The vision spanned two oceans and two decades.

When Robyn Ah Mow-Santos was asked about the potential look of her new staff — should she be hired as Hawaii’s new women’s volleyball coach — the Rainbow Wahine All-American setter wanted to reconnect with the player she had successfully connected with during their careers: Angelica Ljungqvist.

Ljungqvist, Hawaii’s first four-time All-American, returned to the Manoa campus from her native Sweden this week as the Wahine’s newest assistant, almost 20 years to day after receiving her political science degree.

“It’s really wonderful being back, it’s like coming home again,” said Ljungqvist, now using the traditional Swedish spelling of her surname. “It’s definitely a new feeling coming here as a coach, as an employee.

“I’m very motivated to get the job done. I’m here to do a good job and I’ll give it my all.”

No one who saw the 6-foot-3 middle blocker compete for Hawaii would expect anything different. Ljungqvist, the 1996 AVCA National Player of the Year, still ranks among the program’s leaders in career block assists (first, 623), total blocks (second, 743), block solos (second, 110), hitting percentage (fourth, .375), aces (fourth, 133) and kills (sixth, 1.570).

During her final two seasons, Ljungqvist helped Hawaii go 66-4 and a second- place finish at the 1996 NCAA championship. One of the most decorated players in Hawaii athletics, she was a two-time conference player of the year and was inducted into the UH Sports Circle of Honor in 2006.

Ljungqvist said she first spoke with Ah Mow-Santos about the potential job while Ah Mow-Santos was going through the interview process that might determine Dave Shoji’s replacement. A nationwide job search was announced in February in anticipation of Shoji’s retirement after 42 seasons although the position wasn’t officially vacant.

“She asked me if I’d be interested should she get the job,” Ljungqvist said. “It was a long process, a lot of things to approve. I wasn’t taking anything for granted and kept quiet, telling a very few of my very best friends. But once I had the interview at the embassy and they told me it was approved, I was pretty excited.”

After graduating in May 1997, Ljungqvist continued to play for both the Swedish national indoor and beach team. She played professionally indoors and on the FIVB World Tour.

For the past six years. Ljungqvist has coached the Vallentuna Volleyball Club while completing her law degree from Stockholm University. If she hadn’t been hired at Hawaii, the 42-year-old Ljungqvist said she would have begun practicing law.

Ljunqqvist said she ran into Shoji earlier this week at the athletic complex.

“Of course, he was very welcoming,” Ljungqvist said. “I’m looking forward to (the retirement celebration at the Stan Sheriff Center) this Sunday.”

Twenty years later, she still has vivid memories of Shoji at practice.

“For sure he’s had an influence on me,” Lungqvist said. “I picture him in Gym I, squatting down with that analyzing eye, seeing details that no one else saw. He was always making things better by adjusting things. Then during water breaks, he’d work on his golf swing.”

Ljungqvist is looking forward to getting in the gym with the Wahine players when two-a-days start in August as well as joining her former setter.

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said about the hire of Ah Mow-Santos. “For Hawaii to have one of their own product back as head coach, I think it’s fabulous. I couldn’t see any other better fit.”