The journey for UAA volleyball’s Kadyn Osborne has come full circle in more ways than one

University of Alaska Anchorage senior Kadyn Osborne capped off her collegiate volleyball career with a better ending than she ever thought possible. On Senior Night last Saturday, Osborne and the Seawolves took a commanding three-set sweep of playoff-bound Simon Fraser in front of family and friends for the last time.

“It’s probably the best possible way you could end your career, with your girls on the court ending that way, in a sweep too, against an incredible team that has had an incredible season,” Osborne said.

As the daughter of longtime UAA men’s basketball coach Rusty Osborne, she grew up watching Seawolves volleyball.

Kadyn Osborne initially wanted to venture out of state to play collegiately following a standout career at Dimond High School, where as a senior she was named the 2020-21 Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year. She competed at Eastern Arizona for a year and half before returning to the Last Frontier to play for her hometown team.

“I decided it was time to come home and I think it was one of the best decisions I could’ve made,” she said.

Her advice for young Alaskans who aspire to reach similar heights and play at the next level is to not fear a change of scenery.

“I left and I came back,” Osborne said. “Don’t be afraid to do that. Don’t go, ‘Oh it’s just Alaska, it’s just UAA.’ We have one of the best (Division II schools) for volleyball, women’s basketball, men’s basketball (and) hockey. We’re a community, we’re a family and it’s just so amazing here, and you can’t really experience that anywhere else.”

Osborne wasn’t sure what she wanted to major in prior to transferring to UAA but landed on journalism because she knew the professors were among the best and that it would be fun to explore while she finished her playing career.

“The friendships and family that you have when you play a collegiate sport, you’re always together, and we learn to love these people individually for who they are, and you just can’t make these types of relationships,” Osborne said. “They’re once in a lifetime, and I’ll remember these girls forever. From start to finish, we have just been together.”

UAA assistant volleyball coach and former Seawolves All-American Morgan Hooe has been coaching and mentoring Osborne since she was a little girl, and to be able to finish her career under Hooe’s tutelage is an aspect of her journey that she “couldn’t be more thankful for.”

A grateful parent’s perspective

It’s been fun for her dad to watch the youngest of his and his wife Staci’s five children finish out her college career back home, and at the same institution where he works and essentially raised her in.

“She is the baby, and we haven’t got a chance to watch our other kids play much in college,” Osborne said.

Their third-born, Kylan Osborne, played for Rusty for one season as a freshman in 2017-18, and even then, he didn’t get to watch as a parent because he was too busy coaching him.

“Kadyn coming back home for two years has been fun, to see her play here and follow for some road games,” he said. “It’s gone quickly, she’s made a good impact on her team here and had a great experience.”

Unlike most students who go to UAA after growing up in Anchorage, Kadyn elected to live on campus during the school year, and her parents fully supported that decision.

“We wanted her to have that campus experience so she’s been in a dorm both years,” Osborne said. “She’s with her teammates most of the time, but she’ll come over on the weekends and occasionally during the week and just visit.”

While he and his wife will miss going to support their daughter, they’ll “cherish the memories” they’ve made over the years.

Even though their respective practice schedules didn’t allow them to see as much of each other this year as they did in Kadyn’s first year back home, it was nice to be working under the same roof and representing the same colors.

“If I’m having a bad day, I’d just go in and say ‘hey,’ and he’ll give me a few tips or I’ll just sit there, have a little chat and then go to practice,” Kadyn said.

Kadyn is a stellar student with 4.0 grade point average, and when she walks the stage at the Alaska Airlines Center in the spring to receive her diploma, the Osbornes will be 5-of-5 on college graduates.

“You want them to work to make themselves have a better life and all of them have been really good students,” he said. “They’re all living successful lives and as parents, that’s what our goal is.”

Their oldest son, Sagan, coaches baseball and is the sports information director at Dickinson State University in North Dakota, where he played collegiately. Second-oldest son Austin graduated from Dixie State (now Utah Tech), works at UAA as the director of marketing and is the head volleyball coach at Service High School.

Kylan got his real estate management degree from UAA, and oldest daughter J.J. played two years of junior college volleyball and now is back in Anchorage working for a law firm and doing graphic design work as well.

“It’s crazy that I am the last one,” Kadyn Osborne said. “My oldest brother is 10 years older than me, and to think that 10 years ago, he was where I am now, is crazy.”