Hawaii women’s volleyball: Brooke Van Sickle rides to the rescue
Brooke Van Sickle didn’t think she’d be playing over the weekend.
The junior hitter only just returned to practice with her Hawaii teammates on Thursday from a knee injury that’d caused her to miss three matches heading into the week’s games against UC Riverside and UC Davis.
She warmed up for Friday’s match against Riverside, but wasn’t needed, as the Rainbow Wahine made quick work of the lowly Highlanders despite not playing all that well.
Sunday was a different story. The Wahine dropped the first two sets to the Aggies on the night of the 25th anniversary celebration of the opening of the Stan Sheriff Center — and it didn’t look like a fluke. They were getting straight outplayed with two of their rehabbing offensive weapons, Van Sickle and Jolie Rasmussen, still riding the bench.
“I wasn’t expecting it, really. But when they were like, ‘OK, you’re in (for the third set),’ I’m like, ‘OK cool, I’ll do everything I can,’ ” Van Sickle said. “Like, ‘I got you guys.’ ”
Junior hitter Brooke Van Sickle helped spark #HawaiiWVB to a reverse sweep over UC Davis, returning from a four-match injury absence. pic.twitter.com/ZADqrJwCxY
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) October 21, 2019
Got them she did in UH’s reverse-sweep victory, 22-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-17, 15-12. Van Sickle had seven kills, eight digs and two service errors in providing the spark the team and the crowd needed to enjoy their proverbial cake — or literal cake in the case of the food fight that ensued on the court once it was rolled onto the court postgame.
The 5-foot-9 Oregon transfer made it clear afterward that she hates two things: sitting out and losing. She managed to avoid both.
“It’s really hard, especially, I just wanted to help the team out as much as I can,” Van Sickle said. “I’m super glad to be back. Obviously I have to keep up with my knee and everything, throughout the season and for the rest of my career. But it’s definitely worth it because I don’t like sitting out.” She laughed.
No. 22 UH’s Big West championship hopes survived, just barely, as they rallied from 11-9 down in the final frame to move to 6-2 in conference play (16-3 overall), a half-game behind leaders Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara at the midpoint of the league schedule.
Team depth has been tested frequently since Rasmussen first went out with a foot injury against West Virginia on Sept. 12, then Van Sickle against UC Irvine a couple weeks ago.
Van Sickle was heavily bandaged on her right leg Sunday. But the competitive-by-nature player who can play almost every position was still able to a little bit of everything once she got out there.
Coach Robyn Ah Mow knew she could count on her energy.
“We needed her to play,” Ah Mow said. “She did. She did good.”
#HawaiiWVB coach Robyn Ah Mow and middle Sky Williams weighed in on the impact of Van Sickle’s return. pic.twitter.com/SG8L8nhewR
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) October 21, 2019
Said junior middle Sky Williams (10 kills, five blocks), “I think it was good to know that she was ready from being out for a while. I think it’s good that she came in with her energy and was able to produce, despite being off for a while.”
Van Sickle put down a kill to put her team ahead for good at 13-12 in the fifth and her serve helped get the Aggies out of system on the last couple of points.
“Obviously fifth sets can be very stressful, but I think our team did really good at calming each other down tonight,” Van Sickle said. “Definitely we just kept communicating. Hey we got it, swing away. We’ll cover. Just be aggressive, that was pretty much it. We just needed to serve and pass, and that’s all we had to fix.”
UH now heads back out to the road for contests at Cal State Fullerton (10-8, 2-5) and UC Irvine (4-15, 1-6). Irvine’s lone Big West win was against Hawaii, a reverse sweep of the Wahine when Van Sickle got hurt on Oct. 4.
When it was first announced that the Wahine was getting another transfer from Oregon, a 5-9 OH, I thought what? 5-9? But Brooke has taught me that size is not everything. It’s athleticism which she has in spades, but what she has in diamonds is heart and passion – for the sport and her teammates. Hawaii is extremely fortunate to have the three Oregon transfers – Brooke Van Sickle, Jolie Rasmussen and Kyra Hanawahine.
The 2nd coming of BVS – she saves us!
Brooke is tough as nails.
Was Van Sickle suppose to be a sand bow only. Burns was in Hawaii, cause Huff went to basketball only, Van Sickle here as indoor cause Burns decided to forgo her senior year. We might have never seen her play in the Stan. Thank you Oregon and Utah for our transfers. I know we’ve had many transfers. I think the best was Aneli but its kinda hard to think of her as transfer.
Brooke is just flat out an athlete. I bet she could play any sport
and be outstanding. Thank goodness she’s a Rainbow Wahine.
Robyn seem disinterested in BVS. I understand her being tough but how to you down play Van Sickles success in the match and just period for the rainbow wahine? She needs to give more praise and credit where it is due. Good work Rainbow Wahine, and BVS for a well played match.
An awesome transfer addition indeed. And scary to think that we haven’t been playing with Rasmussen either, this team will be scary again when we have a healthy Rasmussen and BVS!
no. 6, if you are referring to short video postgame with Skyler and Ross, it did look that way. No one would disagree that BVS played unselfishlessly, practicing only once, and still rehabbing. She did turn around the match, she made a lot of key plays, especially on defense. BVS plays at a high level. Would hope coach recognjzes BVS contributions, just watching a few minutes of the game would convince anyone. If you are her teammate, who wouldnt be excited to play alongside and learn from her?
I think RAM was just letting the girls talk. She has said in numerous interviews particularly in some Game On vids where she is glad BVS is on their team. Particularly when they saw her play previously and exclaimed, “Who is that?!” before they considered her transfer. She said, that her size throws the opponents off because they don’t realize what she can do. So let’s just move on and hope Jolie will be able to join the rest of the Wahine before next weekend when we face Cal Poly & UCSB.