Trevell Jordan couldn’t have been happier with where he was.
The Mesa, Ariz., native was a roughly 30-minute drive from home at nearby Grand Canyon University, playing volleyball as a freshman for a school that was coming off an appearance in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships.
Jordan started 21 matches before missing the last four with an injury and was named to the All-MPSF Freshman Team. The Lopes were eliminated in the semifinals of the MPSF Tournament, but despite an 18-10 season, the plan was to run it back.
“We were a really young team, so we were pumped for the upcoming season,” Jordan said. “We had already made a bunch of plans of all the things we were going to do together to get ready.”
One meeting that came on a couple of hours’ notice and lasted all of five minutes changed everything.
“It came out of the blue, on one Sunday morning, where our coach texted our group chat and (wrote) the (athletics director) wants to meet with you guys,” Jordan recalled. “This was over the summer and half our team already left for home and we got to the meeting thinking it was going to be about what it was going to be like next year with the coaches. The AD walked in, said we are cutting your program, and we got two questions off before she booked it out of the room. It was quick.”
Suddenly, Jordan had to find somewhere else to play volleyball. He had chosen Grand Canyon because it was so close to home.
Never did he ever think his next journey would take him to an island six hours away in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
“It was a big move to come across the ocean over here,” Jordan said.
Ultimately it was his connections to a bunch of players on the team that led to the 6-foot-10 sophomore middle blocker joining the Rainbow Warriors in the fall.
He knew sophomore hitter Finn Kearney, who grew up in nearby Phoenix, and also played with setter Tread Rosenthal, Justin Todd and opposite Kainoa Wade with Team USA.
Jordan was on the United States U21 team that won a bronze medal for the first time ever at the FIVB World Championships in China in August with Wade and Rosenthal.
“It was a really cool experience and achievement, especially for me. I didn’t make the first two USA teams. I was on the alternate roster, sadly, but I think that lit a fire underneath me for this last one,” Jordan said. “It really brought a better version out of me getting cut from those other two tryouts, and when I went in there, I went in with the mentality of, ‘I want to play.’”
That’s the same mentality Jordan is bringing into the practice gym at UH as he tries to crack the starting lineup on a loaded Hawaii team ranked No. 2 in the country in the preseason AVCA rankings entering today’s home opener against New Jersey Institute of Technology at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii lost Kurt Nusterer — who had one year left of eligibility but left to pursue a major career opportunity — in the middle but returns sophomore Ofeck Hazan. UH also landed a 7-foot freshman in Roman Payne and has Justin Todd, another Team USA alum who can play both on the outside and in the middle.
Jordan landed in Hawaii for the first time in August when he came to start school.
Off the court, the biggest difference was getting used to the palm trees and the tropical climate after spending his whole life growing up in the desert.
On the court, Jordan is used to playing with some of the best players in the country in his experiences with the USA team.
Compared to his one year at Grand Canyon, the major difference is the daily grind that comes in the practice gym.
“We’re all talented and there is for sure a standard that has been set to the highest bar that we have,” Jordan said. “And that’s why you have to come into the gym every day to compete. There’s always going to be someone better than you, so that’s why you want to play to the best of your ability every day in the gym and get as much out of each other as you can.”
TREVELL JORDAN
6-10, Soph., Middle Blocker
All-MPSF Freshman Team (at Grand Canyon)
Hit .889 for Team USA to win bronze at FIVB World Championships
