Volleyball All-American Nyla Shepherd Moore, who led LSU to Final Fours in 1990 and 1991, is a member of the 2023 LSU Athletics Hall of Fame induction class and will be formally enshrined at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, September 22, at the Manship Theater in downtown Baton Rouge.

The other members of the 2023 class are legendary women’s golf coach Karen Bahnsen; eighteen-time track and field All-American and football wide receiver Al Coffee; women’s tennis All-American and 2007 SEC Player of the Year Megan Falcon; NCAA discus and shot put champion Danyel Mitchell; Jim Hawthorne, the “Voice of the Tigers” for over 30 years; and Dr. Sam Nader, who worked as LSU Football’s recruiting director and supervisor of operations during a brilliant 46-year career.

 

Playing volleyball in the 1980s and 1990s was challenging for a talented collegiate student-athlete. The NCAA women’s volleyball division was still a new creation, with the first champions being crowned in 1981.

However, outside hitter Nyla Shepherd Moore embraced her role and cemented her place in LSU history by leading the Tigers from 1989-1991 to consistent success with a combined win-loss record of 99-17 that featured three consecutive SEC Tournament championship titles and back-to-back NCAA Final Four appearances in 1990 and 1991.

Shepherd Moore demonstrated Hall of Fame talent since high school. She is one of the greatest high school athletes from Mobile, Ala., and has been inducted into the McGill-Toolen High School (2013) and Mobile Sports Halls of Fame (2019) as a dual-sport athlete playing basketball and volleyball. In high school, Shepherd Moore was part of a volleyball team nicknamed “The Dirty Dozen” that posted a 222-9 record with four consecutive state volleyball titles. She was also part of an undefeated state championship basketball team at McGill-Toolen.

LSU was thrilled to have an athlete of this caliber join the Fighting Tigers, and Shepherd Moore saw the importance of being part of a program close to home with some of her high school teammates, such as Monique Adams and Carla Berry.

“I decided to go to LSU after doing recruiting camps and visits,” Shepherd Moore said. “Another factor was my high school coach, who was extremely influential and would tell my teammates and I to try and build a program in the South so our families could come and see us play, compared to most successful volleyball programs at the time on the West Coast.”

Though widely known for her success in volleyball, Shepherd-Moore was a dual-sport athlete at LSU and played basketball before focusing solely on volleyball.

Unlike her high school volleyball program, LSU did not have immediate success in Shepherd Moore’s freshman season. That lack of success taught Shepherd Moore how to handle adversity and the challenges of succeeding in a new program.

“Dealing with adversity early in my collegiate career helped me as an adult and taught me to never settle for mediocrity,” Shepherd Moore said. “I consider myself an overachiever and always strive for success. I attribute my success to my high school coach and my parents. My parents instilled a sense of a hard-work mentality, and my coach tried to push me as hard as she could to get the best results, which I try to do in my everyday life.”

Shepherd Moore’s commitment to overcoming adversity began to pay off as LSU appeared in the 1989 NCAA Volleyball Tournament. One of her most significant moments in the tournament came when LSU trailed Houston 2-1. Shepherd Moore led the team with 21 kills on a .354 hitting percentage to mount a comeback victory.

In 1990, Shepherd Moore helped LSU rally against Texas in the NCAA Tournament and pulled off the reverse sweep after trailing 2-0. That victorious effort advanced LSU to the Final Four for the first time in program history, and the Tigers returned to the Final Four in 1991.

When her career concluded at LSU, Shepherd Moore was the program’s record holder with 1,735 total kills, a record that stood for 30 years before being broken in 2021 by Taylor Bannister. Shepherd Moore currently ranks No. 2 all-time at LSU in total kills, No. 3 with 149 career matches played, and No. 9 all-time with 430 total blocks.

Shepherd Moore’s impact went beyond collegiate playing career through her involvement in starting the initiative to sponsor girls for club volleyball and AAU basketball.

“I coached club volleyball and realized volleyball was a hefty, costly sport, so I presented this idea of a non-profit 501c organization,” Shepherd Moore explained. “I started the women’s sports initiative with a parent of one of my players. The goal was to allow young ladies to receive a scholarship and play sports beyond high school while pursuing a degree. They had the opportunity to raise money by laying courts during volleyball tournaments. All of the kids I sponsored received full scholarships.”

One player in particular, Brianna Reid, went through Shepherd Moore’s non-profit and graduated from LSU Law School in 2020.

Today, Shepherd Moore, who earned an Accounting degree at LSU, is the Director of Credit for Crane ChemPharma & Energy in The Woodlands, Texas. However, she has never lost her love for volleyball, as she acts as a referee in the SEC and the Big 12 while managing club volleyball tournaments in Houston.

“It feels surreal to be inducted into the LSU Hall of Fame,” Shepherd Moore said. “I feel I deserve it, but it wasn’t a one-person operation. I am humbled and thankful to God and my teammates for being chosen as the second volleyball player behind Dani Reis in the LSU Hall of Fame.

“Dani was my teammate and best friend, and I am thrilled to share this honor with her. However, this is not my award; it is a collaborative effort, and I believe all my teammates should be in it. I never viewed myself as the best. I just worked hard and did my best.”