Arizona was Nylah Bibby’s “dream school,” but not for the reasons most would assume. Her dad Mike Bibby made history with the Wildcat men’s basketball team by leading them to their only national title back in 1997, but his college achievements weren’t on her mind when she was deciding on a school. She didn’t even hear much about his time in college as she was growing up.
“He hasn’t told me a lot, but I’ve just seen that his name was very big there, and I think that’s amazing,” Nylah said. “It was so
cool seeing what my dad built at Arizona, just seeing his name on the wall, his jersey.”
When it came time to decide her college path, the youngest of Mike’s four children says the atmosphere created by head volleyball coach Rita Stubbs and her players was what made the difference.
“I wanted a school that felt like home,” Nylah said. “It wasn’t very far from home, so that was a big plus. And the girls that I’ve seen, they have just such a good connection to each other. That’s what I also wanted. And Charita is just amazing. She is everything.”
Watching how Stubbs interacts with her current players made an impression on the young recruit.
“She is very honest, and I love that about a coach,” Nylah said. “She’s very close with her girls, which is also a very big one for me. That stood out to me a lot.”
Nylah attended camp at Arizona back in June. It didn’t take her long to decide that it’s where she wanted to be. While some players travel the country attending camps before making their decision, Arizona’s was the only college camp Nylah attended.
“I was supposed to (go to other camps), but Arizona was literally my dream school,” she said. “I was like, I will just go to this camp, see what happens. And then, yeah, I committed the day of the camp.”
Nylah was able to meet fellow 2027 commit Londyn Pope, who was in a similar boat in the recruiting process. Both snatched up the Arizona offers as soon as they came.
“It was actually crazy, because we honestly had no idea (Stubbs) was going to offer us to go there,” Nylah said. “It’s like we meet one day, and the next day she’s my teammate. So crazy.”
She appreciated that Stubbs was to the point about her future.
“She just kept it straightforward with me and like, what my role was going to be, what how it was going to be when I get there,” Nylah said. “It was very calm. I can say the recruiting process with Rita was very calm.”
The volleyball recruiting timeline means that players commit before most of them know what they want to pursue outside volleyball. Nylah hasn’t given much thought to what she wants to study when she arrives in Arizona. She doesn’t consider that a drawback, though. Mostly, she’s just happy to have it over.
“It feels so amazing,” Nylah said. “It feels good. It feels like a weight was lifted off my shoulders, because the recruiting process was kind of stressful. I’m gonna say it was very stressful. So me committing, it was just amazing. I was so excited. I literally cried. It was like the biggest, best feeling ever.”
The gap between commitment and landing on campus has some advantages as far as Nylah is concerned. Now that she knows where she will go, she can focus on the things she needs to do to have an impact when she arrives.
“It just time for me to improve myself,” she said. “I have time to do that.”
While Nylah is following her dad’s footsteps to Tucson, it’s another relative who helped inspire her path in sports. Older sister Jenae Bibby was her inspiration to play volleyball.
“Everyone thought I was going to play basketball, but I really look up to my older sister,” Nylah said.
She helped Jenae practice by passing volleyballs in the backyard. She was just six at the time. The two have a large age gap, so they never got to play together, but watching her older sister was enough to kindle a lifelong passion.
“When I saw her start playing volleyball, I was like, let me try,” Nylah said. “And then I just forever fell in love.”
She also fell in love with the people surrounding her in the volleyball world.
“You make new friends and family that you will forever have in your life,” Nylah said.
She finally got into the sport seriously around the age of 11 when she started playing club volleyball. She currently plays for what is arguably the best program in the state of Arizona.
Arizona Storm has produced some of the best players to come out of the state, including former Wildcat Madi Kingdon and current Wildcat Jordan Wilson. The program currently features Tessa Larkin and Kendall Omoruyi, two of the top players in Nylah’s class. Both are on their way to the Big Ten, where most of the top college teams play.
“It just makes me want to be a better player myself and work as hard as I can to get to that point,” Nylah said. “Club is very intense. It’s crazy at Storm, but honestly, it’s so much fun.”
Playing in a club of that caliber also means being adaptable. While she is able to play outside hitter in high school despite being just 5-foot-10, she is concentrating on the back row going forward. She is already beginning that transition in club where she plays some at the defensive specialist position already.
“My role is changing when I get (to Arizona),” Nylah said. “I’m an outside right now for high school and club, but I’m gonna be more of a DS when I get there.”
The change suits her personality and skillset as well as her stature.
“Oh, I love defense,” Nylah said. “One thing about me is I will go all out. I’m not afraid of the ball, so I will just fling my body out there, and it’s just so much fun just to get those balls up that are just coming straight at you.”
There are parts of back row play that she needs to improve, though.
“I would say in serve receive, just staying down and holding, which is something I can control,” Nylah said. “I think I can get better at that.”
The adaptability that has her looking forward to a different role in college has already helped her in high school. Nylah started her high school years at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale. She transferred to Saguaro after one year and seems to have found her place.
“The other school I went to was a very big school, so there were so many kids,” Nylah said. “I transferred to Saguaro, and t’s still like a big school, but it’s...smaller, and I think that is so much better. I like being in a smaller school where I can bond with everybody.”
She settled in quickly both on the court and off. Her stats took a jump, something she puts attributes to her coach and her own mindset.
“I had so much more confidence at Saguaro than I did at my other school, and my coach was just so amazing,” Nylah said. “She believed in me, and I think that’s what pushed me to just have a better season.”
She hopes to ride that to big accomplishments over the next two years. That starts with the high school season that will get underway in a few weeks.
“We want to get a ring this year, and I think we’re capable of doing that,” she said.
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