Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Saluki Volleyball signs Kyra Hunter
04/16/2019 | 11:46:00 | Women's Volleyball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Head coach Ed Allen, who was hired as SIU's ninth head volleyball coach on Dec. 6, has signed his second recruit, 6-foot-0 opposite hitter Kyra Hunter.
Hunter is a junior transfer who spent the last two seasons at the University of New Orleans. The Hoover, Ala. native played in 58 matches during her two seasons with the Privateers and averaged 1.89 kills and .73 blocks per set. She played in 192 sets during her two seasons, which included 22 starts and hit at a .217 clip with 363 kills and 140 total blocks.
"Kyra is a great addition to the culture that we want to build at SIU," Allen said. "She's an excellent student that is very ambitious from a professional perspective. She is a great person that will do the right things and will model the type of behavior that we expect from all of our student-athletes."
A left-handed hitter, Hunter put down 10-plus kills in 15 of her 58 career matches while at New Orleans, which included a career-high 18 kills in a five-set win over Incarnate Word on Sept. 21, 2017.
She played her prep ball at Hoover High School in Hoover, Ala. where she led the Bucs to the Class 7A state title game in 2016 during a senior year in which she put down 334 kills and was named to the AL.com Super All-State team.
"She's a dynamic lefty that you don't get often at the opposite position," Allen said. "She has an active arm and can get off the ground relatively quick. You add in that she has been a two-year starter at the collegiate level who has tremendous leadership skills and there is little doubt that she will be able to help us immensely."
Hunter comes from an athletic family, as her father, Victor, played basketball at Western Kentucky while her mother, Tiffany, played volleyball at Western Illinois and still holds the school's all-time record for career hitting percentage. Kyra is one of six, and one of her younger sisters, Victoria, recently signed to play basketball at Western Kentucky.
