Yale Athletics

When No. 18 for Yale Volleyball counts her paces from the backline of the court and turns to face the net, the expressions on the faces of the opposing team fall. They inch backwards and let out the word “top” to let their team know what’s coming, or rather, who: Cara Shultz ’25.

Spinning the volleyball high off her fingertips and into the air, matching the drop with a calculated jump, Shultz’s swing sends the ball whizzing toward the opponent on a violent downward arc. This is the Shultz Serve.

In Glenmoore, a small town outside Philadelphia, Shultz grew up the second youngest of four girls. Like most of younger sisters, she imitated what her older sisters did, and when her sister Renee Shultz ’22 brought volleyball back home, Shultz took up the sport too.

“I would tag along at their practices, and while they were being coached, my dad would take me to another court and pass a ball with me,” Shultz said. “Neither of us knew what we were doing, but I loved it, and I begged him to let me play on a real team.”

A year later, Shultz mastered the underhand serve, which signaled to her dad that she was finally ready to play on “a real team.” For her, volleyball was love at first sight.

She described volleyball as a connector to her dad. To better help his daughters, he would watch old volleyball games and listen to Karch Kiraly talk about volleyball philosophy. He coached all of the Shultz girls in middle school and continued to help them with their athletic careers.

“I think he had fun with it, and it’s a big reason why I still have fun with it,” she said. “Even today I’m still able to talk about the sport with my dad, which is something I really value in our relationship.”

When Shultz was a freshman in high school, her older sister, Renee, committed to play volleyball at Yale. Shultz, however, wasn’t thinking much about recruiting yet. Instead, she was focusing on surviving freshman year. However, when her time to commit came around, she said, she “couldn’t imagine [herself] anywhere else but Yale.”

“Selfishly, I also really wanted to play on the same team as [Renee], as we’re really close,” Shultz told the News. “Or rather, I knew that I never wanted to play against her, as we’re both really competitive and I value our relationship too much to compete against her.”

Shultz committed to Yale in 2018. 

When she first arrived on campus, the COVID-19 pandemic had just peaked, so her first year on campus looked dramatically different from the Yale she had seen Renee experience.

After taking a leave of absence in the spring 2021, she returned a better volleyball player, but more than that, someone with perspective.

“I think in my first year I was so excited to play volleyball and so grateful to be here, and that was it,” Shultz said. “I’m still so excited to still be playing volleyball, and I am forever grateful to be a student here, but I also think I have a lot more perspective now. I’m very grateful to be able to have the opportunity to get a Yale education, and I now know that that will serve me for far longer than a volleyball career ever will. First-year me didn’t really understand that.”

Now, in her senior year, Shultz is a mainstay in the Yale Volleyball lineup. Her most consistent appearance comes when Head Coach Erin Appleman substitutes her in to serve.

Shultz’s serve, she says, is something she constantly works on. A product of her dad’s time playing volleyball at the YMCA, Shultz began to develop the serve during her second year playing volleyball at around 9 years old. She watched a few collegiate greats like Micha Hancock, taking notes from their play. Because of its uniqueness to the women’s game — with a lot of players opting for the control that float serves offer — her coaches encouraged her to keep practicing it.

She credits the help of Appleman, Assistant Coach Kevin Laseau and Assistant Coach John Post for their guidance on and off the court. She says together they are “the best coaching staff a team could ask for” and as a senior, she feels like she can “talk to them about anything.”

After 14 years of topspin serving, Shultz is one of the best in the game. She is currently second all-time in Yale history for service aces — 140 — with at least two games remaining in her final season. She is also ranked second all-time in most service aces in a single season — 59.

“Shultz’s serve is one of the greatest weapons we have,” Laseau wrote to the News. “It is really hard to pass and it puts a tremendous amount of stress on the opposing team, which makes teams easier to defend, which leads to great offense for us.”

Laseau also noted that her “fearless defense” and the fact that “she simply doesn’t stop” contributes significantly to the success of the volleyball team.

Captain Bella Chan ’25 echoed her coach’s words.

“Shultz brings so much energy to the team,” she said. “She’s animated, always cheering us on, and plays tenacious, fearless defense, never hesitating to put her body on the line. Our team gets fired up every time Shultz serves — she has one of the strongest serves in the league, consistently making a huge impact in our games.”

The Shultz Serve, though excellent, is not fool-proof.

“Boy when it fails, it is a spectacular failure,” she said. “I’ve had some embarrassing misses. When that happens, it’s important to remember the broader goal of playing volleyball — to win the game. You can’t do that if you’re consistently missing every serve. When I miss several top spin serves in a row, or the team needs me to be less risky with my serve, it’s as simple as me opting to go for a standing float serve.”

Chan wrote highly of Shultz as a teammate.

“Shultz has been a huge part of my Yale Volleyball experience. She’s always been a supportive teammate to me who motivates me to be better, and I’m grateful to share this last season with her.”

This team-above-self character is more than evident in the way Shultz speaks about her teammates.

“The team has become like a second family to me,” she said. “I love each and every girl on our team so much, and I know that we are all so close with each other. We’ve done and been through so much together, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Shultz is 17 service aces away from being first all-time in Yale Volleyball history. She’ll play next against Columbia University in New York City on Nov. 15.