Senior Spotlight: Vanessa Gilly and Kayla Holden
Winston Roberts
AS the 2020-21 school year drew near, Vanessa Gilly was trying to find her way to Tennessee. Her home country of Venezuela had closed its borders and limited air travel options in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and her dream of playing college golf was facing a last-minute barrier.
“I don’t know if I’m going to make it,” Gilly recalls telling then-UT golf coach Judi Pavon.
Her luck changed in early August 2020, when the only flight out of Venezuela for several more weeks had an opening. The 18-year-old Gilly boarded a flight to Miami International Airport, where she would meet up with some family in the area before driving to Coral Springs, Florida, home of the Lady Vols’ other class of 2020 signee, Kayla Holden.
After one night, the duo – along with Kayla’s parents and her dog, Cherokee – embarked on a 13-hour drive to Knoxville that commenced what has been a four-year journey for the two golfers, roommates and best friends.
Coming from two different continents over 1,300 miles apart, Gilly and Holden learned firsthand about the differences in cultures from which they emerged. In Venezuela, for example, showing up to places 20 or 30 minutes late is the norm, and arriving early is stigmatized. So one could imagine Vanessa’s surprise when Kayla suggested arriving at 6:50 for a 7 o’clock dinner.
Still, their differences were glaringly overshadowed by the hunger they shared to constantly improve their games, as well as a mutual love for Tennessee that originated their first moments on campus.
“We did everything together that year,” said Holden of their freshman year. Even after the pandemic restrictions began to lighten, they still found themselves spending most of their time with one another. “Since day one, we’ve never had any issues.”
Holden took her first visit as a high school sophomore in Feb. 2018. One of Florida's top-ranked high school golfers, she wanted to take a logical, fact-based approach to her recruiting process to avoid getting attached to any one school. That changed once she visited Knoxville.
“You can feel the Volunteer spirit,” she said of her first impressions of Tennessee. “You know you are part of something bigger than yourself.”
Gilly, looking for a university where she could play golf year-round while also learning to play in cold weather, took her first trip to Rocky Top in 2019. It was the last college she would visit during the process.
“I canceled my other trips once I got here, because I knew I was coming [to Tennessee]. There’s no way a place could beat this.”
It was no surprise, then, that when the program underwent its first coaching change in over two decades in 2021, the pair never wavered, determined to build the program’s foundation of toughness, pride and gratitude.
“I think the main challenge for college players with a new coach is that they feel as if they weren’t recruited by this person. We had to start our relationship from scratch; that takes time, but these two ladies will be in my life forever and have a piece of my heart.”Head Coach Diana Cantú
Three years later, the Lady Vols enjoyed one of the most successful fall seasons in program history, spearheaded by their two senior leaders. The college game is different from other high levels of golf, where most time is spent alone, competing against the entirety of the field rather than with a team. But the two veterans are enjoying the camaraderie that team golf provides and view it as an opportunity to use their experience to guide their teammates – and each other.
Their involvement in the VOLeaders Academy has given them new perspectives on what it means to truly lead, both at Tennessee and beyond.
Purposeful people are people you want to follow, and are ones who embody servant leadership. #VOLeaders365
— Kayla Holden (@kaylaholden_) September 28, 2023
“When I got to Rocky Top, I was immediately impressed with the presence that both Kayla and Vanessa hold on the team,” said assistant coach Anna Newell, who joined the staff in August 2023 and had a successful golf career at Tennessee. “It was apparent that they look out for their teammates and keep a high standard for the team.”
A perfect example came at Forest Akers West Course in East Lansing, Michigan, home to the Mary Fossum Invitational. The second tournament on their fall schedule, the course is particularly tough due to its fast greens and narrow fairways. Vanessa remembers Kayla coming up to her before play started one morning to make sure the difficulty of the course was not halting her standards.
“She told me that just because pars will be good on a course like this, I should still be aiming for birdies and the pars will come,” said Vanessa. “If she had not said that, I might not have played as well. It’s just small advice like that that is clutch in the moment.”
Vanessa finished the tournament with 11 birdies and placed fourth, the best finish of her collegiate career. In their next tournament two weeks later, Kayla followed suit with a fifth-place finish, also a career-best.
Small adjustments to each other’s approach are the bulk of the advice they give one another. They have become so intertwined on and off the course that they can sense when something is off.
“They have a level of accountability that's hard to find in players,” said assistant coach Nic Robinson, who joined the program with Cantú in 2021. “They are both incredibly talented, so they have the skill to push each other, as well as their competitive spirit to drive them.”
Now, on the back nine of their collegiate careers, they’re beginning to prepare for life after Lady Vol golf. Vanessa has recently excelled for Venezuela, placing 2nd at the Women’s Amateur Latin America and 10th at the Pan American games.
“When I travel for Venezuela, I have good relationships with my other teammates, but not to that level. How well Kayla knows me, I know I can come to her about anything, and we can be honest.”Vanessa Gilly
They may have developed different ideas of what “on time” actually means, but the pair’s timing was undoubtedly perfect when they merged at Tennessee – perfect for each other, and perfect for a program which they are leaving better than they found.
