Focused On The Details – California Golden Bears Athletics

On the volleyball court, freshman Maggie Li is unmistakable.
 
At 6-foot-3, she is one of the taller members of the California volleyball team and plays with the air of an established veteran. Her confidence when she launches herself into the air, arm cocked back for a big swing, is enough to make one’s breath catch and then escape in a rush when the ball finds a bare spot of floor.  Next comes a whoop from the ponytailed young woman as she throws her index finger toward the ceiling – the mark of another successful kill.
 
Off the court, Li is just as unmistakable.
 
Almost never seen without a smile, she is engaging, enthusiastic, eager. She becomes slightly bashful when her own accomplishments are brought to the forefront of a conversation, always choosing to express admiration for her teammates and the energy they create to inspire her.
 
“It’s a very positive environment,” she said of the Cal program. “The mentality is contagious.”
 
That admiration goes both ways.
 
 “She’s honestly one of the most hardworking players that I’ve ever met,” teammate Ashley Li said.
 
After just one weekend of play and an All-Tournament nod, Maggie was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week – the program’s first such honor in five years. One week later, No. 3 had done it again. The next week, again. In the entire history of Pac-12 volleyball, no other freshman had started the season with three straight weekly awards.
 
Born Li Xuemeng, the first-year Golden Bear from Beijing has been around volleyball her entire life – like Maggie herself, her mother, Sheng Chunyuan was an outside hitter for the Chinese junior national team.
 
“It wasn’t a goal of mine to be on the national team like her – it just happened,” Maggie said. “I’ve probably been playing since around third grade on the team that my mom coached.”
 
Still, Maggie did not solely focus on volleyball for quite some time. She was both an avid tennis player and swimmer and considered bringing at least her tennis game to the next level in her younger years.
 
That changed once she realized something vital about herself.
 
“I felt lonely playing tennis,” Maggie said with a laugh. “I like to be on a team, that’s why I chose volleyball.”
 
Maggie committed to Cal in December 2022, two months before interim head coach Crissy Jones Schoonderwoerd joined the Bears’ staff. The first Zoom call between the two, as incoming freshman and new assistant coach, stands out clearly in the latter’s…