Despite not playing much during her time at Creighton, Arizona outside hitter Destiny Ndam-Simpson was in high demand when she entered the transfer portal. The way she handled it was one of many things Arizona volleyball head coach Rita Stubbs found attractive about her.
“I knew who she was prior to her going to Creighton,” Stubbs said. “We didn’t get a chance…to recruit her, but knew…she was in a gym where she was training a lot and training against great players. Part of that is in this transfer
portal era, there’s a lot of great players that don’t play, so didn’t look at that as a knock against her. The other thing was she was very diligent about her recruiting process, which I truly appreciated.”
Ndam-Simpson was a top 35 recruit coming out of high school, but she served as a reserve behind All-Americans Norah Sis and Ava Martin for her first two seasons at Creighton. Her junior season ended after 10 matches due to an injury. Creighton’s roster noted that she had two years left to play even before the 5-in-5 ruling granted players in her class a fifth year. Her background as a sought-after recruit paired with more than one year of eligibility were strong selling points for a lot of coaches.
“I think she talked to like over 30 schools right off the bat, which was pretty impressive,” Stubbs said.
Up next for Arizona volleyball
Wildcat Classic
Game 1: Prairie View A&M @ Arizona
When: Friday, Aug. 28 @ 6 p.m. MST
Where: McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
Streaming: ESPN+
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
Game 2: Tarleton State @ Arizona
When: Saturday, Aug. 29 @ 12:30 p.m. MST
Where: McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
Streaming: ESPN+
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
Game 3: UC Santa Barbara @ Arizona
When: Sunday, Aug. 30 @ 12:30 p.m. MST
Where: McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
Streaming: ESPN+
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
Stubbs knew that Ndam-Simpson could “do it all as an attacker.” The question was what did Arizona have to sell her?
The need for an aggressive attacker was one thing the Wildcats had to offer. There was a real opportunity for Ndam-Simpson to have a significant impact on the Arizona program. A coaching staff she connected with was another.
Once she got to Tucson, it didn’t take her long to commit to becoming a Wildcat. She just had to find a way to tell her parents first.
“Halfway through the visit, I was texting my mom because she wasn’t able to come,” Ndam-Simpson said. “Like, I think I’m going to commit. And by the end, we were in the bookstore, and I was trying to get away from the coaches so I could tell my parents.”
Then, it was time to tell Stubbs.
“I held up an Arizona volleyball shirt, and I was like, ‘How would you like it if I wore this when I came back here in July?’” Ndam-Simpson said. “And Rita screamed in the middle of the bookstore.”
It came down to the coaches because Ndam-Simpson had just one day to spend on campus and the players weren’t around. She talked to libero Brenna Ginder on the phone, but she didn’t get to meet her potential teammates until later.
“You can tell through the coaches the kind of culture that they cultivate and the kinds of people they have around,” she said. “And it’s very easy to tell that you gotta want to be here, but if this is the right place for you, there’s a community, and there’s a team, and a support staff that wants to have you here.”
It will be a big change for Ndam-Simpson, who grew up in Omaha, Neb. and spent three years at Creighton. The sport is huge in the state of Nebraska. A large part of that is because of the top-ranked Cornhuskers, but the Bluejays have something to say, too. Creighton comes into the season ranked 13th in the AVCA preseason poll.
“You’re in a place where volleyball is such a big thing,” Ndam-Simpson said. “And so growing up in that area and then going to a school where volleyball is kind of the heartbeat of the city, it’s a very competitive and it’s a loud and fun environment. It was really cool to be a part of it. It just was a very unique experience being at a mid-major that played at such a high level.”
What she didn’t get to experience at Creighton was being the offensive go-to on a team. She’s already showing that she can fill that role at Arizona. It’s something the Wildcats desperately needed coming into their first season under Stubbs without someone like Jordan Wilson, Jaelyn Hodge, or Sofia Maldonado Diaz on the roster.
Ndam-Simpson has been Arizona’s top attacker in all three of the preseason matches. She led in kills in all three and in points in two of three.
In the Red-Blue scrimmage, she was responsible for 24 kills in four sets. She followed that up with 12 in three sets against GCU and 18 in four sets at New Mexico. None of those go in the official stats since they were exhibition matches, but they gave fans something to look forward to when the Wildcat Classic starts on Friday.
The senior isn’t just about scoring, though. She had a double-double in the exhibition match at New Mexico with 16 digs, tying fellow outside Carlie Cisneros for second on the team.
Now comes the time for her to show her skills in matches that count. The Wildcats have one weekend at home to ease into things before they hit the road for the entire month of September. They will face a stacked lineup, including Ndam-Simpson’s former team on Sept. 4.
“It’s a really fun place to play, and I’m excited to see some of the girls that I’m still close with, and my family will be able to come, and it’s going to be a fight,” she said. “Obviously, I want to go in there and pull the upset, but just the opportunity to go back in there. That gym gave me a lot.”
