Iowa volleyball 2023 commit Alyssa Worden suffered a season-ending injury last summer, but the six-rotation outside hitter hasn’t allowed the setback to hinder her dreams of playing in the volleyball powerhouse Big Ten conference.

“I love the idea of playing in the Big Ten,” Worden told The Daily Iowan. “I’ve always been extremely competitive, so the idea of playing in the toughest conference excites me.”

Worden made the South Elgin High School girls’ varsity volleyball squad when she was a freshman in 2019. Then, she decided to forgo her sophomore high school season and play up with Sports Performance Volleyball Club’s U18 team out of Aurora, Illinois.

The Bartlett, Illinois, native helped SPVC take home second place in the 18 Open at the 48th AAU Junior National Volleyball Tournament and secured a spot on the 2021 Ultra Ankle Junior Volleyball Association All-National Team Class of 2023.

Worden returned to the court for South Elgin as a junior in 2021 and led the Storm to a school-record 31 victories and an Upstate Eight conference title, earning her Team MVP honors.

Former Iowa volleyball head coach Vicki Brown went to watch Worden in person during her high school junior season and later offered her a spot on the Hawkeyes. Worden committed to Iowa in October 2021, but Brown was fired the next month.

Newly hired Hawkeye head coach Jim Barnes and associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Brian Yale went to watch her in person during her junior season. After meeting and talking with Barnes and Yale, Worden was “even more convinced [she] wanted to play at Iowa.”

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Worden’s commitment, however, preceded the biggest obstacle of her volleyball career yet. While competing for SPVC’s 18 Elite squad in the 18 Open championship match in June 2022, Worden tore her left ACL.

The injury prevented Worden from playing her senior prep season with the Storm. Instead, she took on an assistant-like coaching role for South Elgin’s boys’ volleyball team and remained a vocal leader for the girls’ squad during her recovery process.

Worden, who also coached elementary school children at SPVC, said that being on the sidelines gave her a new and beneficial outlook on the sport.

“Everything becomes so clear on the sidelines — the shots you should hit, where on defense you should be positioned, where you should be blocking,” Worden said. “Coaching and watching from the sidelines really taught me more about the game than I could’ve imagined. This new understanding of the game has made me a better volleyball player both physically and mentally.”

Worden will join the rest of the 2023 commits — setter Kaia Mateo, outside hitter Gabby Deery, and libero Olivia Lombardi — this summer. After going 10-21 overall and 4-16 in conference last season, each 2023 commit is embracing the challenge of turning the Hawkeye program around.

“From our arrival and first interaction with [the 2023 class], it was clear that they were going to be great additions to our program, and to the University of Iowa itself,” Yale said in a release. “Individually and collectively, they are a class that has already embraced what this program is building.”

Worden’s addition is even more critical for this rebuilding Iowa squad, especially considering the recent transfer of sophomore outside hitter Addie VanderWeide and the departure of senior attackers Amiya Jones and Edina Schmidt.

VanderWeide announced in an Instagram post on Jan. 3 that she was transferring to Hope College in Holland, Michigan — just an hour away from her hometown of Ada, Michigan. VanderWeide started 44 matches for the Hawkeyes throughout her freshman and sophomore seasons and tallied 2.23 kills per set and 1.46 kills per set, respectively.

Barnes also picked up Caitlan Buettner, a senior outside hitter from Texas State, in the transfer portal earlier this month. Buettner was third on the Bobcats with 270 kills and totaled 148 digs in 2022.

Worden is still rehabbing, and while the recovery process has been difficult, seeing her progress keeps her going, she said. Worden is expected to make a full recovery before Iowa’s 2023 season starts in August, and she is prepared to take on any role the Hawkeyes need to be successful.

“I am happy to fill whatever role coach Barnes needs me to help the Hawks win games and move up in the rankings,” Worden said. “I want to be remembered as a great player for the Hawkeyes — someone who is exciting to watch and visibly makes a difference because of her grit and spirit.”