History maker: Meet the NIC-10's first-ever NCAA Division I men's volleyball recruit

ROCKTON — Braydon Savitski-Lynde grew up dreaming of playing NCAA Division I.

Now he will.

For a team coming off a Final Four.

But it won’t be in basketball, the sport he used to dream about. It is his new sport. One that is just now beginning to catch on in Rockford. Partly because of Hononegah volleyball star Braydon Savitski-Lynde.

Savistki-Lynde signed with Ball State on Tuesday to become the first NCAA Division I boys volleyball recruit in NIC-10 history. A 4.0 student and an Illinois State Scholar, he plans to major in business.

“This is surreal,” Savitski-Lynde said. “I’ve dreamed of going Division I since I was a kid. Obviously for basketball first.”

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“It’s just crazy for me,” said his dad, Matt Lynde, an avid volleyball player who played on a local team that won a men’s national title on a lower level four years ago. “He grew up focusing on basketball. And he got really good at basketball. Then three years ago he turned the corner and decided volleyball was going to be his main sport. It’s fun how fast he has been able to grow. He’s been around volleyball his whole life, watching my tournaments, but he didn’t play in tournaments himself until three years ago.”

Savitski-Lynde, a 6-foot-6 senior outside hitter, led Hononegah to a 26-1 record last year and helped Hono become the first NIC-10 boys team to ever win a sectional game, before bowing out in a close loss in the sectional finals. Hononegah coach Annie Curran said Savitski-Lynde has been a Pied Piper for boys volleyball, which has only been around for six seasons as the NIC-10’s newest sport.

“He has brought our program to where it is, including bringing friends in and recruiting through the hallways,” Curran said. “He has done really great things. When he goes to Ball State he is going to do some really great things as well.”

Curran called his signing “a huge accomplishment” because “there are a lot less boys volleyball Division I schools than there are for girls.”

A lot less. There are only 26 NCAA Division I men's volleyball schools in the country. There are 334 D-I women's teams.

Boylan's Trevor Weiskercher also played at NCAA Division I Lewis University, but that was before the NIC-10 had boys volleyball as a sport. Boylan's Nikos Zydakis at NCAA Division II McKendree, and Hononegah's Matt DePauw and Boylan's Stephen Lewandowski, both at Clarke University, which is an NAIA school, also received some sort of volleyball scholarship. DePauw is now an assistant coach at Illinois State after first working at Central Michigan.

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DePauw's younger brother helped give Savitski-Lynde his big volleyball break. Jacob DePauw's club team, VC United in Rockford, needed a middle blocker for an 18-under tournament when one of its starters couldn't make it. He asked Savitski-Lynde, then only 15, to fill in.

"I fell in love right away," Savitski-Lynde said. "I just knew that's what I wanted to do.

"Everything worked out perfectly. Their middle couldn't play. Jacob DePauw asked me at the last minute if I could play. It was high-level volleyball. I got thrown into the 18s group. It was so much fun.

"It was a bit of a struggle. I held my own, but I wasn't the best player out there by any means. They really wanted me to come back, so I played for them the next year. I was on the 18s again and switched back to the outside. I kind of led the team. It was fun."

Matt Lynde said he doubted if his son would have ever become a Division I volleyball player if the NIC-10 hadn't added the sport in 2016. Braydon Savitski-Lynde said he hopes others will follow in his footsteps.

"I was always running around as a little kid at my dad's tournaments," Savitski-Lynde said. "I always wanted to play, but there wasn't much around. It's awesome to see how much the sport I love has grown. I would like to think I have helped bring some of that about. Me and our team being so successful brought attention to the sport. More people want to try out. More people want to play. It's all coming together. I am hoping the sport will grow as much as it can. I want more people to keep playing, to give it a shot."

Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City. Contact him at: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge; 815-987-1383.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: College volleyball: NIC-10's 1st NCAA Division I men's recruit