Stowers reviving her career at A&M after previous medical retirement

Jamie Morrison and the Fightin’ Texas Aggie volleyball team open the 2025 season on Monday with a neutral-site showdown vs. No. 11 Minnesota in the AVCA First Serve. We’re looking ahead to the upcoming campaign with our 2025 Texas A&M Volleyball Preview Series.

When most athletes medically retire, their careers are over.

Done. Finished. No more.

Except for Texas A&M volleyball’s Kyndal Stowers. An involuntary medical retirement has only made her stronger.

Stowers signed with Baylor in the class of 2023. A standout at Denton Guyer High School, she was the nation’s No. 16-ranked recruit and the top prospect in the state of Texas.

She arrived in Waco in January 2023 and quickly made an impact during spring matches, as she prepared for her freshman season.

Then she suffered her first concussion during a summer practice.

At first, she was optimistic.

“At that point, I was like, it is what it is,” Stowers said. “At least it’s happening in the summer, and I can take a couple of weeks off.”

After some time away, the fall quickly arrived. During a preseason match, she endured a second concussion, causing her to miss just one game.

Despite those early concussion hurdles, Stowers quickly became a leader on the court for the Bears. She played in 14 matches, totaling 211 kills and 122 digs. She was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week once and the Big 12 Rookie of the Week twice.

Momentum was building, and it seemed like the injuries were in the past.

And then it happened again.

While shagging a ball during practice, she took another blow to the head. It was a third concussion in a matter of months.

“It was one of those things, I mean, it’s just a fluke,” Stowers said. “Like how does that even happen?”

She missed the remainder of 2023.

Two weeks into spring action, she sustained yet another concussion.

The fourth injury began talks of a medical retirement.

“It was out of my control,” Stowers said. “After the fourth, a lot of conversations took place. I talked to a neurologist, a sports physician and everyone on staff. Many conversations were had, as well as with me internally, about if I wanted to keep playing or if medical retirement was the smarter decision. Ultimately, I knew that I wanted to keep playing.”

Despite her desire to keep playing the sport she loves, the Baylor staff decided that medical retirement was best.

“There were a lot of conversations that I was not a part of and wasn’t able to advocate for myself in,” Stowers said. “They determined that it would be better to medically retire me, so it was an involuntary medical retirement. I came home, and at that point, I fully knew that I wanted to keep playing.”

She went back to Dallas in July 2024 with plans to enter the transfer portal in December.

In the meantime, for the first time in years, her life did not center around volleyball, and with more time on her hands, Stowers enjoyed time with her family.

Will Huffman, TexAgs

Kyndal Stowers will make her Texas A&M debut on Monday vs. No. 11 Minnesota in Sioux Falls, SD.

Her brother — former Texas A&M quarterback Eli Stowers — starred as a tight end at New Mexico State in 2023 before becoming an All-American at Vanderbilt last fall.

“I got to go to all of his games, which was nice because that’s not going to be able to happen this year,” Kyndal said. “I got a lot of family time, which was nice. In a family full of sports, that’s hard to come by.”

When she wasn’t with family, she was in the gym.

Her father is a strength coach, so she worked with him and club coaches.

Although she enjoyed her time away from the court, it was not easy.

The life Kyndal knew for so long had come to a sudden halt.

“I was not a student or an athlete, which was crazy,” she said. “It was not an easy experience at all. You go from going 100 miles an hour every day to nothing. It was a complete stop. It was a crazy thing to go from going that hard all the time to doing nothing.

“It definitely took a toll on me for a while, but then I got to the point to where I was like, ‘No, I’m here. God put me here for a reason. I need to embrace where I’m at and use it to learn a lot of lessons.’”

She began to realize the importance of life outside of volleyball.

“Obviously, I will get to a point where volleyball isn’t a thing,” she said. “At some point, it’s going to stop. It’s good to have that year without it to learn that there is more to life and God has more for me out there than playing volleyball.”

Leading up to the December portal opening, she prepared for her next season by watching teams and evaluating coaches based on their styles and interviews.

Thanks to her preparation, she quickly narrowed down her options.

Taryn Wright, TexAgs

Kyndal Stowers averaged 3.84 kills/set across 55 sets in 14 matches for Baylor in 2023.

“I got my list down to three schools in a day and took two visits, one to Texas A&M and one to another school,” Kyndal said. “Two days after visiting, I committed.”

Thanks to her brother’s history with Texas A&M football, she was already familiar with the school’s culture and core values.

“I’ve always said if my brother didn’t come play here, I don’t think I would’ve,” she said. “I couldn’t have planned it out better myself. He was here, so I got to see the culture. Everyone knows from the outside looking in, it’s like y’all are insane — that was me growing up. When he got here, I got to go to football games and saw the culture. It completely changed my perspective. I came for a quick visit and absolutely fell in love with the coaching staff.

“I just couldn’t say no.”

A program with coaches that truly care about their players on and off the court was important.

She found that at A&M, led by head coach Jamie Morrison.

“Our coaches come and check on me and ask about my brothers and my parents,” Kyndal said. “They are fully invested into every aspect of our lives. They know exactly what we’re majoring in and what we want to do. They take this time to get to know these things about us and are genuinely involved and curious and want the best for us.

“They care about your mental and physical health. They’re not wiling to give up the health of us for their benefit. They always put us first.”

A once-decorated recruit who experienced success as a freshman, she joins an Aggie squad full of seniors, including standouts Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and Logan Lednicky. Kyndal finds herself in a sweet spot within the team dynamic, as a mentor to the younger girls while also learning from the veterans.

“I feel like I play a different role at any given moment,” she said. “I lived with the freshmen all spring, so in that setting, I was like the mom of the house. They were always coming to me with different questions. So at some points, I was like the mom to the younger girls on the team. But we also have a lot of seniors, so to them, I am one of the babies. It’s a fun role of balancing the two and getting the best of both worlds.”

On the court, Kyndal has other roles.

“I feel like sometimes I can just be the cheerleader,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a pick-me-up if people are having a rough game, like giving them a pat on the shoulder, stuff like that. It’s kinda just like, at any given moment, being whatever is needed.”

Stepping into her sophomore season, her mindset has shifted from her freshman year.

As a six-rotation outside hitter, she felt like she always had something to prove, playing with a target on her back.

That pressure is now completely gone; she has already proven herself as more than capable.

Kyndal now sees every chance to play as a gift.

“It’s just a blessing to even be able to play the sport,” she said. “It’s not very often that you hear of someone who was medically retired and continued playing the sport. It’s very rare. It’s a blessing to be able to be out there. That’s the mindset I’ve been trying to have. I get to be here, and what a blessing that is.

“I just want to go out there and do my best.”

Now, she is ready to be back on the court, this time in Maroon & White.

“Oh, I’m so excited,” she said. “Season can't come faster. I can’t wait to actually get going again, be in a jersey and really be playing in front of everybody. It’s the best feeling ever.”

Her journey to Texas A&M wasn’t easy, but it made her into who she is today.

Her newfound mindset, resilience and athletic ability will be key as the Aggies look to reach new heights this season.