SAN ANTONIO – Putting together a roster is much like working a puzzle. It takes numerous pieces, all different and unique, to come together in just the right way to reach the end goal.
This past May, UTSA Volleyball head coach Carol Price-Torok found herself missing the final piece of the puzzle heading into the 2025 season. She knew it would take a special person to complete her team for the upcoming year.
“We had a late transfer in the May portal and we needed to try to pick up another player,” Torok said. “It was a little bit scary because it was so late. We didn’t want to add just anybody.”
Enter Brooke Elliott, a 6-foot right-side hitter from Indianapolis, who had played two seasons at Liberty University before stepping away from the sport. She completed in beach volleyball last season, while earning her bachelor’s degree in healthcare management and graduating cum laude. Elliott wasn’t sure she wanted to return to the court indoors. Both parties were looking for the right fit.
“Brooke was trying to figure out if she was still going to play and she was being strategic who she was talking to,” Torok said. “We got on a phone call, and we got her down here. We hit it off right away with who she was, what goals she wanted, what we needed to get accomplished and how she could help her team not just from a volleyball standpoint but from a leadership standpoint.”
The opportunity to move to Texas and play for the Roadrunners intrigued Elliott. Her father, Charles, grew up in the Houston area and she was used to visiting her grandparents in the Lone Star state. In addition, several of her friends had moved to Texas and spoke highly of their experiences.
“UTSA was a pretty easy pick for me,” Elliott said. “Location was huge for me, just being able to be in Texas and support the City of San Antonio and have the chance to get my master’s degree from such a notable university. The high level of competition that you get at UTSA and in the American Conference is something that really wasn’t a difficult choice when the opportunity arose.”
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Elliott first started playing volleyball when she was 10 years old and began competing at the club level about a year later for Munciana Volleyball, one of the nation’s most renowned programs. One of the first of its kind, Munciana debuted in 1974 and has produced hundreds of collegiate players and many college volleyball coaches.
“My time at Munciana I would not trade for the world,” Elliott said. “I’ve played with some of the best athletes. Getting that training and that upbringing in that environment has really pushed me to become the athlete that I am today. I still have my coaches from when I was 13 and 14 years old in the back of my mind and I still hear them harping on the small things. It was a grind, but I am so grateful to have been brought up that way and to have played with so many wonderful athletes that I get to watch and stand in awe of today.”
Not only did she play in a competitive environment growing up, but she lived in one as well. Her brother, Tex, played football and the two constantly pushed each other.
“We used to do training together, so we would race all the time,” Elliott said. “Him being a football player, we could get into it a little bit and it was really fun. As much as we would compete and kind of go at it, we were always there to support each other. I would go to his games as much as I could and him to mine growing up in high school. It was so nice having another athlete in the house but knowing that we’re more than that and having a shoulder to lean on.”
There was a good amount of crossover in Elliott and her brother’s careers as collegiate student-athletes with Tex playing football at Colorado State and Furman, completing his eligibility last fall for the Paladins.
“My brother has been one of my biggest cheerleaders my whole life, but he’s also the reason that I have the competitive nature that I have today,” she said. “I have looked up to him and seeing his drive and overcoming so much adversity through his collegiate career. He was someone I could turn to when I was in a storm, when I was battling things that he had already gone through.”
Elliott had a distinguished high school career, earning recognition as the No. 1 middle blocker in the state of Indiana, as rated by PrepDig, in 2020, after leading her team to a 2019 IHSAA State Runner-Up finish in 2019. She earned recognition as an AAU All-American as a high school sophomore, was a three-time AVCA Phenom and directed her Munciana team to the 2022 AAU National Championship.
“I’ve played with so many incredible teammates,” Elliott said. “I think having people by my side that have supported me and helped us get to those championship points and playing on a big stage definitely help me being in a competitive conference like the American. All those steps that brought me to this point are things that really drive me and push that mindset to get more championships. I’ve been comfortable in that environment before, so I want to help this team get to that point.”
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Elliott saw action in 34 matches during her time at Liberty, where she excelled both in the classroom and on the court. She helped her Flames team to the 2022 Atlantic Sun regular-season conference championship. Elliott was selected to both the 2022 ASUN Presidential Honor Roll and the 2023 Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
She stepped away after two seasons, but the opportunity to play beach volleyball last year helped sharpen Elliott’s skill set in advance of her transfer to UTSA.
“Beach just strengthened the mental piece of the game so much for me,” Elliott said. “There’s so many fundamentals that wouldn’t really think would help with indoor volleyball, but it just being you and one other player on one side of the net, a lot of pressure falls to you. There’s no subs to take you out, you can’t hide in the corner of the court and you’re touching every ball. That really helped me elevate my game on the court with five other players standing next to me.”
Versatility was one of the aspects of Elliott’s game that first caught Torok’s eye. The fourth-year UTSA head coach has found Elliott’s experience with beach volleyball has equipped her with unique tools as she’s approached the 2025 season.
“Beach is so hard; you’re responsible for so many things, just you and your partner,” Torok said. “You have to cover so much more ground and you have to do so many more skills in beach, so I think that’s something that’s been very beneficial.
“She can jump in and do serve-receive reps, she does defensive things, sometimes she serves for us, she can do multiple different things,” Torok continued. “She played middle growing up and some right side, so she’s just really, really versatile.”
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While Elliott’s vast skill set makes her distinctive as a player, Torok also found her leadership qualities highly appealing. It’s just another way that Elliott has seamlessly filled a gap on this year’s squad.
“I think the best thing about Brooke is her leadership,” Torok said. “One of the reasons we recruited her is just the experience that she’s had indoor and in beach. She wants to lead; she wants to show up for her teammates and she’s a learner. She wants to get better, she asks questions, she talks through things, and she doesn’t ever get too ahead of herself. I think that’s really good for our young players to see.”
This year’s Roadrunners’ team features 12 players who are either freshmen or sophomores. Elliott has embraced her role as both a veteran and a leader.
“I just like to be a role model for my teammates around me and I think that’s both on and off the court in so many different aspects,” she said. “There’s a lot of intangibles that mean a lot more than I think the younger players realize right now. That’s something I had to come to realize too. You kind of see that as you get older so, hopefully, I’ve been a role model to them as well as being a great teammate. That’s top of my list. I just want to be there for them and hope that they can do that when they are seniors one day.”
Elliott has played in all 20 matches this season for UTSA, turning in a standout performance for the Roadrunners in their sweep of East Carolina on Oct. 19. She charted 11 kills on .524 hitting in that match to complement six digs. Even when she’s not on the court, Elliott is a vocal leader for her teammates.
“You always hear Brooke, and you always see Brooke,” Torok said. “It just shows how much she’s giving back to her teammates and how committed she is to making sure we’re doing things the right way.”
Elliott is pursuing her Master of Business Administration degree at UT San Antonio’s Carlos Alvarez College of Business, one of the 40 largest business schools in the nation. Combined with her undergraduate degree, she aspires to use her MBA to help her pursue a career in healthcare management. The opportunity for internships in her chosen field that are presented by San Antonio being the nation’s sixth-largest city was particularly intriguing to Elliott.
In every way possible, she has seen herself develop as a person and player since first arriving at UTSA, something she credits to the culture in which she competes and studies.
“I have grown so much,” Elliott said. “I feel like the first few years of my collegiate career I was a little stagnant and I couldn’t see a lot of character development or player development. Being here only a few months, I am a different player for sure and a different leader on the court. And I definitely think that I’ve changed as a person, as well. I owe all of that to our amazing staff, support staff and, of course, my teammates who just embody friends and players that I love to be alongside every single day.”