Kayla Caffey

Personal: Caffey earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Missouri and graduated from Nebraska in December 2021 with a master's degree in teaching, learning, and teacher's education. She credits former Nebraska volleyball assistant coach Tyler Hilderbrand as a significant influence in her life and has expressed a desire to be an elementary school teacher if she were not playing volleyball. As a child, she participated in competitive cheerleading, soccer, volleyball, and Girl Scouts. Her hobbies include traveling, trying recipes from TikTok, online shopping, and watching Netflix. She chose to wear No. 28 because it was her jersey number at Texas.

Other Professional Experience: Caffey began her professional career during the 2022-23 season with Criolla de Caguas in Puerto Rico. She also played for Grand Rapids during the inaugural Pro Volleyball Federation season in 2024.

College Experience: Caffey split her college career between Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas. Over her career, she appeared in 453 sets across 133 matches, finishing with a total of 831 kills and 463 blocks. She was a four-year letter winner at Missouri from 2016 to 2019, where she played in 60 matches and 224 sets. During her time at Missouri, she redshirted in both the 2016 and 2018 seasons but still accumulated 356 kills and 205 blocks over her two active seasons. In 2017, Caffey earned a spot on the Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Team after ranking fifth in the league with 130 total blocks. She also finished her rookie season with 300.5 points, which was fourth on the team, and notched 10 or more kills in four matches that season. As a redshirt sophomore in 2019, she ranked ninth in NCAA Division I with a .408 hitting percentage and helped lead the Tigers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a record of 22-8. Caffey transferred to Nebraska for the 2020 season, where she played for two years. She saw action in 48 matches and 162 sets, finishing with 369 kills and 179 blocks during her time with the Huskers. In her junior year, she hit .380 while averaging 2.04 kills and 1.09 blocks per set. As a senior, she earned AVCA All-America Second Team honors after achieving a team-high hitting percentage of .363 and received her first AVCA North All-Region Team commendation, recording 10 matches with double-digit kills. During her final season at Nebraska, she hit .400 or better in 12 matches. Caffey concluded her college career at Texas, where she appeared in 25 matches and 67 sets, accumulating 95 kills and 72 blocks. She played a pivotal role in guiding the Longhorns to the 2022 NCAA Division I title.