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In her junior year, Tehya Maeva approached her coach, Juliana Conn. There was something gnawing at her.

Maeva had always been positioned as a pin hitter. She wanted to make a change.

“She came to me and said, ‘Coach, for recruiting purposes, because I haven’t really gotten much taller, I would like to switch to setting,’” Conn said.

Switching positions in volleyball at any time is a difficult process. But switching positions this late in one’s career, as a junior being recruited by Division I schools, is almost unheard of, Conn said.

Yet, Maeva has made it look easy. After becoming a setter at Cathedral Catholic High School (California), Maeva has flourished at the D-I level. In her first year at Syracuse, the Nevada transfer has totaled 896 assists, ranking sixth in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Maeva’s 54 assists against Boston College on Oct. 22 are the fifth-highest single-game mark by any ACC player this season.

“It was very impressive. I’ve been coaching volleyball for 15 years now, and very rarely do you see somebody transition into such a hard position and do it that smoothly,” Conn said.

Growing up, Maeva’s combination of size and power allowed her to rise and fire shots past opposing defenders. Conn credits that combination to the Samoan roots Maeva has from her father, Derek Maeva.

“As a Samoan kid, just the culture, they’re very athletic,” Conn said. “So that always played well in volleyball for her, because she could be plugged in many different situations.”

Maeva was inspired by her two cousins, who played at Nebraska and Long Beach State, and set her sights on playing D-I volleyball.

As she would later learn, however, there is rarely a straightforward path to landing at that level.

Growing up, she was one of the taller players in her club volleyball games with WAVE, one of the premier teams in the country. But in high school, Maeva watched as her peers grew taller, and simultaneously saw her size advantage erode.

Almost everywhere Maeva looked, someone was taller than she was. She would watch her WAVE teammate, Auburn Tomkinson, soar through the air and launch shots at defenders. Tomkinson — now a standout, 6-foot-5 outside hitter for Illinois — was just one example of the new competition Maeva faced throughout recruitment.

Maeva quickly realized that, at under 6 feet, it would be difficult for her to chase her dream of playing D-I volleyball as a pin hitter. So, she went to Conn.

The WAVE and Cathedral Catholic High School head coach remembers feeling shocked. Conn said her coaches briefly “freaked out.” They were worried making such an abrupt switch would set back her recruiting process.

It was a reasonable concern. By switching to setter, Maeva was taking a major risk, one that could have derailed her volleyball career.

“Some people told her, ‘You’re a really good player, but you’re never going to be a D-I setter,’” Michelle Maeva, her mother, said. “But she was determined and kept working.”

Instead, setting transformed it.

While Maeva briefly left WAVE to get more reps at a different club, Conn got her back for her senior season.

When Maeva returned, Conn remembers being taken aback by how quickly she had adapted to the position. She needed to refine how she utilized her hands, but Maeva “immediately knew the game and how a setter would flow on the court,” Conn said.

Tehya Maeva sets a ball for Syracuse middle blocker Zharia Harris-Waddy. This season, Maeva ranks sixth in the ACC with 896 assists. Tara Deluca | Staff Photographer

After observing other setters’ techniques, Maeva became integrated into the rotation during practice. Conn recalls how comical WAVE’s coaches found it that Maeva adjusted to the position so seamlessly.

Nothing was funny to Maeva, though. She continued to work in the shadows, putting in hours after practice in pursuit of the goal that remained at the forefront of her mind: Division I volleyball.

It started to become a reality at the 2023 U18 USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship, the premier girls’ club volleyball tournament in the country. By the second day of the tournament, Conn trusted Maeva to set in a couple of rotations.

Maeva witnessed Tomkinson’s ability as a pin hitter when they shared the position. In one of the biggest moments in her career to date, Maeva was the one setting for Tomkinson.

WAVE ended up winning the GJNC, with Maeva playing an integral role as one of the team’s setters. In that tournament, she began to make a name for herself on the recruiting trail as a setter. Nevada assistant coach Akiko Hatakeyama immediately noticed her, and the Wolf Pack became the first Division I team to offer Maeva a full scholarship.

Maeva jumped at the opportunity, signing her letter of intent on March 28, 2023.

After going just 19-39 in two seasons at Nevada, Maeva decided it was time for a change. She entered the transfer portal this past offseason as a sophomore, and her connection with Hatakeyama, who had recently left Nevada to be an assistant coach at Syracuse, resurfaced.

“I knew what she could bring to the team,” Hatakeyama said. “Her (skillset) fit in with what we are trying to do (at Syracuse).”

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The Wolf Pack connections at Syracuse didn’t end with Hatakeyama. SU outside hitter Gabriella McLaughlin, a fellow California native, had similarly transferred from Nevada after the 2024 season.

McLaughlin, who Maeva described as her “comfort person,” helped Syracuse feel like home instantly. The two form one of the best setter-outside hitter duos in the ACC. But Maeva’s best memories with McLaughlin are made off the court.

“We’re actually with each other 24/7. But I think my favorite times with Gabby are when we can go for a drive, and kind of just debrief about anything,” Maeva said. “She’s really like my sister, so we talk about anything.”

Michelle and her daughter often joke about Maeva’s growth as a vocal leader since high school. Maeva acknowledges that she was more introverted growing up, but in her third year of D-I volleyball, her experience has given her the confidence to be a core leader at Syracuse.

That confidence is echoed by her teammates, who voted her and McLaughlin as captains for SU’s 2025 campaign.

People in Maeva’s inner circle maintain that there was never any doubt she would thrive at the highest level of college volleyball. Conn believes her coaches were merely a “part of her life that played out in her favor.”

“There was a lot of doubt in my mind; it was really hard. And obviously, there’s going to be some outside voices that didn’t think I could do it,” Maeva said. “But I trusted the process, trusted God’s plan for me and just looked to my family for support.”

Published on November 18, 2025 at 11:07 pm
Contact Sumner: sbaines@syr.edu | @Sumner__Baines