IOWA CITY, Iowa — The story of Bailey Ortega's volleyball career has been much like a rollercoaster ride: filled with twists and turns, but propelled by her seemingly never-ending grit and determination.
And now, she's ready to enter her newest chapter, as she trades black and gold for the yellow and purple of the LSU Tigers.
But if you go back to the beginning, Ortega will be the first to tell you she didn't come from a volleyball background. In fact, she didn't play club volleyball until 8th grade. In high school, she never had a winning season.
"I think most people in Quad City sports know the big dogs of PV and Bettendorf and Assumption," Ortega said in an interview with News 8 from September 2023. "To this day when people here meet me and I'm like 'I'm from Davenport,' they're like oh, Assumption! But it's like, I loved being at North and I love being that underdog."
Another thing Ortega loved? The Iowa Hawkeyes.
Her entire family grew up as fans of the black and gold. For Ortega, she always dreamed of playing on the hardwood for Iowa.
"Initially, because I grew up loving basketball, I actually wanted to play basketball here," laughed Ortega.
But while she racked up plenty of awards and accolades for her talent and determination in high school, Ortega was not highly recruited heading into her freshman year of college.
Instead, she was given the chance to join the Iowa volleyball team as a preferred walk on. A dream come true for the long-time fan.
"I kind of just idolized the Iowa players," Ortega said. "And then when I got the opportunity, it was just a no brainer."
It didn't take long for her to get a phone call from head coach Jim Barnes. He wanted to let her know she was getting a full ride scholarship.
"As soon as we saw Bailey and what she could do for this team, she was the first one that I was making sure she stayed here in Iowa," Barnes said.
For her part, Ortega bawled her eyes out.
"I was in tears! My family could tell what the phone call was about and they were in tears. I will forever remember that moment," she said.
Flash forward and all that hard work has paid off.
Before the end of 2023, Ortega had secured her spot in the record books. Not only has she racked up three Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honors (2021-2023), she also finished the 2023 season with 592 assists. That pushes her total career assists at Iowa to 2,174 - the ninth most in Hawkeye history.
And the honors kept coming.
Ortega was invited to Tampa, FL, to work with the NCAA Volleyball Social Media Content Team as the Lead Demonstrator for the AVCA Convention. She also spoke on a panel for Hudl at the convention. This all coincided with the 2023 D1 NCAA Volleyball Championship.
Now, Ortega is ready to begin her latest adventure: announcing she'll be transferring for her last year of volleyball eligibility to Baton Rouge and to play as #2 for the LSU Tigers.
Ortega joined The Current on News 8 to discuss her record breaking career at Iowa, her new opportunities with the NCAA and her future at LSU. You can watch her full interview in the above video.
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