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Indiana's top volleyball 2027 recruit commits to Final Four program: 'This is where I belong'
Carsyn Comer was ready to commit on the spot.
It was June 15, the first day college coaches were permitted to contact high school juniors and the Westfield middle hitter's first video call of the day was with Louisville volleyball coach Dan Meske.
Comer has been following the Cardinals since she first started watching college volleyball. They were her first love, she said, recalling the team's Sweet 16 run inside the Omaha bubble in 2020, and the 32-1 Final Four run and 31-3 national runner-up finish that followed.
"I loved the campus, the coaching staff and the amazing environment and culture when I was at their camps," Comer told IndyStar on Thursday morning.
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Comer branded Louisville as her "dream school," so when Meske offered her a scholarship, Comer was ready to cancel the rest of her calls and end her recruitment right there. But her parents didn't want her to make any rash decisions and neither did Meske, who encouraged her to take the other calls and promised the offer would still be good in a few days.
There were a few other schools Comer may have considered, she said, but they either never reached out or, in Penn State's case, the coaches contacted her to let her know they had signed another middle. "That was another sign of like, 'OK, this is where I belong,'" she said.
Comer completed the rest of her calls Sunday then committed to Louisville later that same day, choosing the Cardinals over Michigan State, Creighton and Purdue.
"Getting that offer from Louisville right away showed they really wanted me," she said. "This is where I want to be."
College coaches first began scouting Comer late in her 14s club season, then after attending a number of camps last summer, her recruitment really took off. The rising standout assumed the coaches were scouting someone else when they first started attending her matches, but as more and more kept stopping by, she realized she was actually one of the primary draws.
"That was really crazy," she said. "Like, 'Wow, some of these colleges are actually interested in me.'"
The high-interest in Comer is certainly warranted.
Ranked 22nd nationally and No. 1 in the state by Prep Dig, the 6-3 middle built off a strong freshman campaign in 2024, totaling 79 solo blocks (103 total), 293 kills (.445 hitting percentage), 124 digs and 37 aces. She has nearly 500 career kills and over 170 career blocks (130 solo).
Comer described herself as a very offensive-minded middle and is focused this summer on improving her blocking, reading the setter and hastening her reaction time, even if it's just getting her hands to get a touch and not a stuff block.
"As you get older, the game gets faster, but sometimes in high school, it can be a little slower depending on who you're playing," she explained. "I want to implement those things at a slower pace than what I'm going to experience, so I can slowly build it back up for club then college."
With respect to Louisville, Comer said Meske talked with her during that initial call about some of the things he noticed with her blocking and explained how they would help her improve it and stylize it to better fit their system in a couple years.
Meske also told Comer he wants to have four middles within the program and while she still has two more years of high school to develop, it's likely none of the four middles her freshman year will be returning starters, so everyone will have a chance to compete for one of the top two spots.
"I really trust Dan and know he's going to do amazing things with this program," Comer said of Meske, who was hired to replace Dani Busboom Kelly in February. "He's such a good coach. He's super transparent with all his players and he works to get you where you need to be. He has a plan for everything."
