Playing volleyball in the Stan Sheriff Center is an experience like no other. Olivia Magill discovered that last season … and she was playing AGAINST the home team.
"It was like nowhere else I’ve played," said Magill, who was named to the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Challenge all-tournament team as a sophomore middle for Arizona. "It was so much fun. We kept saying to each other, ‘This is really cool.’ "
Magill will get to experience that for the next two seasons on Hawaii’s side of the court, the 6-foot-2 blocker told the Star-Advertiser on Monday. The Fab 50 selection out of Seattle Prep is expected to vie for the starting spot now open following last week’s announcement that sophomore Jade Vorster is graduating early and will play at Liberty as a graduate student.
Magill, who has relatives throughout the state, has visited Hawaii often. However, she said she grew up wanting to play in the Pac-12 and being at Arizona allowed her also to play in front of her family when the Wildcats played at the University of Washington.
"I thought UH was too far away," she said. "I grew up with my family very close by, my grandparents live on our cul-de-sac.
"I think I’ve matured since then, grew up, and decided I wanted to transfer to an elite program, some place different than the Pac-12. I really liked Hawaii."
The timing worked out on a delayed basis. When Magill initially contacted the Rainbow Wahine coaching staff, there was no scholarship available; Vorster’s decision soon after changed that and Magill was given her release and is eligible immediately.
Magill led the Wildcats in blocks in each of her two seasons, 104 when she earned honorable mention on the Pac-12 all-freshman team, and 119 last season when she also hit a team-best .335. Against the Rainbow Wahine last September she had six kills, hit .357 with four block assists en route to all-tourney honors.
As for Vorster, an all-Big West middle as a freshman, she will have two seasons to play at Liberty alongside her younger sister Sirena, a 6-2 middle/hitter. The two played one season together in high school.
"She is my best friend and it’s always been a dream of ours to play together in college," said Vorster, who graduates in May with her chemistry degree and plans to pursue her master’s in public health.
