Before her college basketball career, Kyra Wood dominated New York HS volleyball

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Heading into Kyra Wood’s senior volleyball season in March 2021, COVID-19 restrictions canceled her state tournament. The best a team could do was win their section.

Wood knew it was her final season playing volleyball after committing to Temple for basketball in Oct. 2020. So, she wanted to go out on top. City Honors School (Buffalo, NY) head coach Deborah Matos said Wood looked at her team and said “Alright then, we’re sectional champions, let’s get to work.”

Late in the season, City Honors was in match point in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Section VI Class B-1 championship against Cheektowaga High School. As the serve came over, the libero cushioned the ball to the setter, who lofted the ball up for Wood. She smashed the ball within the 10-foot line to clinch City Honors’ first sectional championship win since 2010.

“All the work, questions, drills all came together at that moment and there was nobody more deserving of that moment than Kyra because she manifested it,” Matos said.

Before becoming a full-time basketball player with Syracuse, Wood was a dominant two-sport athlete at City Honors. Along with being a 2,000 point scorer, Wood earned All-Western New York honors for volleyball in multiple seasons. Despite not playing competitive volleyball until eighth grade, Wood was a dominant force as a middle blocker.

Matos felt if she had more time with Wood, she could’ve developed her into “one of the top volleyball players in the country.” But Wood chose to stick with her first love of basketball, and has carved out an integral role in SU’s frontcourt as a junior.

According to Wood’s parents, Yolanda and Hollis, she tried various sports as a kid, including cross country, soccer and even rugby. Entering eighth grade, Wood never played organized volleyball and decided to try out for the junior varsity team at City Honors.

But to Wood’s shock, she accidentally came to the varsity tryouts. Because of her inexperience, Wood wanted to leave. Yet, Matos noticed her height and insisted Wood to stay.

“I said, ‘No, ma’am I actually don’t want to because I want to play JV…I’ve never played volleyball really and I don’t think I belong here,’” Wood said. “She was like, ‘no, you actually are going to try out. You’re going to be on the team, watch.’”

Matos was right. Wood made varsity as an eighth grader. In Wood’s first game, Matos and the coaching staff told her to make sure she “touches a ball.” During her first rotation, Wood stuffed an outside hitter before peeking over to the bench and asked “Like that?” Matos smiled and answered “Yes.” From then on, Matos said Wood “wanted to block everything,” similar to her skills on the basketball court.

Toward the end of her first season with City Honors, Matos approached her about playing club volleyball for Nickel City — where Matos was the club director. Wood joined and said Matos “pushed her out of her comfort zone” and wanted to get her as much exposure as possible.

Wood gained comfort and confidence with more reps. Matos said Wood developed at a faster rate than anyone she’d ever seen, controlling the middle and becoming an untraditional offensive threat at middle blocker.

According to Matos, playing offense as a middle is one of the hardest things to do at the high school level. The coach had a rule to not run through the middle if the pass wasn’t perfect, but Wood could adjust her body to consistently get herself into good position for kills.

“Kyra kind of broke that rule,” Matos said.

Matos said Wood was a little perplexed at first with the technical aspects of volleyball, but quickly learned. Wood’s pin to pin mobility came down to her footwork, which stemmed from her time playing basketball.

“She just caught on to the game. Not just the physical aspect of it, but caught on to the X’s and O’s of the game,” Matos said. “To be honest with you, it’s a much more difficult game to learn strategically than basketball just because there’s so many little things you have to make sure that you’re doing.”

During her sophomore season, Wood considered making volleyball her main sport. While she earned scholarship offers in basketball, she garnered a few additional offers for volleyball.

Wood continued to mull things over, attending different volleyball exposure camps while playing on the AAU basketball circuit with the Philadelphia Belles and later City Rocks (Albany, NY). Wood said everyone always looked at her as a basketball player and when she continued to play volleyball, some questioned it.

Wood said she couldn’t abruptly leave the sport because of all the time she had invested in it. But she eventually had to choose between playing volleyball or basketball in college.

Heading into her senior year, Wood chose basketball and said it “gave (her) more opportunities than volleyball.” But Wood’s passion for the sport never wavered. While at Temple, Wood sent Matos pictures of the volleyball court and would peek in on the team training. Matos said she knew there was a little part of Wood’s heart that was “tugged” to the sport.

“It was hard for me, like I really love volleyball to this day,” Wood said. “If I could do double sports… I would do it because I love volleyball.”