IOWA CITY, Iowa — For Hawkeye volleyball player Bailey Ortega, Iowa sports was her first love.
"Being a Hawkeye is just an amazing thing coming from Iowa, growing up seeing Joe Wieskamp and all the things he did here and I kind of just idolized the Iowa players and then when I got the opportunity, it was just a no-brainer. "
Before the junior setter joined the Iowa volleyball team, her first dream was to become a Hawkeye basketball player.
"Initially, because I grew up loving basketball I actually wanted to play basketball here [at Iowa]."
A three-year letterwinner for the Davenport North women's basketball team, and four-time all-conference volleyball athlete. Ortega eventually decided that her collegiate athletic career would be in volleyball.
But Ortega didn't take the typical path of a division one volleyball player, having never played club volleyball prior to her eighth-grade year, and never achieving a winning record in four years at Davenport North.
When it comes to Quad Cities prep volleyball, Davenport North isn't usually the first team that comes to mind.
"Most people in Quad Cities sports know that the big dogs are PV (Pleasant Valley), Bettendorf and Assumption... but I loved being at North and I loved being that underdog," Ortega said about her high school career.
During her senior year, she received an opportunity to join the Iowa volleyball program as a preferred walk-on, an opportunity which she embraced.
Ortega's underdog mentality has helped her soar into the starting lineup as one of the Hawkeyes' most valuable players. Last season, she led the team with 838 assists.
During the offseason, first-year Iowa volleyball coach Jim Barnes took notice of Ortega's ability. "As soon as we saw Bailey and what she could do for this team, she was the first one that I was making that she stayed here at Iowa," he explained of his first impression.
Prior to her junior season, Ortega received a call from Barnes: she was being placed on a full-ride scholarship.
"I was balling my 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," Ortega said of the moment.
"You want people who want to be here who really have a lot into Iowa, their upbringing, their family, their friends, they grew up with Iowa in the cradle and you just can't manufacture that," Barnes said.
"Sometimes I get in those moments of impostor syndrome, like do I deserve to be here? After everything I've gone through, I just know that it all happened for a reason and I'm really grateful to be here," Ortega said
Ortega and the Hawkeyes travel to Minnesota on Sunday to battle the seventh-ranked Gophers. You can watch her in action on Saturday, Oct. 8 when Iowa hosts Indiana.
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