Raw talent, meet pure joy.
That introduction has helped turn what Skyler “Sky” Williams said started as a hobby into a passion, one that is blossoming just as she is on the volleyball court. Hawaii’s freshman middle hitter is new to the sport, picking it up her freshman year at Mayfair High in Lakewood, Calif.
Four years later, the newness hasn’t worn off. Williams is still excited and, as the Stan Sheriff Center crowd witnessed during opening weekend, exciting to watch, playing bigger than her listed 6-foot-1.
“Opening night felt so unreal,” Williams said as the Rainbow Wahine prepared for this week’s 30th Hawaiian Airlines Invitational. “I told Sophia (freshman middle Howling) to pinch me. I felt like I was dreaming.
“Seeing how happy the coaches were about how I was blocking made me more happy, seeing the hard work pay off.”
Williams impressed in her debut Friday against Marquette, finishing with 12 blocks, the most for a Hawaii player since Olivia Magill, then a junior, also had 12 in a 2014 match against St. John’s. Williams ended the Texaco Invitational with 21 blocks and 22 kills, quickly answering the question of how she would handle the bright lights and the roar of thousands of fans.
Her performance was heard by the Big West, which named Williams this season’s inaugural freshman of the week.
She cried when she got the news.
“It was tears of joy,” Williams said. “I wasn’t expecting it, not so soon or (to) even get it at all.
“Last weekend, I wasn’t overwhelmed, but seeing all those people freaked me out a little. The girls kept telling me to relax, tune it out, act like it’s practice. That’s what I did.”
The first-team All-Suburban League selection impressed her Wahine teammates with her poised performance.
“She plays with such joy, it’s pretty obvious with that big smile,” Hawaii senior hitter Kalei Greeley said. “She’s amazing, has a really great presence on the court. She really goes after it, and that’s hard to do when you’re a freshman.”
Williams played like anything but, according to her coaches.
“You don’t think of a freshman being the one to pump up the team, but she did,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said. “And for only to be playing for such a short time … it’s awesome. She picked up things over the last few days (of last week’s practices) and that’s why she got the start.
“I think nothing fazes her. If I don’t faze her, nothing will. She’s funny, energetic and very coachable. It’s always, ‘Yes, Coach. Whatever you need me to do.’ I asked ‘Sky, can you serve that ball right here?’ She said, ‘Yes, Coach, I can.’
“For her to have that confidence is awesome.”
“She soaks up everything,” said assistant Angelica Ljungqvist, a four-time All-America middle for Hawaii (1993-96). “She goes 110 percent all the time.
“You can tell she’s young in the game and you never know how a freshman will handle it, but I thought it was awesome, the way she took it all in. You could tell she enjoyed being on the court.”
Williams said Hawaii was always her top choice, a decision that didn’t change with the retirement of Dave Shoji.
“I wanted to play with the best of the best, be coached by the best of the best,” said Williams, who listed UCLA, Arizona and UC Davis as her other choices. “My club coach (former Wahine libero Alex Griffiths) told me what it was like to be coached by Robyn. To be coached by such a legend in volleyball (three-time Olympian, two-time All-American) I know I will only get better.”
The hardest adjustment, Williams said, is being away from her family. But she hears a little bit of home every time she is called “Sky.”
“It’s what my mom calls me,” she said. “That I am bringing it over here I feel like it’s her calling me. I like the name. It has a little more pizzazz.”
And it fits in with how well she jumps, an unofficial touch of 10 feet.
Hawaii had a rough start last week, opening 0-3 for the first time since 1980, and unranked for only the 11th week since 1982. Williams and the other Wahine look at their last match — a five-set loss to UCLA where they led 10-9 in Set 5 — as something to build on.
I’m excited for this week,” said Williams, cleared to play after tweaking her ankle slightly and leaving the match late in Set 5. “Sunday we showed who we are and what we can be.”
