Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Harper Murray
Favorite team: Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating rivalry schools
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I sneezed mid-play and a ball hit me in the head while serving.
Music on your playlist: Lots of songs by Rihanna, A Boogie wit da Hoodie and Playboi Carti
Future plans: To study Business at Rider University and play college volleyball
Words to live by: “Your only competition is who you were yesterday.”
One goal before turning 30: Build a career that gives me opportunities
One thing people don’t know about me: Before volleyball, I always thought that I would end up playing lacrosse in college.
By Mary Jane Souder
Kya Lynch creates something close to magic on the volleyball court.
The Central Bucks West senior is the ultimate finisher at the net and has made putting down kills look oh so easy. Lynch has spent her senior season shattering her own records, and recently, the 6-0 standout turned in a
performance that – pending official confirmation – will put her name in the state record books.
In the Bucks’ five-set win over Upper Dublin, Lynch had 52 kills (and no, that’s not a typo). The previous PIAA record of 51 kills was set in 2024 by Upper Merion’s Sophia Schweikert, who is now competing at Jacksonville State University.
“Ultimately, it was just about Kya wanting to help her teammates out and just really wanting key points in key moments,” West coach Todd Miller said. “She’s setting a really good standard for the rest of her teammates by working as hard as she is, and as a captain, that’s what you hope for.
“She continues to strive for greatness, and what she’s doing is definitely special.”
No one had a better vantage point of Lynch’s historic performance than senior setter Emma Shank, who spent the match feeding the gifted hitter.
“It was insane,” Shank said. “I couldn’t even believe that her arm was still attached to her body. It was just one kill after another. I knew every single set that I set her, she was going to get a kill and make my set look so good.”
Shank has set for Lynch since their middle school days.
“She makes my sets look so amazing,” the senior setter said. “Sometimes I’m just like, ‘Oh, that was a terrible set,’ but she gets such a beautiful kill off it, and I just love setting her because of that.
“I also love to see her continue to grow through all of the time we’ve been playing together. It’s been great to
see her from the age of 13 to us now almost being 18 and what she has become in just those five years.”
What Lynch has become is one of the very best at her position. She is the first West player to surpass the 1,000-kill mark.
“When you’re in a pinch, you know you can just put the ball up and she’s going to find a way to terminate,” Miller said. “She’s one of our captains, and she’s grown into being a good leader as a seasoned player with experience.
“She has a poise about her when she plays that enables her teammates to be just a little more relaxed in the moment when the pressure is on. We’ve had multiple games that we’ve pulled out at the end where we were behind, and she just kind of re-centers the team and gets them to know – ‘All right, we’re good’ and takes care of business.”
Back to the beginning
There’s an article in Kya Lynch’s room – written in September 2009 – that chronicles the beginning of the West senior’s volleyball journey. If it sounds improbaable that a 17-year-old’s athletic journey could begin the day they were born, guess again.
Kya’s mother, Kinsey Lynch, spent the final weeks before her birth coaching the Council Rock North volleyball team. When Kya arrived a week early, Kinsey wasn’t at her team’s emotional win over archrival Pennsbury, but thanks to texts, she and husband Deric were kept apprised of the team’s every move during a match the players dedicated to their coach and her soon-to-arrive daughter. (See link below to read the article*)
It wasn’t long before mother and daughter were back in the gym.
“Kya definitely has been around the sport of volleyball, whether she liked it or not, for as long as I was coaching,” Kinsey said. “I remember Kya being just a week old and taking her in my BabyBjorn onto the Rock North campus and heading into the gym.”
The gym.
It’s become something of a second home to Kya, who has spent countless hours refining her volleyball skills. Now, the Rider University-bound senior – a captain and four-year varsity starter – is reaping the benefits.
And the best part about it? She’s loving every minute of it. Volleyball was not something Kya played to please her mother – herself a standout collegiate player and longtime coach. Rather, it became her own passion.
Although for a brief stretch, Kya did consider going with lacrosse instead.
“Being around my mom, I was always at volleyball games, and I did a lot of camps and clinics and stuff because she had connections with coaches,” Kya said. “Volleyball was definitely one of my sports that I’ve always wanted to play.
“I tried a bunch of different things, but lacrosse and volleyball were the two that I was stuck on because I wanted to see where things went.”
By her freshman year, juggling both club volleyball and lacrosse had taken its toll.
“I’ve always wanted to play a sport in college,” she said. “I was doing club (volleyball) since I was nine or 10 years old on a team that my mom coached.
“It came to a point in my freshman year – my body was tired. I fractured both my feet because practicing on different surfaces back to back can mess up your feet. Also, I was going right from school lacrosse to club volleyball, which was from 8-10, and I had a lot of conflict with that kind of thing. It was definitely challenging.”
The fractures and time conflicts ultimately forced Kya’s hand. She chose volleyball.
“I think my body just kind of understood that I was getting a little bit tired of both,” she said. “It was definitely one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made because I’ve grown up with so many of my best friends playing lacrosse.”
The experience also taught Kya the importance of listening to her body.
“With a stress fracture, if you go to the doctor, they will literally just put you in a boot and you have to sit out, so you just have to take time to rest and listen to your body when that happens,” she said.
With the demands she puts on her hitting arm, Lynch has learned to take care of that as well.
“My arm gets sore sometimes, but I do a lot of recovery stuff, and sometimes in practice I’ll do other things besides just swinging hard all the time,” she said. “Also, knowing when to do different shots and different tips and stuff to save your arm especially like warmups or you’re in practice and doing six on six.”
Does she ever get tired of the grind?
“No, I don’t,” she said. “I love it actually. I don’t know. There’s just something about it. I love the sport of volleyball. I get so fired up, and I’m a very competitive person, especially when we play teams that are better than us. I think that’s the greatest way to get better – what could my team do better and just motivating everyone.”
Sports a family affair
Sports have always been part of Kya’s life. Her father, Deric, played football at Bloomsburg University and later coached track for 25 years at Council Rock South. Her mother had a successful playing career at Dowling College before moving into coaching. Her two younger brothers are also active in sports.
For five years, Kinsey coached Kya on the club circuit, strengthening a bond that extends well beyond volleyball.
“It’s amazing,” Kya said. “She’s always been one of my biggest supporters throughout everything, and she’s always told me – ‘Even if volleyball is not your sport, I’ll always be there for you,’ and I feel like she’s been one of the most influential people that has helped me throughout volleyball – the mom side but also the coaching side because she’s been doing it for so long, so she knows both aspects. It’s been great to have her around the sport so long.”
That Kya would follow her mother into collegiate volleyball hardly comes as a surprise, and the recruiting process began in ninth grade.
“I looked at Virginia Tech for a while, I looked at LeMoyne, I looked at Morgan State – it was kind of all over the place,” she said. “I knew what I wanted in a program, and location was definitely a big part of my decision.”
In the end, Rider proved to be the right fit.
“Rider’s program is amazing, and I wanted to play close to home,” she said. “I’ve actually had a connection with Jeff (Rotondo), the head coach. He wasn’t my coach, but he was the director of the Infinity Volleyball Club I started playing for, so I’ve known him forever.”
A strong student, Lynch plans to major in business and marketing with her sights set on possibly one day starting her own business.
But that’s down the road. For now, there’s still plenty of volleyball to be played.
“I’m obviously so happy for her that she’s blazed her own trail in a sport that I love and just have embraced in my life, so it is a very special bond that I have with her,” Kinsey said. “I’ve always told her she’s been my most favorite player to coach.
“Even if I take my mom hat off, she is a really fun, competitive, fiery player, and when I put my coach hat on, it’s enjoyable to work with athletes who want to perform, want to build a team, and it’s important to them to be a good teammate and a good leader, and she embodies that.”
A fierce competitor, Lynch brings much more than a powerful swing to the court. A six-rotation player, she also contributes digs and blocks.
“She’s a natural athlete – she’s off the floor quick, and she’s got a quick arm swing,” Miller said. “The maturity of who she is as a person and player – we’re seeing that part of her growth as a great leader, ‘Hey, come along with me. I’m not going to force you into this mold, but I want to see you raise your level of play and succeed as well.’”
The combination of poise and enthusiasm has become Kya’s trademark.
“When people make mistakes, it gets in their head,” she said. “I feel like I’m very calm. I don’t dwell on mistakes. Calmness is my way of leading and being focused but also having really big energy and celebrating every little thing.”
And Lynch has had plenty of reasons to celebrate with college volleyball still ahead.
“I had such a great freshman year, and I had a lot of great role models that showed me how to navigate leadership and that type of thing,” Kya said when asked her best memory of high school volleyball. “But I definitely would say making the friendships and the connections on the court is one of my favorite things because you can just see everyone growing together as you go up class by class.”
One of those longtime friends is Shank, who still marvels when she thinks about Lynch’s 52 kills in the Bucks’ grueling 3-2 win over Upper Dublin.
“As she does in all our games, she really led us through that match,” Shank said. “I really could rely on her. Every single set – I knew she would do something good with the ball. It was crazy that she had 52 kills – but she did.”
*Link to article: https://suburbanonesports.com/article/content/rock-north-vb-family-welcomes-new-addition-0013468/