Jacyn Bamis has played collegiate volleyball at two schools.
In today’s landscape of transfer portals and name, image, likeness deals, that is no longer considered a lot for a student-athlete.
Bamis’ more than 7,000 miles she’s covered from Spokane, Wash., where she played in high school, to Clemson, S.C., where she spent two seasons with the Tigers, to Honolulu, make her a seasoned veteran of travel.
Despite her lack of on-court time in a Hawaii uniform, appearing in only 12 sets last season, the Rainbow Wahine will need her to play like a seasoned veteran as the only returning middle blocker.
She was the only middle on the roster during the spring, forcing her to take every practice rep. That alone is the experience she hopes can carry her through the 2024 season that begins today against SMU at SimpliFI Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center.
“I would say I have and I haven’t (played a lot),” Bamis said. “Obviously after I transferred that whole year I wasn’t playing, but it helped having such two good middles (Amber Igiede, Kennedi Evans) that I could look after. I was always asking questions, always watching them when I was off (the court).”
Bamis also had to wait her time at Clemson, where she redshirted her first season. She made 15 starts at middle blocker as a sophomore and was second on the team in blocks per set, earning Atlantic Coast Conference Co-Freshman of the Week honors once.
She originally committed to the Tigers in part for wanting to play for a demanding coach who she felt would get the most out of her volleyball career.
That same desire held true two years later when she decided to make the move to play for Robyn Ah Mow.
“I just really liked how they explained what they wanted to look for in a player and how they wanted their players to have a hard work ethic,” Bamis said of the coaching staff. “Coach Robyn is an Olympian and has a lot of (accomplishments) to back her talk up, and that helped as well. Seeing that Amber was so successful here as a middle really drove me to choose here.”
Bamis, who lived in Spain for the first seven years of her life, has experienced a lot the world has to offer.
Her experience on the East Coast couldn’t have been any more different than living in Eastern Washington, which made the culture shock moving all the way to Hawaii before last season not as difficult.
Here, she has met people from every aspect of the multi-cultured life she has experienced along the way.
“I have met French people here, Spanish people, German people, Japanese, Chinese, all kinds of people,” Bamis said. “It’s great to see all of the different cultures in just one state.”
As much as she admitted to the spring helping her grow as a player both on and off the court as the only middle, Bamis was as happy as anyone to see freshmen Miliana Sylvester and Maddie Way, and junior Hawaii Pacific transfer Morghn Monahan, join the team for the fall.
This season is still a feeling-out process as she grows accustomed to her featured role on the team, while also understanding she has to serve as a guide and mentor to the fresh faces coming in.
“We’ve definitely gotten closer as double days have progressed and we’re obviously all there to help each other,” Bamis said. “Mili has also played with Coach Rob, so she knows her way of coaching as well, but just making sure they are good and we’re all good and making sure we all are holding each other to the same standard is important.”
Middle blockers
Jacyn Bamis 6-1 Jr. Spokane, Wash.
>> The only middle blocker on the roster during the spring season, Bamis took advantage of getting every rep in practice to set herself up for an important junior year in which she will be looked at to carry the load.
Miliana Sylvester 6-1 Fr. Honolulu
>> Head coach Robyn Ah Mow hasn’t shied away from calling Sylvester a potential “Amber 2.0” in reference to Amber Igiede. Big shoes to fill, indeed, and the transition to Division I college volleyball will take time, which UH doesn’t necessarily have with only one returnee.
Maddie Way 5-11 Fr. Santa Clarita, Calif.
>> In a similar position as Sylvester, the two-time, all-first-team league player at Sierra Canyon officially joined the team at the start of fall camp and had three weeks to prepare for possibly hearing her name called from the opening match.
Morghn Monahan 6-3 Jr. Lake Oswego, Ore.
>> A late addition to the program as a transfer from Hawaii Pacific, where she played 19 matches in two seasons, Monahan brings some much needed size, giving Ah Mow another option to see what she can get the most out of.
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