AU volleyball's Martin: A star on and off the court

By Chris Rickerson | Sports writer

Augusta University volleyball player Kylie Martin has shined on and off the court by being on the Academic All-District first team and first team All-Conference this year.

Martin led the team with a 3.82 GPA and was named the AU team’s MVP for the 2021 season. 

“I just think that sports and academics make you extra responsible and structured and you have to be hard working,” said Martin. “Definitely there is a lot, but I have lucked out that my coaches are very understanding and so is my program, and they have all tried to work with me. I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.” 

Martin grew up in a small town, Gypsum, Colo., and attended Eagle Valley High School. She was not only a volleyball player in high school, but her first love was basketball. 

“I was getting recruited to play basketball as well, and I thought I was going to play basketball in college for the longest time,” said Martin. 

She went on to attend Laramie Community College in Wyoming, where she played volleyball for two years. Martin said she went there because of the coach and the radiology program. 

“I fell in love with his coaching and decided I was going to play volleyball, and they had the program I thought I wanted to go into at the time,” said Martin. 

Martin was named to the all-region team and tournament team both years and led the team to conference and region wins in back-to-back years at Laramie Community College. The team was also top ten both years in the nation for the first time ever at the college.

After two years at Laramie, she thought her volleyball career was over. 

“I was actually not planning on continuing to play, but Augusta ended up finding me super late after everyone committed,” said Martin. “They were actually trying to recruit someone else, but ended up seeing me, and I found out that they had radiation therapy, which has been my career goal, and I decided to sign there.”   

Kadija Dickens, who was an assistant volleyball coach at the time for AU, was happy that Martin had not signed with anybody.

“We knew she was good and wanted to major in radiation therapy,” Dickens said. “There wasn’t a program for her in Colorado. I told her we had that program.”

So radiation therapy was the biggest reason for her signing at AU.

“I started out in radiology because I thought I needed that program to get into radiation therapy, but in the end, I knew I wanted radiation therapy,” said Martin. “I shadowed someone in high school, and I really enjoy being that person that people rely on and just making other people’s days better.”

While at AU, Martin has helped her team to back-to-back Peach Belt Conference Tournament titles and many individual awards in the two years. She gets good recognition from the coaches and other peers about her skills on the court and her work in the classroom.

“When you have someone who is academically minded and just has the skill set for volleyball, it doesn’t matter if it is in the classroom or on the court, it just comes together nicely,” said AU volleyball head coach Shannon Quarles. It has done that up to this point for her very easily.” 

Martin is using her fifth year of eligibility and this upcoming season will be her last year playing volleyball at AU and at the collegiate level. 

 In 2019, the Jaguars went on to the NCAA tournament and advanced all the way to the Sweet 16, but would lose to Carson-Newman. This past season, the NCAA Division II volleyball tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, Martin led the Jaguars to their third straight Peach Belt Conference Tournament title at Flagler despite playing without outside hitter Nicolette Ramos, who missed the last few weeks of the season to attend to family issues back home in Florida.

Martin says she is ready for her upcoming final season and wants to make it even further than years past. 

“I am looking forward to going even further in the NCAAs,” said Martin. “I know we have the potential, we have the players, we have the talent, and we just need to put that all together and actually make it. We made it to the Sweet 16 last time. I am just hoping we can take it a step further and go all the way.”

Contact Chris Rickerson at crickerson@augusta.edu.

Kylie Martin (in foreground) led Augusta University volleyball with 187 kills and paced the Jaguars to a third straight Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship. At the top of the page, Martin shows her serve form. (Staff photos)