Bio:
Height: 6’ 2”
Year: Junior
Position: Outside Hitter
Hometown: Encinitas, California
High School: Canyon Crest Academy
Previous School(s): University of Oregon
Career Highlights:
– Two-time All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention (2016, 2017)
– 2017 Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention
We sat down and interviewed the newest outside hitter for the UH Wahine volleyball team, Jolie Rasmussen. She is excited and happy to be apart of the team because of all of the new friends she’s made and the team’s culture.
Q: What made you transfer from Oregon?
A: “I just needed a change in scenery. I’ve been there and been injured for so long that I was always in this rut of injury and I just needed to get a fresh start and reinvent myself as the player I wanted to be, as opposed to the player that was injured all the time. So, I needed to step away, figure out who I was, and just make a new start is something I wanted to do.”
Q: What do you hope to contribute to the UH team?
A: “I hope to be a point scorer. I hope to get kills. I hope to be someone that they can rely on to just throw the ball up to her and she’ll do something with it. I want to be there for them, whatever they need, I want to be able to fill that spot. Whether it’d be a calming person, or the one that gets them going, or someone just to encourage others, I don’t care. I just want everyone else to do their best and push them off to the championship. That’s the goal.”
Q: What is the team capable of this year?
A: “We can be really good. I wanted to come in Spring so we can immediately make an impact and already I’ve seen how much people have grown and improved in what we’re capable of and that’s with a limited number of players. So, having this freshman class and then Bailey Choy transferring in, I think we’re going to be really good. We have a lot of potential and I think we have the work ethic. We met two of the freshmen yesterday, and I think we’re going to be so good.”
Q: Future plans?
A: “I want to go overseas. I want to play pro for as long as possible then… I don’t know, life. Maybe, coach, I feel like I’ll end up coaching, that’s what all volleyball players do. I’m a mathematics major but I don’t know what I’m going to do with that. I’m just taking classes and doing math.”
Q: What is an interesting fact about yourself?
A: “Oh my God, I’m a Disney fanatic! I grew up watching them on the VCR, and I can probably quote every single Disney movie. Anytime there’s a Disney movie on or even like Pixar, like we were watching The Incredibles the other day with my friends and they’ve never seen it, and I was just line-for-line. They were probably thinking, ‘This girl’s weird.’”
Q: What made you pursue volleyball?
A: “In my freshman year (Of high school) I went and played, and we made it to the championships at CIF, and it was just so much fun. I was like this, this is what I want to do, and from then on I never stopped. I like the team aspect, it’s so fun getting to compete. Like swimming was such an individual sport, but I loved doing relays because I love doing things with other people and having them do it for you. In volleyball, you’re passing so your setter can look good and your setter is passing so that you look good, and then you want to make that perfect pass so that your middle can run their offense. It’s like a selfless story and that’s what fun about it, it’s you get out of what you give to others and I just think that’s so cool.”