We’re proud to be a part of an ongoing partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is sponsoring our Player of the Week award. We’ll be releasing a featured vballrecruiter.com Player of the Week, sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, on Tuesdays. Below is this week’s Player of the Week: Keoni Williams.

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With a loss to Fossil Ridge in bi-district play at the end of October, the 2023 high school season came to a conclusion for Keoni Williams and her Boswell teammates. While the defeat came sooner then the Pioneers would have liked, it did shift Williams’ focus and attention fully to the upcoming club season.

Williams – a 6-4, 5-star middle blocker from the Class of 2026 – has excelled during the club portion of the calendar in recent years. She’s coming off a gold medal performance in 15 Open at the USAV Girls Junior National Championships this past summer playing with Skyline 15 Royal. The year before she finished runner up in 14 Open playing with Frisco Flyers. That was after winning it all with Frisco Flyers in 13 Open in 2021.

“It’s been really great these past few years being on top teams,” Williams said.

This past summer presented a rare occurrence where Skyline squared off with Mintonette Sports m.51 in both the 15 Open championship matches at AAU and USAV. While Mintonette captured the gold in Orlando, Williams and Skyline extracted revenge by claiming the gold in Chicago.

“It was tough after AAUs because we felt good and were playing well,” Williams said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game and we felt we could’ve taken that one. After we just had to make sure we didn’t get distracted and look at what we did wrong in case we did face them again. Mintonette is a really good team. When we came to USAV we knew we had to stay calm and do what we needed to do to get the win. When we got that last point it was a crazy feeling. It felt great coming back and getting that win.”

Williams will aim for a fourth consecutive Open finals appearance this coming season as she suits up for Skyline 16 Royal. One of the challenges is overcoming the roster changes that took place. Williams is one of six returners combining with seven newcomers.

“I’m really excited for this club season,” Williams said. “I’ve been looking forward to it even during the high school season. I’m going to keep working on myself and focus on my conditioning and blocking and really closing out. We are ready to have a great run this year.”

The high school season for Boswell kicked off at the Ann Kang Invitational in Hawaii in August. The Pioneers faced a challenging slate, going against nationally-ranked teams in Sierra Canyon CA and Cornerstone Christian TX, as well as eventual California Open Division state quarterfinalist Huntington Beach, eventual Texas 5A semifinalist Lovejoy and host ‘Iolani.

“I’ve never been to Hawaii before,” Williams said. “It was really fun. We went to the ocean everyday and took lots of pictures. The volleyball was something. There were crazy good teams who hit well and play great defense. The first day we played Sierra Canyon and they were pretty good. It was tough playing those teams but it was really good to see what we needed to work on for our season.”

With her father, Mike, playing basketball oversees, Williams grew up around sports and “was always traveling with him.” Williams started settling down around 11 and was leaning more towards basketball at first than volleyball.

“It was between basketball and volleyball, but I was talking with my aunties because they played volleyball in college,” Williams said. “When I started volleyball it was really hard at first. I just kept working and working at it and then I just played volleyball from there. I did some basketball in middle school a little bit but I stopped.”

As our featured Player of the Week sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, we recently spoke with Williams about volleyball and more.

Who is a role model or someone you look up to?

Williams: I don’t really have a volleyball role model. But I do watch volleyball to see what other middles are doing like Asjia O’Neal. I watch how she’s fast out to the block and the ways she’s able to score. I try to look at it as though it’s me versus me. Every time I step on the court I’m just focused on working on improving. After the game, I’ll look at what I did and didn’t do, like not getting off the net quick enough or I wasn’t very effective on offense. Then the next time I’m watching to make sure I do get off the net quickly and working hard on making myself available so I am able to produce.

If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would you do and why?

Williams: If I could do anything for a day, a while back I saw a massive go-kart place that opened in Massachusetts (Supercharged Entertainment). I would want to go there with my friends and ride go-karts with them. I really love going out and doing stuff. That would be fun.

Other than volleyball, what skill would you most like to learn and why?

Williams: I would definitely love to master the skill of basketball. To feel the energy and intensity and be a part of that I think it would be fun. I think it would be really fun to have the ball passed to me and I bully my defender a little bit then go up and get that point and score.

Do you have any volleyball superstitions and if so what?

Williams: The only superstition I have is I always wear two pair of socks, even with my ankle braces. I always have two pair of socks and my teammates make fun of me. They ask why do I have two pair of socks on? I don’t know, I just always did it when I was younger.

Aside from basic necessities, what is one thing you could not go a day without?

Williams: I couldn’t go a day without talking to God and being his word. I can’t go a day without God. He’s one of my best friends, if not my best friend. The word of God is something that I can’t go without.

What is one thing that instantly makes your day better or makes you smile?

Williams: There is a lot, but one thing is when I wake up on a school day and I’m getting ready I think about practice after school. I really look forward to that. It’s always fun to go to practice and be with my teammates and our coach. He’s so funny.

What’s your favorite way to have fun?

Williams: One of my favorite ways to have fun is just going out. I love going out. I’m not someone who likes staying in. I love going out and doing something fun with my friends and family. Just going outside doing a fun activity and then maybe get some ice cream after to top if off.

Outside of volleyball what are you most passionate about and why?

Williams: Outside of volleyball I’m really passionate about my faith and getting closer to God. I’m always studying his work and living through him. I’m really passionate about my faith in God.

What is one thing that may surprise people about you?

Williams: One thing that is really surprising to everyone is that I stay up really late, even on school days. I know that’s bad but I stay up to like 3. I stay up so late and I know that would surprise people a lot.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?

Williams: I haven’t ever thought about where I wanted to live. But if I could live anywhere I would want to live where it’s pretty and I can take pictures and be able to do something every day and explore where I live. I don’t know exactly but I would want to live somewhere like that.

Would you rather be stuck on a broken ski lift or in a broken elevator and why?

Williams: I would probably say a broken elevator. I know there could be a lot of people and it might be hot, but on a ski lift I would be scared being up that high in the cold and what if something pops? So I’d rather be in a broken elevator than that situation.

What’s your favorite number and why?

Williams: My favorite has always been 7. There is something about 7 I have always loved. I know it’s a God number. I’m number 1 in club. One is also one of my favorite numbers but 7 has always been my favorite.