PHOTO: MATTHEW SMITH
BY BRIAN GOSSET
TCU and the city of Fort Worth will always be a special place for the Young family. Mom, Karen, played basketball for the Horned Frogs in the early 2000s and helped lead the program to its first NCAA tournament appearance.
25 years later Kinsley is looking to continue her mom’s legacy – in high school and beyond – but in a different capacity.
Kinsley is a 6-4 middle blocker on the Southlake Carroll volleyball team. Karen also played basketball at SLC where she was a three-year starter, a member of the TGCA All-Star Team, and received District MVP, All-Area and All-State accolades.
As for this year’s volleyball team, they are one win away from doing something no other volleyball team at Carroll has done before – win a state championship.
The Dragons (34-5) take on Austin High (41-6) in the Class 6A D2 title match at 6 pm Saturday from Garland’s Culwell Center.
It’s just the third time in program history that Carroll has reached the final four and second time in the champ game. The Dragons lost to Dumas in the 4A final during the 1998 season.
“When I was younger I always had the wildest dreams of playing volleyball and to be in this spot and being a senior on this team going to state feels like all my childhood dreams coming true,” said Young, who helped the Dragons to a sweep over Tomball in the semifinals.
However, that wasn’t the only highlight that week for Kinsley and the Young family. Three days before beating Tomball, Kinsley and several other Dragons signed their letters of intent.
Kinsley has been committed to the Horned Frogs since the summer of 2024. Making it official on paper during national signing day was a special moment in her already storied volleyball career.
“Going through the recruiting process, TCU was always in my mind. Growing up there, my mom played basketball there – it was somewhere I always loved going – Fort Worth, I love the city,” she said. “When I committed, I loved the coaches and it felt like I was already friends with the team. The campus is gorgeous and they have a great school and programs there which is important to me. Signing that letter was such a moment of relief, like knowing that I was fulfilling dreams that younger me had.”
Young has over 1,300 kills and 400 blocks in her career.
Other volleyball players that signed: Abby Huddleston (A&M Corpus Christi), Charlise Smith (Texas Woman’s), Emma Eyster (Oklahoma Christian), Layla Austin (San Diego State) Lauren St. Charles (Trinity) and Teddy-Raye Ewers (Incarnate Word).
