For Lexi Van Eekeren, committing to the University of Hawaiʻi women’s volleyball program is more than the next step in her athletic career. It is the realization of a dream that began years ago from the stands of the Stan Sheriff Center.
Growing up, Van Eekeren watched her older brother, Jackson, compete for the Rainbow Warriors. Those moments shaped her goal of one day wearing the Green and Black herself.
“I think it’s a cool thing because not a lot of people can say, you know, they watched their brother since they were eight years old play volleyball here, and people can’t say they played the same place they did,” Lexi Van Eekeren said. “Hawaiian volleyball, it’s so different than playing for anywhere else, because you’re playing for more than just a program, more than yourself. You’re playing for a culture, you’re playing for Hawaiʻi as a whole. The support system you have is crazy — the aunties, the uncles. You’re playing for so much more, and I think it’s a really cool experience and it’s something really special.”…