SPOTLIGHT: Unfinished Business

Former volleyball standout Angela Lowak is leaving Aggieland, but the May 2017 graduate still has unfinished business.

Approaching two years since she suffered a gruesome knee injury that all but ended her collegiate volleyball career, the outside hitter has signed a contract to play professional volleyball for VC Kanti in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
 
"Playing professional volleyball was definitely not a strong desire that I had throughout my college experience," Lowak reflected. "I was pretty much set on having a good college athletic experience and then graduating and starting a career. I always wanted to do well in school, so even throughout my injury my senior year, I still thought that was going to be the path. Then that summer going into my fifth year of school, God just put a desire on my heart to play.
 
"I can truly say that if the injury had not happened, I don't know if I would be pursuing this route. I didn't have the injury and think, 'that's okay because I'm still going to play professional volleyball.' Then during the summer going into my fifth year, I just felt like my volleyball career, it hadn't ended. There was still some playing to be done. It was basically that I still have more left in the tank. That is all it was, and I'm ready to give that extra that's left in my tank."
 
The New Braunfels, Texas, native began the 2015 season as a two-year returning starter, and the senior co-captain was leading the team with 3.22 kills per set before she dislocated her left kneecap in the first set at Florida State on Sept. 18, two matches before the start of Southeastern Conference play. Lowak elected to put off surgery until the end of the season, but due to the injury she could only watch from the bench and cheer on the Aggies as they went on to win the program's first-ever conference championship.
 
Throughout the season, Lowak was undergoing a rigorous and challenging physical therapy program to rebuild her strength. She eventually returned to practice late in the season wearing a bulky brace on her left leg, which to most was a not-so-subtle reminder of the injury she suffered that fateful September day, but she nonchalantly looked at it only as an extension of her jersey.
 
 
The once high-flying Lowak refused the sympathetic gesture to be put in the match on the Aggies' Senior Day at Reed Arena, insisting that she earn a spot on the court through her performance in practice, just like what was required of all her teammates. With Lowak providing encouragement and energy from the sidelines, the Aggies went on to record their first-ever win against perennial power Florida in Texas A&M's final home match of the regular season.
 
The Aggies ended the regular season riding a 14-match win streak and were selected to host NCAA Championship first and second rounds. Lowak made her first and final return to the court in the first round, much to the delight of her teammates and the home crowd. She went on to post two kills in four attempts in limited action in the Aggies' sweep over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
The Aggies' season and Lowak's collegiate career came to an end in a loss to No. 7 Hawaii on Dec. 5, 2015. Lowak, who received the Most Inspirational Player award at the team's end-of-season celebration dinner, had knee surgery after finals, and the business honors major was content to focus on her coursework, graduate in May 2017 and then join the professional business world. That game plan made a dramatic change six months later.
 
"Going into the summer before my fifth year, I could maybe jump three inches off the ground," Lowak explained. "I was cleared as far as the different physical activities I could do with my knee, but I was so far away from being in a position to play again physically. Yet I made the decision to try and play professionally, and I told myself, 'ok, you can do this, but you just need to hit it super hard.'"
 
She spent the rest of the summer and fall working out in the weight room, telling herself over and over to get strong so that she could meet her goal of returning to the volleyball gym in January. Texas A&M associate head volleyball coach John Corbelli also put her in contact with Bring It Promotions, an agency that helps place players on professional volleyball teams, particularly teams located in Europe.
 
 
"I got a lot of help from John Corbelli," Lowak said, "and I also reached out to Ray (Raychelle Ellsworth, associate director of sports performance for volleyball) who provided me a strength and conditioning program, and Erin (Boyette, athletic trainer for volleyball), who in that beginning phase made sure I was ready to play again. I had their help, but as far as going and doing the training and workouts, yeah, I had to take a lot of ownership. Instead of someone telling you to be at practice or be in the weight room, you have to make yourself do it. And then when you see results, it is really encouraging."
 
Lowak knew she had an enormous task in front of her, and it was especially evident early in her return attempt.
 
"At first it was tough because I got into the weight room and I couldn't even squat the bar. Slowly but surely I started to see progress, and that was encouraging. I had a few setbacks but stayed on track and in January I started to get in the gym again. Naturally you go at it a little tentatively, but it was staying patient with the process and then seeing small breakthroughs that made my dream of playing professionally seem like a reality."
 
Lowak continued to make progress, but there wasn't much information coming from the professional placement agency. Finally just weeks before she was set to graduate, Lowak got a voicemail from her agent saying there was interest from a team in Turkey. Excited to receive her first bite, Lowak gave it much thought and consulted with her family but she said the offer didn't fully evolve. Then her last week of classes, she received a message from the team in Switzerland.
 
"I immediately called the agent and he said, 'listen, if you don't take this offer, you are crazy because it is a perfect fit for you,'" Lowak said. "That is really important, because I have learned in the process that you have to find a fit. I then immediately called the coach. He was great. We facetimed on Facebook. He went ahead and offered me, and I could just tell right away that was exactly where I wanted to go."
 
Lowak, who also had sought out advice from former Aggie volleyball players Jennifer Banse and Tori Mellinger, who both played professionally in Europe, credited Texas A&M coaches Laurie and John Corbelli for preparing her for this opportunity.
 
"Playing at A&M has completely prepared me for this next chapter," Lowak said. "I am so grateful for Laurie and John because they are both great coaches and they laid a really good foundation for me. They coach fundamentals, which are so important abroad. And then of course there are the intangibles that I learned, such as leadership, being a good teammate, being selfless and those types of things. My coach in Switzerland has already talked about how important those intangibles are and that he could see the intangibles on my film. So knowing that those are important makes me really happy, because I like being a good teammate and that matters to me. I take a lot of pride in that.
 
"In the beginning I didn't know if I could get into the playing state that I was in before the injury, and I think that I am there. I still have so much work to do, but I am ready to peak—an opportunity I didn't get because of the injury. I don't want to just meet that level that I was at before my knee injury. I want to be even better."
 
When asked what she was most looking forward to, Lowak emphatically and without hesitation blurted, "Competing!"
 
"When I tell people I'm going to play in Switzerland, everybody gets excited because Switzerland is so beautiful and they say that I'm so lucky," she added. "I know I am lucky to be going to such a beautiful country, but actually I am just so ready to compete and play volleyball wherever it is, and I plan on playing as long as my body will let me."