Pittsburgh volleyball standout Ryla Jones finds her edge in Native American identity

In a sport of inches and instincts, Pittsburgh's Ryla Jones draws strength from something bigger. The inaugural Native Student-Athlete Summit illuminated her Cree and First Nations roots, and she's seeing that connection elevate how she competes in volleyball.

"It just lit a path for me," she said. 

Finding her circle

Jones arrived at the summit curious and left with community. She'd always felt the pull of her mother's roots in Canada. The summit, held at the NCAA national office in June, turned that pull into purpose and people.

"It created a community for me and a circle that I could just run back to when I want to just dive deeper into my Native side and some traditions that I want to get more into," Jones said. "I have so many more people in my corner now and so many people I can turn to when I feel like I want to just be more involved."

Conversations about tradition sent her back to childhood memories of dressing in regalia and attending powwows. The summit also widened her understanding of the diversity within Native communities and how she fits. 

"This was like a great opportunity for me to learn about so many more tribes and so many more things I've been missing out on," she said. "It just made me so happy because I feel like there's so many other parts of me that I was able to discover and so many other people that I was able to meet. I just feel like it just helps me feel more whole." 

Jones' Native connection stretches back generations in Manitoba, through the Fisher River Cree Nation and Peguis First Nation on her mother's side. Trips to see her grandmother in Canada laid a foundation she's now building on. 

"I would be always around my family in Canada just trying to learn all about my heritage," Jones said of her childhood. 

The more she leans in, the more one theme keeps surfacing.

"I continue to realize how much the community is full of love and how we're just always taught to treat everyone with kindness and respect everyone," she said. "I feel like that's something that we all carry out through life." 

Representation as a performance edge

Jones, whose father is Black, connects her diverse identity to performance and presence.

"In a room full of people who don't look like you, it's hard to be confident about who you are and your values," she said. 

Jones wants more athletes who stand out and aren't afraid to be who they are, especially Native American and Black girls who might be scanning the room for someone like them. The through line is confidence, she said, and how it frees you to play your best. 

"The more confident you are about who you are and your values and where you come from, the better you play," she said.

Native American representation in college sports is rising, which Jones said makes visibility matter even more. In 2024-25, there were 2,364 Native American student-athletes across NCAA divisions, up 35% since 2014-15, with women's volleyball up 28% in that span.

Her advice to that next wave stays simple on purpose. 

"Be authentically you. You're created the way you are for a reason," she said. "If you're not being who you are, you kind of get lost … but just being authentically you is the biggest part because living that way you're finding so many more communities and so many more people who help you be yourself and live a better life." 

Family ties to college sports 

Jones comes from a family built by college sports. 

Her mom played basketball at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba and professionally overseas. Her dad played basketball at Maryland. Her oldest sister, Rainelle, played volleyball at Maryland; her brother, Reis, is a senior basketball player at Charleston Southern; her sister, Ria, rows at Drexel; and her twin sister, Renee, plays volleyball at Arizona.

The siblings' competitiveness, Jones said, sharpened everyone's edges over the years.

"Obviously, I'm the best (athlete)," Jones said, laughing, "but the family aspect made us all just compete more in our own respective sports and then it made us all want it more for each other and for ourselves.

"My parents were the first in their families to go to college. They paved the way for us, and they made us want it more for each other. We just connected through sports. It was something that we all shared a love for, and our parents just passed that down to us," she said. "The more love that we have for each other also comes from the sports that we play and how much we want to see each other succeed in our sports." 

Why Pitt fits

Jones said she chose Pittsburgh because the program feels people-first. Coaches recruit to values, not just verticals, and the locker room functions like a family you can always run back to, she said. Alumni filter through in the summer. Practices spill into youth camp sessions, and relationships matter as much as reps. That's her sweet spot — a community that invests on and off the court.

"Obviously it's a great program," she said. "We train really hard and we're able to find success in what we do, but I feel like the people is what makes it just a beautiful program to be a part of.

"The coaches, they're really specific in who they recruit and the people that they're recruiting because what we value means a lot to us," she said. "We value relationships. We value being a family and just making sure our program is something that you can always run back to."

The staff's belief in Jones has been a safety net for her confidence. When a practice goes sideways or a match stings, coaches are always waiting on the floor for extra reps and follow-up work. Film sessions lead to follow-up phone calls, open doors and specific plans to rebuild her psyche before the next serve.

That steady backing — from head coach Dan Fisher, associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Kellen Petrone and the rest of the staff — has helped her translate potential into production and made it easier to play free.

"I mean Kellen and Fish made it really clear that they believe in me and that they have confidence in me and what I can do," she said. "Even when I had bad games or had a bad practice they were always there after, helping me get extra reps so I can feel confident and so I can prepare the best that I can for the next game.

"Without someone who believes in you, it's kind of hard to perform your best, and they always made sure that I was going to do everything that I can to perform my best."

NCAA tournament lessons

Pittsburgh's recent volleyball run is historic. The Panthers have reached four straight NCAA semifinals — 2021 through 2024. Jones experienced the most recent one as a freshman, part of a No. 1 seed that advanced to Louisville, Kentucky, before falling in the national semifinals. 

The journey was equal parts exhilarating and inspiring for Jones, who started 34 of 35 matches as a freshman, ranked third on the team in blocks and earned Atlantic Coast Conference All-Freshman honors. 

"I wasn't really sure what to expect the entire time because there are so many new places that we went, so many more teams that I've never played before, but it just made me even more excited for the future," she said, as Pittsburgh (19-3) looks equipped for another deep run in the 2025 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship. "Even though (last year) didn't turn out how we wanted it to and we didn't get the final win that we wanted, I just feel like it made us all want it even more. We learned so much from that season. I'm just really excited to see what we can do this year."