On the surface, Emily Maeda’s Rainbow Wahine career would be easy to define by all she is not. Fittingly, to fully appreciate what she has become — particularly in this final season and beyond all logic — takes a lot of work.

The 5-foot-6 Roosevelt High graduate, who was a hitter the first 10 years of her volleyball career, has become an integral, invaluable part of eighth-ranked Hawaii’s surge to the postseason the past three years. Over her five-year career, she has refined her athleticism and abundant faith to give the Wahine what they most need from her — passing, defense, serving and a calming influence rooted in her religious nature and innate kindness.

"I’m going to miss her kindness on the court," said Emily Hartong, a junior co-captain with Maeda, UH’s lone senior. "When you’re kind of stressing out you look to Em. She’ll only talk to you real quick. You’ll be down and she’s just, ‘OK, OK, next ball.’ She’s just a really good person, a part of this team that brings everyone together."

Teammates call her a "big sister" and coach Dave Shoji defines her simply as "a gentle soul." Those few words speak volumes. Through all Maeda has taken on — and mostly mastered — in Manoa, her gentleness has remained a constant.

She is not the starting libero for Hawaii, which closes the regular season tonight at 8 against UC Riverside. Maeda has morphed into her own position since Ali Longo transferred in this summer and almost immediately filled the libero, or full-time defensive slot.

Longo might be the best thing that ever happened to Maeda’s volleyball career.

"It took the pressure off her," Shoji said. "She felt a lot of responsibility last year and I think it bothered her. I don’t think she was ready to play six rotations and all the attention on the libero. She is much more comfortable in this role. She has taken it and run with it and become a really good right-side defensive player. She’d never played right-side defense before, she was always on the left side, so she’s just learned that position this year and given us so much."

All she has, with all the faith she can find. It is the only way Maeda knows.

"In past years there have been times I’ve been nervous and afraid," she admitted. "This year it still comes up sometimes, but I’m just reverting back to knowing it’s all going to be OK because of who my faith is in. That’s given me so, so much calmness this year."

Shoji said he had no idea why Maeda, a full-time hitter in high school, thought she could play for him initially. She wasn’t sure either, despite a volleyball resume that started with a second-grade PAL league and included a decade of club play complemented by a few years as Wahine floor wiper with former teammate Elizabeth Ka‘aihue.

"I never really envisioned myself playing at UH from a young time," Maeda said. "I just wanted to make it to the next level. I was like, I just want to make it on the Roosevelt team."

Over the course of three weeks of open gym the summer after she graduated from Roosevelt, she convinced herself and Shoji she could play for him. Her athleticism was obvious and the coach could already sense how hard she would work. Shoji told former assistant coach Ryan Tsuji to give her the good word.

"Ryan gave me a thumbs-up after open gym was done," Maeda recalled. "I was very happy. My parents always come to open gym so they were there. After, I just screamed with them and yelled. I was very happy."

Maeda won’t leave — in a week, or two, or three — with any individual records or immensely memorable statistics. She has played in 93 matches, including all but one the past three years. she has 577 digs and who knows how many perfect passes, but her most important contributions are intangibles.

Off the court she is even more difficult to put into words. Her teammates prepare for matches by listening to loud, pulsating music. Maeda prefers something slow and soothing. She speaks openly and often of searching for the type of faith that will allow her to put her full trust in God, which she believes will free her to play to her full potential and provide her teammates with all she can offer.

She finally decided to go all in before her final season. "I’m trying my best to follow God in all aspects of my life," Maeda said. "It’s kind of hard to follow Him, it’s not easy. I think my prior years I wasn’t as mature to make that decision to fully follow Him in all aspects, especially off the court. That’s a big one for me, knowing I’m giving it my all off the court translates on the court too."

Maeda has no regrets about her final year, calling it her best by far in every area of life.

"I’ve been really trusting God this year as much as I can," she said "With that, it’s just made it so much more enjoyable and really fun. I feel at peace when I play because I know it’s going to be OK because God has already planned it all out. There’s a good future for tonight’s game, the rest of the season, the rest of my life, so I’m just trusting in Him and really knowing it’s going to be OK when I step on the court. This season has been really, really good."

She will be honored after tonight’s match with a senior program she promises will involve the whole team. Then she will move on with her life, past a Wahine volleyball career that "magnified everything — it makes the tough times tougher and the good times even better than you could imagine."

She graduated with a degree in social work last June and should have her master’s by fall, when she already expects to be working with "at-risk older adults." The youngest of five sisters watched her parents serve as caregivers for their parents and wondered what happens to those without that support. That will be Maeda’s next challenge.

"She has learned how to persevere through all the trials she went through," her mom, Jennifer, said. "She’s learned how to focus on what she really wants."

And, along with everything else, Emily has figured out how to have fun.

"Maybe I learned that it’s not all about the performance, but just more about having fun …," she said. "If I knew in the beginning of my career what I know now, things would have been more fun along the way — if I’d trusted God the whole time. But you know, if I didn’t go through what I did, this last year wouldn’t have been so awesome."

Trusting isn’t easy. It took Maeda four years in Manoa to give it a shot. Now she couldn’t be happier.

Shoji is right there with her, enjoying the defender who "seems to clean up everything that comes her way" and the tiny former hitter who "maximized her athletic ability and just wouldn’t go away, basically."

For that, all the Wahine are thankful.

"She’s just the nicest kid," he said. "A hard worker, great student. A fairy tale really. You look at her life and she has really shaped herself. She is pretty much all self-motivated, self-made."

It takes a lot of hard work to create a career made memorable by intangibles.