"5ft 6in Wrestler Lucas Byrd Shows Size Isn’t Everything: Engaged to 6ft 2in Volleyball Star Ellie Holzman!"

IT’S a non-negotiable for many woman but Ellie Holzman has proved that dream men don’t always need to be tall.

The 6ft 2in former volleyball star recently got engaged to NCAA champ Lucas Byrd who is 5ft 6in – despite previously having her reservations about dating someone shorter.

The couple first hit the headlines when Lucas, 25, won his first NCAA Division 1 title last year with a thrilling win over Drake Ayala. Cameras caught him running straight into the arms of his girlfriend, also 25.

“Love knows no boundaries, certainly not height,” play-by-play announcer Mike Couzens said, before the moment wen viral on social media.

One X user said: “5’5 on paper, 6’7 in spirit,” while another dubbed Lucas Ellie’s “pup”.

Their love story has now entered another chapter – the duo, who met in January 2020, recently got engaged.

Walking hand in hand along a scenic waterfront path with mountains rising in the background, former volleyball star Ellie shared the beautiful engagement photos from , Italy.

The romantic shoot, with Lucas looking smart in a navy suit teamed with a polka-dot tie and Ellie oozing elegance in a strapless white gown, has since sent social media users into a frenzy.

fans cheered the union with lighthearted posts about taller future kids and Lucas’ ‘short king victory’.

In 2022, the couple posted a storytime video explaining how they met and their journey going from friends to dating. Lucas and Ellie had their first interaction at a bar six years ago just before hit.

“We did meet at a bar. That’s kind of cliché,” Ellie told the BIG10 Network about the night she first met NCAA wrestler.

“I was like, ‘You kind of look like Harry Potter a little bit,’ and the conversation just kind of flowed,” said the former star.

When the two – both from University of Illinois – were sent home during the outbreak, they spent a lot of time getting to know each other by FaceTiming and talking on the phone.

What started as a platonic relationship turned into something more romantic two years later when Lucas and Ellie realised there were feelings involved, according to Her Campus .

While they were trying to keep their relationship private at first, the couple slowly became more public, posting date night and challenge videos on TikTok.

Although their affection was strong, the former volleyball star admitted that the stereotypical expectation for the man to be taller affected her in the beginning.

The 25-year-old said: “It did take a little while for me to get over it, maybe like a couple of months,” she said.

“Once I got over it like it flourished into this, like a, beautiful thing,” Ellie continued.

“Lucas and I kept our relationship a little bit more private just because we didn’t want other people’s opinions affecting how we felt about each other, at least in the beginning while we were still trying to figure it out.

“For me personally, to get over it, I stopped putting value into the opinions of people who I don’t even know their first name.”

Some of their fans have even recognized the couple on the street and thanked them. “We’ve had people come up to us that have said my boyfriend’s shorter than me and you guys helped me get over that,” Lucas recalled.

Ellie was a highly accomplished high school volleyball player, winning Gatorade National Player of the Year for the 2018-19 season, but injuries forced her to medically retire in 2022 after playing at Illinois in a limited fashion.