Owasso High School student and University of Oklahoma volleyball commit Carley Butler had to convince her mother, Ashley, to let her quit basketball a few years ago to play volleyball.

Neither have looked back since then.

“Part of the agreement was I give 100% to volleyball and she’d let me quit. And I did just that,” Butler said. “She’s been my biggest fan during this journey.”

Ashley has also been one of Butler’s greatest motivators.

“She’s always pushed me to be my best and give my all, even on days when I didn’t feel like I
could,” Butler said. “One of the biggest things is pushing me outside of my comfort zone. Sometimes I get nervous when I have to be around a bunch of people I’ve never met, but she’s never let that stop me. Once I’m there and participating in whatever it might be, I’m glad she pushed me and made me do it.”

Butler committed to Oklahoma in October of 2022. Butler had considered moving farther away from home for college. That was until she made the trip to Norman.

“It sounds cliche, but people always say ‘you’ll know when you step on campus,’ and it’s true,” Butler said. “I had been to a couple of camps before the recruiting process started, and I just loved everything about the campus. And when I went on my official visit, it made me love it even more. It just felt like home.”

When she isn’t playing volleyball, Butler enjoys spending time with friends or whatever activity she can get her hands on.

“I’ve recently started learning how to cook since I’m going to have to do that when I go off to college, and I really enjoy doing that. I also enjoy hiking, swimming, painting and long naps,” Butler said.

With her recruitment out of the way, Butler has a few personal goals to ace this season: perfecting her blocking, taking private lessons and scoring as many points as she can to help her team win.

“With the team, I’d like to help us get to state and win. I feel like we have every piece of the puzzle to make it happen,” Butler said. “As far as reaching that goal, we need to work on building team chemistry throughout the season and collaborate with each other to come up with a strategy on how we will meet this goal as a team.”