Texas volleyball commit Ella Swindle continues leading Rock Bridge to new heights
COLUMBIA, Mo. (BVM) — The Rock Bridge High School volleyball team won its first-ever district title in 2020. Now, they have sights on winning the program’s first-ever state championship. As they continue to rise to new heights, one player stands above the rest literally and figuratively: Ella Swindle.
The 6-foot-2 setter has been a star at Rock Bridge from the start, learning from many talented upperclassmen in her freshman year. As a sophomore, she averaged an impressive 9.1 assists per set. In both seasons, Swindle was a first team all-state player.
As a junior this fall, Swindle has not slowed down, and the Bruins are finding unprecedented success thanks to her play. Last season, the program won its first-ever district championship, a motivator to go further this year.
“Every year since my freshman season, we’ve just learned more and more about what it takes to get to the next round,” Swindle said. “Being able to win districts last year for the first time, it lit a fire under us because we didn’t get as far as we hoped to, but we were still making a name for Rock Bridge and that’s what we’re doing this year.”
This season, the Bruins have had a sign in their locker room that says, “state championship: under construction.” They have taken that to heart.
After strong performances in sectionals and the state quarterfinals against Lebanon and Nixa, respectively, Rock Bridge is set to take on Lee’s Summit West in the state quarterfinals, just two wins away from that coveted state title.
“No one really knew what to expect for this year,” Swindle said. “Since we had graduated so many seniors, a lot of our team is new. I think that we’ve done a really great job adjusting. We want to just create a totally different name for Rock Bridge volleyball.”
This year’s team has certainly done so. As one of the only programs at the school which had never made a state final four, Swindle and this year’s Rock Bridge squad have changed the narrative forever. With one more season to continue cementing her legacy no matter what happens to end this season, Swindle truly hopes the stigma of the Bruins’ program has changed for good.
“We want to make a name for Rock Bridge that never goes away,” Swindle added. “We want to let the younger players who are coming into Rock Bridge know that it does take a lot of hard work to get to state, but it’s worth it.”
Swindle’s volleyball journey is quickly coming full circle despite being a late bloomer to the sport. Playing tennis for most of her early life, she didn’t begin playing volleyball until sixth grade after seeing her older sister compete on the court.
“Originally, I was kind of just sick of playing a single-person sport and wanted to be part of a team,” Swindle said. “Obviously, volleyball offered that to me. Once I started playing, I never really looked back.”
It took her about a year or so to begin taking volleyball seriously, and around the same time, Swindle began training with now University of Missouri women’s head volleyball coach Joshua Taylor. However, at first the sport was a struggle for the setter.
“My first year of playing volleyball, I was 12 playing on a 14 team,” Swindle noted. “The following year I made the transition to KC Power and have been playing there since. Initially, I was not good at volleyball, I just really wasn’t. I had to put in a lot of hard work and it was a very big commitment; it still is. But I know what my dreams are, I know what my goals are and I wasn’t willing to back down just because I had a lot of work to do.”
Over her last several years of playing with KC Power, Swindle has been able to take her game to incredible heights.
“They’ve done a great job of developing me as a player,” Swindle said. “It’s really just been a family to me these past four years. I love my coaches and my teammates. With everything I’ve done in volleyball, a lot of it has been because of KC Power. I’m very thankful for them.”
By her eighth grade year, Swindle had vastly improved and was quickly developing into a star on the court. So much so, that she received her first college offer from the University of Missouri.
“I was in eighth grade going home from a tournament,” Swindle explained. “They called me that night, offered me the position to be a setter with the University of Missouri, and I just broke down into tears. It was unreal, it was my first offer so I didn’t know what to expect. That was really the beginning of the rest of my volleyball career. That’s when it really kicked in that I could do something special with this sport. I very seriously considered the University of Missouri, it’s hard to turn down your hometown college.”
In the years since, Swindle’s recruiting did not slow down a bit. She began receiving offers from all of the top programs in the country, including the likes of Stanford, Wisconsin and defending national champion, Kentucky.
“It’s definitely a little bit overwhelming,” Swindle said. “I have an incredible family, they supported me every step of the way until I made my commitment. It’s very surreal. You work so hard for something, and to see part of it come true is incredible and very rewarding. It was humbling for me, it just made me want to keep working hard.”
However, she was also contacted by the current No. 1 team in the country, undefeated Texas. While it was a tough decision among some women’s volleyball heavyweights, the Longhorns ultimately won out.
“Texas is great all around,” Swindle said. “They have great coaches, great academics and incredible volleyball. I want to bring home more national championships to Texas. They have three right now and I think with the class we have coming in, it’s going to be a very exciting time for Texas volleyball. They have everything to offer to not only a student-athlete, but just a student. There’s not really a reason why you shouldn’t attend the University of Texas, it was a great decision for me overall.”
Multiple national championships and furthering the legacy of the Texas volleyball program are big goals for Swindle over the next few years. However, she does not want to limit her success to just college. Her ultimate goal is to win an Olympic gold medal, and she has already taken steps to potentially doing so someday.
This past summer, the Rock Bridge junior was one of just 24 girls across the country named to the 2021 U.S. Girls U18 National Training team roster where she spent a week competing in Anaheim, California.
“It was incredible,” Swindle said. “It gave me a taste of what it’ll be like to play in college. I got to play with some of my future teammates so that got me really excited. It’s just great training, great coaching, great athletes that you play against. You’re just building every single skill in your game and it was an incredible experience.”
Still in the early stages of her volleyball career, Swindle’s quick emergence is taking her to the top. A state title at Rock Bridge may be on the horizon, and a national championship at Texas seems likely. An Olympic gold medal is no easy feat, but by the time all is said and done, the volleyball standout may very well end up accomplishing each of her goals.
“I first realized my Olympic dreams two summers ago,” Swindle concluded. “I just know that I want to work really hard to represent my country, my family, my team and myself. I know that it’s going to take a lot of hard work in college to prepare for the national gym. I don’t want to stop at a college offer, I want to stop at an Olympic gold medal.”
