University Athletic Department is excited to welcome Rylee Edwards to the 2024 Trailblazer recruiting class.
