Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, sophomore Kai Bailey is one of the biggest contributors to UTSA volleyball. As middle blocker, she is currently ranked as the fifth most successful player this season in individual hitting percentage and fifth in blocks amongst players in the conference.
Bailey began playing volleyball around eighth grade. She quickly discovered that she was a natural; along with her dedication to the sport, this made her the player that she is.
“If I get a kill and I’m not really satisfied with it, it makes me more determined to make a better play, and my team obviously helps me a lot,” Bailey said.
Since her career began, she has been able to perfect her craft as a middle blocker. It has always been her main territory on the court, with the exception of one high school season as an outside hitter. Without even knowing, volleyball would lead her to greater opportunities than she could have imagined.
“It definitely found me,” Bailey said. “I didn’t really have a good grasp of what college volleyball was when I was in high school. I kind of just was playing it for fun until I started club, then it started getting serious and I was like ‘Okay, I guess I have to play in college, I guess I’m good enough to do that.’ So when I started getting looked at by schools I was really confused and didn’t really understand how serious it was when I was an eighth grader. I think that was a disadvantage to me, but yeah I’m glad I decided to play college volleyball.”
So far, UTSA has proven to be a good fit for Bailey. She says the team’s trip to Europe this past summer has been one of the biggest highlights of her career so far. Alongside volleyball, Bailey has a passion for traveling and hopes to be able to travel for work in the future through her major in communications.
“It was a crazy experience,” Bailey said. “That’s something I would tell my kids. I can’t believe I got to go to Europe for free and play volleyball and travel doing something I love. That’s insane.”
“I want to be more like some sort of social media coordinator for a sports team. That’s what I want to be right now but I do want to travel so maybe a sports team overseas or something like that, I’m not really sure yet, it’s very unexplored.”
Her earliest memory of San Antonio is visiting SeaWorld when she was younger. However, the city has always been familiar to Bailey. During her recruitment process, she kept an eye open for cities with diverse populations and cultures and ultimately decided on UTSA.
“I really like Texas. My dad lives here and he’s lived here the past couple years so I’d come here a lot before I moved here,” Bailey said. “I’ve always been here, so yeah I really like it. It’s very different from where I’m from. It’s just like Texas is really Texas, I don’t know how to explain it. If you’re from Texas you’re just such a Texas person, so my dad became a Texas person when he moved here, so I guess I’m a Texas person too.”
“It is hard because the way our conference is, all the schools that we play are not really close to Atlanta so it’s hard for my mom to come to our games but my dad comes to most of our games so it’s like in the middle.”
Bailey is an only child to parents Hannifah Shabazz and Korey Bailey. She believes this too shines through in her personality.
“A lot of people can tell that I’m an only child when you get to know me,” Bailey said. “My friends love to say it has to do with how I share. I don’t really share things, like if they ask me for something I will gladly say ‘No,’ or if they want to come over and they are like, ‘Do you have any snacks?’ I’m like ‘No.’”
“I also hate when people come in my room and start touching things and moving stuff around or if their presence is weird in my room. It just makes me feel a type of way. I just like my space to be me only, so I guess that comes with being an only child too.”
In her free time, Bailey enjoys baking, cooking, listening to music, building Lego sets and watching cartoons. Currently, her favorite artist is Travis Scott and her favorite cartoon to watch is Rick and Morty. She also has a love for cats. She has two back at home in Atlanta and hopes to soon have a cat in Texas.
“Every time I walk around I hope a cat finds me and wants me to be her owner,” Bailey said. “I look every single day. [I hope] I’ll just be walking on the road and there’s just a cat that just comes up to me and chooses me and I get to take it in. I have dreams about it. I want it to happen so bad.”
Following a significant win on Friday against University of Alabama at Birmingham, Bailey and UTSA volleyball will square up against Temple University at 5 p.m. Friday in McGonigle Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
