Asjia O'Neal | |||||||
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Personal information | |||||||
Born | Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. | October 23, 1999||||||
Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) | ||||||
College / University | Texas (2018–2023) | ||||||
Volleyball information | |||||||
Position | Middle blocker | ||||||
Current club | LOVB Austin | ||||||
Number | 7 | ||||||
Career | |||||||
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National team | |||||||
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Asjia O'Neal (born October 23, 1999) is an American professional volleyball player for LOVB Austin. She played college volleyball for the Texas Longhorns and won back-to-back NCAA championships in 2022 and 2023.
O'Neal was born to National Basketball Association (NBA) player Jermaine O'Neal and his wife Mesha. [1] She practiced basketball with her father after fourth grade and took up volleyball in seventh grade in 2012 after moving from Miami to Dallas. [1] She played three years of varsity high school volleyball at Carroll Senior High School in Southlake, Texas. [2] As a high school sophomore, she committed to the University of Texas at Austin. [1] [3]
O'Neal was born with a heart murmur and mitral valve leak, for which she underwent open-heart surgery at age 13 and again after her freshman season of college. [1] [4] [5]
O'Neal redshirted her first year at Texas in 2018. [6] She averaged a hitting percentage of .413 to start her first season, while having a worsening mitral valve leak and a new tricuspid valve leak that required a second open-heart surgery in January 2020. [1] [7] That summer, she helped organize campus activism to rename landmarks and build statues of former black students during the George Floyd protests. [1] [6] She helped Texas reach the final of the 2020 NCAA tournament held in the spring of 2021. [6] She received the Honda Inspiration Award for the 2020 season. [1] [8]
O'Neal helped the Longhorns win the 2022 NCAA championship alongside fellow first-team All-Americans Logan Eggleston and Zoe Fleck. [9] [10] She averaged a career-high .443 hitting percentage that season. [11] She returned for a sixth year and led Texas to defend its title at the 2023 NCAA championship. [12]
O'Neal was drafted first overall in the first Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF) draft in December 2023. [13] In January 2024, she signed with the Columbus Fury. [14] In July 2024, it was announced O'Neal had signed with LOVB Austin for LOVB Pro's inaugural 2025 season. [15]
O'Neal first played for the United States national team at the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League. [9]
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