UTSA Volleyball's Miranda Putnicki inspired by university’s rapid trajectory

SEPTEMBER 4, 2024 — UTSA Volleyball sophomore Miranda Putnicki was born in San Antonio, but never could have imagined herself becoming a Roadrunner.

Putnicki’s parents, Thaddeus and Melanie, both hail from the city and two of her uncles, Billy and Mike, played baseball for UTSA during the 1990s. Growing up in Gunter, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Putnicki had an outdated perspective of the university, which has been on an impressive trajectory in recent years.

“When my family grew up here, UTSA was a commuter school and we didn’t have a football team,” Putnicki said. “Now, we have all these amazing sports really growing; the growth is exciting. I came on my visit and it’s in a completely different part of town from where my family lives. It’s really nice and there’s so much to do. It’s been great to have my grandparents and my cousins 15 minutes away coming to my games and supporting me. I really enjoy it.”

“I always knew about UTSA, but I didn’t really know. Being a part of it is really awesome.”

The hire of head coach Carol Price-Torok in December 2021 also made a big impact on Putnicki’s decision to play for UTSA.

“It was the vision she had for the program,” Putnicki said. “I know there was a rebuild that was needed. Our new commits coming in and the people she was recruiting, I felt like they all had the same goals in mind as I did. And I knew Carol had a lot of faith in me and what I could help bring to the program.”

Putnicki joined the Roadrunners in the spring of 2023, graduating early from Gunter High School. At Gunter, she helped lead her team to a Texas University Interscholastic League Class 3A State Championship her senior year. She was a four-time academic all-district selection and a two-time District 11 Blocker of the Year. Putnicki holds Gunter High’s all-time career blocks record with 450.

Despite her early arrival in San Antonio, Putnicki’s opportunities on the court were delayed by injury and illness.

“I was recovering from a back injury last spring,” she said. “And then I got mono, so I was also recovering from that. I finally was able to get some playing time in the middle of the season.”

When former teammate and starting middle blocker Katelyn Krienke suffered an ab strain midway through the year, Putnicki entered the lineup and made a strong impact.

She immediately set the school modern-era record for blocks in a four-set match with 12 in a road match against Memphis. That earned Putnicki American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors, marking the first time a UTSA player had earned that accolade since the Roadrunners joined the league.

“I had been working really hard in practice throughout the whole season,” she said. “I feel like I work well under pressure, so when it’s a tight game and I’m thrown in, I try to do my best within my role on the team.”

Several weeks later, Putnicki suffered a season-ending ACL injury. Her average of 1.52 blocks per set in limited play would have ranked fifth in the NCAA last season if she had met the national statistics minimum for sets played.

“I’m really hoping I got everything out my freshman year and it’s smooth sailing the next three years,” Putnicki quipped. “I really rely on my teammates and I kept thinking about the playing time I did get and the impact that I made. Keeping that in mind was what pushed me to get through my rehab.”

Putnicki, who is majoring in marketing with a minor in sport management from the UTSA Carlos Alvarez College of Business, has been playing volleyball since elementary school, but didn’t participate in club volleyball until she was 16.

“I didn’t really start taking volleyball seriously until my freshman year of high school when I made varsity,” she said. “Then recruiting was happening and I started to think about playing in college. The beginning of high school was when I really started to focus on volleyball and grow my love for the sport.”

Spending the better part of the past year away from the court has only strengthened Putnicki’s love for the sport.

“I realized volleyball is a big part of my life,” she said. “My roommates, my teammates, I’m really close with them. Having such strong relationships is really helpful being away from home, so I relied a lot on that.”

While her path to UTSA may have once seemed improbable, Putnicki is now one of the program’s best ambassadors. She looks to make a big impact in the 2024 campaign.

“It’s really cool to be here and be so close to family,” she said. “I always knew about UTSA, but I didn’t really know. Being a part of it is really awesome. It’s something I would have never expected five years ago.”

— Sean Cartell