How Indiana volleyball walk-on Isa Lopez found storybook ending in Bloomington

BLOOMINGTON — The Monon Spike trophy was surprisingly light when Isa Lopez hoisted it in the air.

The celebration came after Indiana volleyball ended a 21-match losing streak to then-No. 15 Purdue on Oct. 11. It was the program’s first win over its rival since 2012, and the moment came in front of a program-record 2,725 fans at Wilkinson Hall.

"Nobody was scared, nobody was afraid,” Lopez said. “We were going to leave it all on the court.”

For Lopez, the road getting there was more arduous than most.

Lopez's perseverance helped her land a regular role on Indiana's team as a walk-on defensive specialist in the face of a series of unexpected hurdles that nearly forced her to walk away from the game she fell in love with at 10 years old.

‘This was news to everybody’

Lopez was a highly decorated prep and club player out of Richardson, Texas, a city on the outskirts of Dallas where she grew up. She signed with La Salle University in Philadelphia, but her college experience started at home thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school was one of the many that operated remotely in fall of 2020. The volleyball team held weekly Zoom meetings while players found ways to stay in shape largely on their own.

As universities started to formulate their plans for a spring semester, Lopez got a text one morning in October from an unknown number about a mandatory Zoom for La Salle athletes.

“Everyone was kind of confused,” Lopez said. “I think it was from the athletic director. We are all texting each other, 'Oh gosh, why is he texting us?'”

Everyone on the text chain agreed it wasn’t going to be good news.

La Salle’s athletic department announced it was cutting seven sports at the end of the academic year including volleyball, and all 130 athletes impacted were all on that same call.

“They told us we have to cut your program, but you'll have this weird spring season,” Lopez said. “I don't even think our coach knew, this was news for everybody. I was just in shock afterwards. I remember just sitting there thinking I have no idea what I'm going to do now.”

Many of her teammates — most she hadn’t even properly met —  immediately jumped in the transfer portal. Lopez did the same, but felt her options were limited given the awkward timing of the announcement.

‘It was a really weird time’

Lopez had plenty of time to second guess her decision to remain enrolled at La Salle on the 23-hour drive from Texas to Philadelphia. She made the trip with her parents, hoping the months that followed would provide the sense of normalcy she was missing.

That proved elusive.

Lopez was assigned to the freshman dorm separate from most of her teammates and, since La Salle’s campus still operated under fairly strict COVID protocols that spring, the time she got with her teammates was limited.

“I wasn't allowed in,” Lopez said of her teammates' dorm. “I couldn't hang out with them. It was really tough to form relationships and it was something I struggled with the whole season.”

It was a small team to start with — only 10 players were listed on the online roster for the 2020 team — but got even smaller as the year went on.

The biggest challenge came at midseason when La Salle played games against George Mason and Rhode Island with only six players available, the minimum number needed to compete.

“I was the libero, but I didn't wear the jersey because I would have to rotate into the front row,” Lopez said. “We did a weird system where I would still play defense in the back row. We would only have two people in the front row.

“It forced us to be able to adapt and adjust quickly and play as a team every single game. Nothing was on the line, at the end of the day the program was gone, so I think that really pushed us. We did have some really good matches."

The team went 5-3 and won a match against a Fordham team that reached the Atlantic 10 tournament that year, while Lopez was named the conference’s libero of the year with a team-high 182 digs.

She found refuge on the court and the few road trips the team made together, but it was still a lonely time. She made frequent visits to Starbucks and the university library where she buried herself in school work.

“I wasn’t expecting any of that,” Lopez said. “I struggled a lot mentally that semester. By the end of it, I even lost a lot of love for volleyball just because of how weird everything was. I loved the team aspect, but it was hard to get over everything that happened.”

‘She's not scared of any challenge’

At the end of the semester, the sport still had enough of a grip on Lopez that she decided to reach out to a handful of schools that had volleyball programs and her Cyber Security and Global Policy major.

Indiana was at the top of the list because her former Texas Advantage Volleyball club teammate Savannah Kjolhede played for the Hoosiers and raved about her time on campus.

They won two national titles during their four years as teammates. Kjolhede said their best season was in 2017 playing for coach Ping Cao, who played for China in the 1984 Olympics.

"It was the legacy of the club,” Kjolhede said. “Any of the top teams, they are going to go and win a national championship. That was our expectation. It was kind of similar to a college team. They recruited the players they wanted, that’s how club teams worked in Texas. You have to be extremely dedicated to volleyball”

Lopez knew landing a spot with a Power Five program was a long shot, but she emailed IU coach Steve Aird anyway.

"The number of kids that want to play in the Big Ten is enormous,” Aird said. “Think about it this way, there's half a million kids playing club ball. I think one percent will play Division 1, so you are talking about 40-50 kids a year that make it to the conference."

Aird carries a roster of 16 to 18 players — Division 1 volleyball teams are allowed 12 scholarship — and receives hundreds of emails, including from international players, inquiring about open roster spots.

"We've been fortunate to have some really good backcourt players in my tenure, we weren't looking or searching for her position,” Aird said.

Aird made an exception in this case because of his familiarity with her club from recruiting Kjolhede.

“She's clearly good enough to play at a really high level, and you want a kid that isn't afraid to compete, especially when you are building a program up,” Aird said. “She plays the right way. She's not scared of any challenge in front of her.”

Aird offered Lopez a spot as a walk-on. Four weeks later she was in Bloomington.

‘It’s going to take a lot of grit’

Lopez hadn’t been on campus a full month when she gathered with her new teammates for a voluntary offseason scrimmage at Wilkinson Hall.

She spent more time in the emergency room that afternoon than she did on the court. Lopez dislocated her right shoulder on the kind of routine dive she had made thousands of times.

“I got the ball up, but I heard the crack,” Lopez said with a laugh. “I was like, 'That did not sound good.' I couldn't get up because it tensed up with any sudden movement and was painful. I just kind of sat there in a zone.”

The whole experience is a blur for Lopez, but she does have one vivid memory from the day.

“I finally got up and everyone was around me. They weren’t disgusted, but their faces told me something was wrong,” Lopez said. “My arm wasn't where it was supposed to be.”

The full diagnosis was a dislocated shoulder with a partially torn labrum.

Doctors gave her two options: surgery with six to seven months of rehab or playing through it while strengthening the surrounding muscles. The only reason the non-surgical path was even possible was because she had no previous issues with the shoulder.

“I just wanted to play,” Lopez said.

Lopez spent the next two months in the weight room following doctor’s orders and was still able to practice until the shoulder slipped out of socket again during a scrimmage in November.

If she wanted to continue her career, Lopez had to have surgery this time.

"We sat down with her and were honest,” Aird said. “We told her it's going to take a lot of grit to get back to the point where you can train, let alone where you can help us and play.”

While Lopez had some doubts about continuing to play after leaving La Salle, she had no second thoughts about the path forward in the face of major shoulder surgery — she was committed to playing in a collegiate game.

Lopez recalled the exact date of the procedure with ease (Dec. 10, 2021). She started the grueling six-month rehab process the next day.

"It was painful,” Lopez said.. “I would just be sitting at a table, the doctor would push my arm for me, it hurt. I didn't cry during, but I'd get in the car and just tear up. It was so painful, I hated it, but I knew it was what I had to do.”

Kjolhede, who was Lopez’s roommate at the time, tried to pick up extra chores around the apartment — ”I made sure she didn’t have to do any dishes” — and was in awe of her teammate’s dedicated approach to the rehab process.

“She probably had the most positive outlook on her situation ever,” Kjolhede said. “Every single time we were in the weight room and talking to our strength coach, she was killing it every step of the way.”

‘I’m content’

Lopez’s return to the court came in Indiana’s 2022 season-opener against Indiana State with her family in the stands.

“You didn't know how her shoulder would react,” her father, Bennie, said. “We were holding our breath when she was flying around. It was definitely an emotional roller coaster."

Lopez had a different reaction.

“I'm always speechless when people ask me about it,” she said. “I just felt happy, it was like, ‘I’m content.’”

That feeling stayed with her as she heads into the final weekend of the regular season having played in 62 straight games (11 starts).

Last season, she was named the Indiana athletic department women’s comeback athlete of the year. The only lasting ill-effect from the injury is it prevents her from serving, something she wasn’t asked to do much at her position anyways.

Indiana’s team success has made the last chapter of her collegiate career all the more special.

The Hoosiers are in contention to break an NCAA tournament drought that dates back to 2010. The 19 wins they had going into Friday’s game against Michigan State were the most since 2010.

She was one of five seniors Indiana honored before its game against Wisconsin on Nov. 19. The group included Lopez and Kjolhede alongside Kaley Rammelsberg, Elle Hillers and Grae Gosnell.

Lopez’s father had a hard time keeping his emotions in check when his daughter was recognized.

"She’s put her passion in it since she was a kid,” Bennie said. “It showed with the way she played, you could see even when she wasn’t on the court, just watching how she supported her teammates.”

Aird was just grateful he responded to Isa's unassuming email.

"She's clearly tough as hell, she's come back from stuff a lot of people would walk away from,” Aird said. “She has my eternal respect for that.”

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 'Clearly tough as hell': IU walk-on overcomes career-threatening setbacks