GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — Last summer, on June 1, McAllen Memorial’s Draik Banks made up her mind that she wanted to play college volleyball. She’d been playing the game at a high level for years beforehand, but that was the day she decided to truly commit.
During the summer, she doubled down in the weight room and took private lessons in a gym without air conditioning, preparing for a senior season with McAllen Memorial and the Valley Venom club team. She traveled to showcases in Las Vegas and Kansas City in search of exposure and scoured YouTube for tips on how to augment her blocking and hitting.
“I didn’t know I could pursue it as much as I did this year,” Banks said. “Getting out there with this year’s club season, I really saw that coaches like me, so maybe I could do this.”
Still, she didn’t think she would be able to play at the Division I level. Her target was Trinity University, a Division III school in San Antonio.
Then, at a showcase in Las Vegas, Banks’ hitting caught the eye of Niagara coach Vilis Ozols. Eventually, the school decided to offer Banks a full scholarship — an offer she accepted during a ceremony Thursday at McAllen Memorial.
“I thought Division III, maybe DII. That was my highest,” Banks said. “But I’m really happily surprised to get a DI scholarship. … It was shock, and a little bit of awe. This DI college wants me to play for them? It blew my mind.”
Banks has been involved in athletics at Memorial practically since birth, crawling around the gym as her mother, Stacey Siebert Banks, worked as an assistant coach. Following the footsteps of her mother, who played basketball at Texas Tech, Banks entered high school as a basketball player first. She gave volleyball a chance because she was tall, athletic and figured it would be worth a try.
“This is not something for Draik that she came in and she was just a volleyball stud,”
Memorial coach Lorena Lopez said. “She had to put in extra time during practice, after practice, outside, and during the summer to become the athlete she is.”
Lopez knew Banks — now 6-foot-1 — had potential to play at the next level because of her size and the athleticism that runs in her family.
But this season was when Banks finally started to reach that potential. Banks saw progression in all aspects of her game, and Lopez noticed a more confident player, one who wanted the ball on the attack.
“At the beginning, she was on the fence,” Lopez said. “’Do I even want to play in college? What do I want to play in college?’ Once she made that decision, that’s all it took.”
Banks enters Niagara expecting to provide offense as a middle blocker or right-side hitter. Coaches have told her that with a little development, she has a chance to see significant playing time during her freshman year.
While on her visit, she quickly found she fit in with her teammates and the environment at Niagara, a private Catholic school with less than 5,000 enrollment. She plans to study biology, potentially pursuing medicine or veterinary medicine in the future.
“It’s just about getting out and experiencing the world away from the Valley,” Banks said. “Just going out and seeing as much as I can, and getting a great education while having fun playing the sport I love.”