Sophomore middle blocker Anaya Rawlinson is in her first season with Eastern Illinois.
Rawlinson is from Whitby, Canada, which is where she started playing volleyball and other sports like basketball and softball at an early age.
She finished her freshman year at Lemoyne College with 133 kills with an attack percentage of 0.286. She also led her team with 53 blocks and was ranked ninth in the Northeast Conference.
Rawlinson earned NEC rookie of the week during the 2024 season, with her hitting .444 and scoring 27 points over the course of three matches that week.
In this Q&A, Rawlinson shares her decision to transfer to Eastern, her transition from Canada to the United States and if she is team Conrad or Jeremiah.
Q: What age did you start playing volleyball?
A: “I started playing when I was 10 years old. The first sport I played was softball. I kind of just like to dabble in all sorts of sports. But it was when I moved schools and there was this teacher who also was coaching volleyball that saw me playing [volleyball] in gym. He encouraged me to train for a year and then he got me into tryouts. That’s when I started when I was 10. I’ve been playing ever since.”
Q: Why did you transfer to Eastern?
A: “I played at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, last year. Our season didn’t go as well as we hoped. I did love the school but the head coach that recruited me got fired at the beginning of our spring season. So I decided to keep my options open, not knowing if a new coach was going to come in or how he or she would have been. Then coach Ryan [Millar], the new head coach, reached out to me and throughout the process. He was just so supportive and he was constantly checking in, expressing how much he wanted me to be on the team and how much he saw an impact that I could have made. Just his support, passion and the fact that he also is a middle which I’ve never had another middle coach before, a lot of things lined up.”
Q: How would you describe your transition from LeMoyne College to Eastern on and off the court?
A: “I feel like it’s easier. The transition was smoother at first. I think the whole team, even now, we all just have the same mentality. We go after everything hard. We’re competitive. Everybody kind of just came in with the thought of wanting to do something and make an impact that we all could have done last year. So with that mentality, it made things smooth. Like, we’re fighting for things. So the connections came easier. The chemistry was really good. Plus, the coaches, they were there for everything, whether it was move-in or any issues we were having, they were always super supportive and just present. Off the court, I think being from Canada, in a new country, there’s also some issues, whether it’s a visa mess up or something. So there’s been a few things that have been an obstacle. But other than that, everything’s been really smooth. Even the people outside of athletics have been so sweet, so nice. The environment here is so much different than my last school. It’s a bigger school, and there’s a bigger Black community compared to the PWI that I was at.”
Q: What’s your major?
A: “I’m a biology pre-med major.”
Q: What inspired you to pick that major?
A: “I want to become a doctor, an anesthesiologist specifically. The reason I want to become a doctor is just because of how I grew up and because of two of my siblings. So my younger brother, he has that condition where like all of his organs are flipped. So ever since he was born, he’s been going through constant surgeries. My older sister tore her ACL two or three times, and she’s had so many like different heart issues. So I was kind of always around the hospital setting. It kind of just gives me the option to pay back what those doctors were doing for my siblings. Also, I like serving people and sciences.”
Q: If you weren’t playing volleyball, what sport would you play?
A: “Basketball. I kind of started playing volleyball and basketball, not as competitively, but at the same time. Both of my parents played volleyball so, I guess I had that background growing up, even when I wasn’t playing. So it was a sport that I actually fell in love with first. I remember throughout high school there was a coach that got me into like AAU and I was playing both at the same time. There was one point where they wanted me to choose between the two. I almost picked basketball.”
Q: Do you have any hobbies or secret talent?
A: “I don’t know if this is a talent. I can say the alphabet backwards. I’ve known how to do that since I was like five. So my mom never sent us to preschool. She kind of like home taught us before kindergarten. She had this sign that had the alphabet, and I remember she would be sitting in that room and I got so bored that I wrote it backwards.”
Q: Who are your biggest supporters?
A: “My parents for sure. There have been moments where I feel like athletes have these moments all the time where we’re like, should I quit? I didn’t think I was going to come play in the States. I just wanted to stay home and be close to family. I made the switch to want to be scouted and go play down here really late. It was like at the end of my junior year and for volleyball recruiting, like you should be recruited in your sophomore year typically. So they’ve just always been there and pushed my dreams and pushed me when I’m not there. My older sister played Division two basketball. She coached basketball at Holy Cross. I guess because she’s older and she’s been playing sports in the NCAA, she’s always someone I go to when my parents don’t know something or she’s always been super helpful. Like even when I was in the transfer portal, she was reaching out to schools or to different people. Like she had connections. So she’s always been there. My church family. Church is a huge thing for me, and my closest friend group back home is the kids I grew up with in church. So we don’t talk as often now that I’m away, but they’re always super supportive.”
Q: Who on the team is your emergency contact?
A: “I feel like Emma [Schroeder]. She’s our captain, she’s also a middle. She would be my emergency contact just because she’s so level headed. Some of the girls I would think to call, they’d be in an emergency with me.”
Q:Who do you think is the funniest person on the team?
A: “Jasmyne [Boone], my roommate. She is also a transfer. We played in the same conference, but different teams before we got here. She’s an outside and she can just crack a joke in any situation at any time. Like she’s the one person on our team if we need to lighten up the mood, we’re expecting a joke from her. That girl doesn’t take anything serious.”
Q: What are your goals for your first season at Eastern?
A: “Definitely to make an impact. I feel like especially as a transfer, the first thing you want to do is to prove that you deserve to be here. I want to do really well this season and to be recognized within our conference. I feel like our team has a really good shot at winning the conference too. That’s like our big goal for the year. As a team we’re really resilient, have the same mindset and we hold each other accountable. So, I have really high hopes for the season. I feel like everybody on the team does as well. So to do that as a team, but then to also be an impactful player individually.”
Q: Who’s your top musical artist?
A: Number one has to be Drake. Whether that’s from me being from Toronto or whatever, like he’s so good. All of his hits are good. But my top three are Drake, PartyNextDoor and Jhene Aiko.”
Q: If you had a walkout song, what would it be?
A: “So funny enough, we have a serving song and I put, ‘Who Wants Smoke by Nardo Wick.’”
Q: Who is an unsung hero of the volleyball program?
A: “Our trainer Thomas [Erdey]. He’s just amazing. He’s always there. He has numerous solutions. He’s also funny. Like he’ll hold us accountable and be blunt. I remember our first home game, we did this thing where we threw a ball to somebody in the crowd. That’s who I gave my ball to just because he’s always been super supportive.”
Q: Who on the team are you giving the aux to?
A: “Ari[adna Pereles]. She’s our libero. Either her or Lilli [Amettis]. Lilli’s normally on aux. Ari, her playlist is just all over. Like she’ll play some Drake or they always play their Spanish songs, which are really good.”
Q: If you watched ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’? Team Conrad or Jeremiah?
A: “Conrad all the way. I’m team Conrad for me, not for Belly anyway. BellyK, but Conrad, he actually likes her. I feel like Jeremiah was just doing it to one up Conrad, he didn’t actually care. Cut the show, she [Belly] can go.”
Q: What is the weirdest pregame ritual or superstition that you have?
A: “I don’t know if it’s like a ritual or superstition, but I have to retie my laces numerous times throughout the game. I just have to make sure they feel tight on my foot. So I feel like I need to move, if that makes sense. It keeps me on my toes, and I also have to be blasting music on my headphones at some point before a game.”
Q: If you could have any superpower to enhance your athletic abilities, what would it be?
A: “OK, I feel like this is very volleyball specific, but I want a superpower that would tell me exactly where to place the ball, whether it’s serving or something specific to know to place it too far to their left shoulder because they can’t reach out that way. Then the ability to just do that as many times as I wanted to. I think about that often too. I’ll be in practice and be like, ‘God, show me where to go.’”
Q: Knowing everything you know now, what would you tell your 10-year-old self?
A: “Put God first and keep him first in all that I do. Even when I don’t know, still come back to him, regardless of the situation, Don’t procrastinate because there’s a lot of areas of my life that I could have seen things, going a lot differently for the better, but at the same time, give myself grace because there’s no situation that I was down and that I didn’t get out of.”
Morgan Gillespie can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
