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121 homey when we were leaving that we kind of all knew this is where I wanted to go." Louis cancelled the other four visits and arrived on Iowa's campus in May. She completed two summer school classes and will have two remaining years of volleyball eligibility. Louis has five siblings and a "huge" extended family that includes hundreds of cousins. "Some I haven't met yet," she said. "We have family all around the world — in London, Jamaica, Canada — it is huge. My immediate family, we would sup- port each other because we live close in Illinois — go to each other's games and make a ruckus, be- cause we were always the biggest family there." Louis became a cheerleader because her brother played football and she wanted something to do other than sit in the stands and watch his games. She played basketball, but aer sustaining a knee injury as a junior in high school, she decided to focus solely on volleyball. Even then, she was play- ing catch-up in a sport that most of her peers had begun playing several years before. "I have only been playing seven or eight years, so the sky is the limit," Louis said. "ere is always something you can get better at. ere is always something that can be polished. I feel I can get as good as I want to." Shymansky guided the Hawkeyes to one of the best seasons in program history in 2016 when Iowa fin- ished with a 19-13 record and a 9-11 mark in Big Ten play. It was the program's first winning season and most conference victories since 2000. Similar to the improvement of Iowa volleyball, the rise for Louis has gone from clumsy to dominant. "I want to up my game a little more because I know I can," Louis said. Still, her primary focus is playing team ball and it hasn't taken Louis long to fit in with the rest of the Hawkeyes. "If you aren't getting along on the court then there is no way you can achieve any of your team goals," Louis said. "Teams with better chemistry do better — it's like any relationship, and it is the most im- portant thing to me."