Two days into the practice season of her redshirt sophomore year, Morgan Stout picked a volleyball cart up over her head and threw it out of frustration.

That was Ashleigh Houlton’s first impression of Stout when she was hired as an assistant coach for Wichita State in 2022. And Houlton said she “loved it.”

“I think that some players like Morgan might make some coaches uncomfortable,” Houlton said. “Personally, I love it. And the thing about her … is you can definitely tell, in a match, in a practice, post-match, post-practice, if she’s upset, she wears it all on her sleeve.”

Stout, now a senior middle blocker in her final year of eligibility, was described in a variety of ways by her coaches: “freak athlete,” “rare talent,” “super emotional,” “loud,” and that she “burns really, really hot.”

Wichita State fans can see those aspects of Stout on Sunday afternoons and Friday nights, whether she’s racking up double-digit kills and blocks in a game or storming off the court after an error.

But there’s another side of Stout that fans might not see: “dependable,” “pure,” “gentle” and “not scared of anything.”

It’s a fusion of both aspects of her character that has allowed Stout to blossom from a raw but athletically gifted project from middle-of-nowhere Kansas to the emotional centerpiece of the Wichita State volleyball team.

Childhood talent

Stout said she always wanted to pursue Division I athletics but thought it would be in basketball.

It wasn’t until her freshman year at Nickerson High School that Stout “developed a love” for volleyball.

“But I could definitely feel like my skill level was not the same as or even better than people around me, like my peers,” she said. “And I was like, ‘What am I going to have to do to build up my skill level?’”

Stout said she had her mind made on becoming a Shocker from the beginning, despite being pursued by other teams. Wichita State head coach Chris Lamb said Stout is a rare type of talent.

“She’s just one you don’t get to have very often,” Lamb said. “It’s been so much fun to be part of her development.”

Proving herself

On her first day of practice at Wichita State, Stout said then-senior middle blocker Emma Wright told her she can “jump really high.” That’s when she realized she had real athletic ability.

After her first year was wiped out by injury, Stout made an instant impact in her redshirt freshman campaign with 141 kills and 89 blocks.

She slipped a bit during her redshirt sophomore season, with many rate-based stats like kills and hitting percentage declining as the Wichita State team improved around her. That jeopardized her role on the team and also had an impact on her mental health.

“I thought I had proved myself to the coaches on why I should play,” Stout said. “But in reality, you can prove yourself (so) that the coaches should keep you in, but if you don’t perform, they don’t have a reason to keep you in. So that was one of my goals for my junior year … I didn’t want to be replaceable.”

Houlton said the spring before Stout’s junior year was “almost dedicated to her development,” with specific training to get the best out of her as a middle blocker.

The coaches worked with her to improve her hand contact with the ball, volleyball IQ, decision-making and accuracy. Stout said that often translated into frequent “exhausting drills.”

The work paid off. Stout’s kills per set jumped from 1.28 to 2.42 and her hitting percentage from .178 to .347 that season.

“Stout’s the kind of person that if you back her into a corner, she’s going to start throwing punches,” Houlton said. “She’s definitely not going to roll over and die.”

Competitive spirit

Stout goes through emotional highs and lows on the court. When she leaps for a kill, her physical prowess is immediately evident as she soars above the net. 

She reaches back and crushes the ball in a manner that makes one almost feel sorry for the player who has to attempt to return the ball on the other side.

When the ball hits the floor, she usually screams, either in celebration — Stout said she tries to get in her opponent’s head — or frustration with a miss. 

“When her competitive spirit is rubbing really high, I think she’s playing at her very best, but it’s visually loud, and it’s auditorily loud,” Lamb said. “I mean, she’s not going to pull punches. She’s going to be as authentic and raw as anybody out there. And she brings the fans to their feet with that kind of commitment. I mean, everybody knows she’s giving it all she’s got.”

Stout said her competitive spirit was nurtured in games against her family and at her elementary school in Fowler, Kansas. The school had a graduating class of around five people.

“We’d be playing dodgeball against, like, sixth graders, and I’d be in third grade … or some kids would be playing flag football and pushing each other over,” Stout said. “And I was just that girl that was pushing guys over and stuff.”

Houlton and Lamb said they relate to Stout because they were similarly wired as young athletes. Houlton’s mentors in high school and college helped translate that competitive fire in a positive direction, something she’s worked to do with Stout.

“I’m automatically more attracted to coaching the player that is completely out of control, is a bull in the china shop, and you’re having to kind of shape their craziness, rather than create any sort of urgency,” she said.

On the bench

Because of how Wichita State rotates its lineups, Stout always gets subbed out of a game after the other team scores a point. Houlton poked fun at Stout’s typical routine when she walks off the court.

“It’s always like, some expletive, storm down, plop down, get up, walk to the end of the bench, come back, plop down, and then she’ll cool down,” Houlton said. “So … she is never happy if we lose a point, and she’s never happy if she has to be out of the game, so she just sits there and is absolutely on fire until she gets to go back in.”

Stout said she tries to move on to the next play when she makes an error, but she admitted that sometimes the emotions “get the best of me.” Pointing to her head, she said the most important aspect of being great is “up here.”

“I’ll just get stuff blocked, and I’ll be like, ‘That was my fault,’” Stout said.

Wichita State’s coaches have worked with Stout over time to redirect her frustration in a positive direction when she’s sitting on the bench. Houlton said she tries to use language that ensures Stout thinks about the remainder of the game rather than the mistake she just made.

“I think there’s a lot of players in this game that, they’ll come out and they’re scared to go back in and be the person that makes a difference, that is responsible for winning or losing a game,” Houlton said. “But yeah, usually the conversation is, ‘You’re fine. Let’s be ready to go back in and make an impact.’”

‘People should lose their crap sometimes’

If you want to know how a game is going for the Shockers, you usually just need to watch Stout’s body language on the court. That’s why Houlton said the Wichita State team’s emotions “go with Morgan.” It’s a role Stout’s embraced.

“I told her, I think that when you kind of unravel on the court, you look like something’s wrong,” Houlton said. “Your teammates look at you, and they’re like, ‘Crap. This is not good.’ … But when she carries herself in a way where they look at her and realize, ‘Stout’s OK, I must be OK, too. We can do this.’ So I think she has really embraced the idea that she has so much … impact on everybody.”

Stout’s relationship with her teammates is a process for both parties. Lamb said Stout is better now at “understanding the bigger picture” and having patience with her teammates. On the other hand, other Wichita State players have to learn how to work with Stout.

“She burns really, really hot,” Lamb said. “Not everybody is always comfortable around hot. So people need to learn how to understand her. But she also needs to understand her teammates. So they need to share in that, and to cooperate, sharing that dynamic together.”

Stout said players often come to talk to her when they’re angry because they know she understands what they’re going through.

“If I see one of my teammates is losing their crap, I’m like, ‘Yeah, valid,’” Stout said. “I think people should lose their crap sometimes.”

As a person who often projects her emotions outwardly, Stout said she’s “used to being judged for being so competitive.” That’s why she appreciates her coaching staff understanding her desire to win — while also being willing to reel her in at times.

“Sometimes people are like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s a mess, she doesn’t have her head on straight,’” Stout said. “Well, yeah, no shit. We’re losing. You know what I mean? So I just love the fact that I have a very supportive team and coaching staff.”

Houlton and Lamb pointed out that Stout is usually harder on herself than on her teammates. Houlton said her investment in winning is “deep.” She has the same expectations for those around her.

“I don’t think the rage and desire to absolutely annihilate (people) across the net ever goes away,” Houlton said. “But I think when she has a good balance of kind of rage, urgency, a little bit of grace for herself, and just the understanding that the other five people on the court are after the same thing as her, that’s when she really is in her groove.”

‘The most pure, gentle human on the planet’

Houlton recalled yelling at Stout one day during practice and watching her respond by storming toward the coaches. Houlton initially thought Stout was going to punch or yell at her. 

Instead, she sat down and told Houlton that she understood the feedback and would “do a better job.”

That’s the aspect of Stout that fans might not see. Off the court, Houlton describes her as “the most pure, gentle human on the planet.”

“I think that’s the most impressive thing about her, is she’ll always come around,” Houlton said. “I tell her teammates that she’s probably one of the most dependable people I’ve ever met, in terms of, just, you know she’s going to figure it out, whether it’s in the middle of a match or from an emotional standpoint.”

Stout’s ability to figure it out has come in handy this season. With the departure of most of Wichita State’s top point-scorers over the offseason, Stout has been forced to carry a greater offensive burden. Wichita State’s opponents often key their defensive gameplans around stopping her.

“I’m expecting to get blocked,” Stout said. “I’m expecting to make hard, driven-out errors, because … I’m going to have four hands in front of me. I’m going to have people behind the block who are even ready for it. So I have to mentally prepare myself, like, ‘OK, I’m going to get wrecked this game.’”

Stout started the season struggling for efficiency but began a tear in the middle of October. She’s hit over .300 in five consecutive games, a run that includes a career-high 22 kills and 10 blocks against the University of Alabama at Birmingham and an American Athletic Conference offensive player of the week award on Monday.

Lamb said Stout’s consistency has been a sign of maturity as she’s learned to “recognize success over a longer period of time.”

“It’s hard to be uber-successful all the time when everybody’s doing everything (they) can to slow you down,” Lamb said. “So sometimes having a good match is actually a great match because you’ve required them to give up resources to deal with you.”

Lamb said there’s “no limit” to how good Stout can be. Houlton called her a “top-five human” and recognized the player’s impact on her personal growth.

“People around the country have got to be kicking themselves that they didn’t go reach into the depths of middle-of-nowhere Kansas and try to find this freak of an athlete,” Houlton said. “But, yeah, it’s pretty cool … And I just, I hope, more than anything, that she has the best second half of the season as she possibly could. (Because) nobody works harder.”