Angelica Ljungqvist

Ljungqvist was born December 20, 1974 to Ann-Britt and Leif Ljungqvist.[3] She grew up in Vallentuna, Sweden, and graduated from Vallentuna Gymnasium (Stockholm, Sweden) in 1993.[4]

Ljungqvist came to Hawai'i to play volleyball for the Rainbow Wahines in 1993. She came to play for coach Dave Shoji, who already had national championships in 1979 (AIAW), 1982, 1983, and 1987 (NCAA). She was talented enough to be named to All-American teams as a freshman, but Shoji could always find areas needing improvement. Ljungquist had difficulty getting her left hand over the net, so Shoji asked her how to say "left" in Swedish. She told him the word is "vänster", so after that he would remonstrate "vänster, vänster hand".[5]

She not made All-American team as a freshman, she made All-American team all four years, the first player from Hawai'i to earn such a distinction.[6] In 1996, she helped lead the team to the title game of the 1996 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament. She was named to the All- Tournament team.[6] Ljungquist was named the Player of the Year in volleyball by the NCAA in 1996.[7] She was also named Player of the Year by Volleyball Magazine, and the AVCA in 1996.[8]

In 1997, Ljungqvist won the Honda Award (now the Honda Sports Award) as the nation's best female volleyball player.[9][10][11]

Ljungqvist played for Swedish National teams, the Swedish Indoor National Team from 1992-2006, and the Swedish Beach National Team from 2002-03 and 2007-10.[10]

She played professionally on several teams in Europe, as well as Brazil, and Japan.[10] She started her pro career indoors in Brazil in 1998, then in Turkey in 1999, then played for teams in Italy in 2000 and 2001 including Famili Imola in northern Italy.[7]

When her college teammate, Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, was hired by the Rainbow Wahine to be the new head coach of the volleyball team, one of the first people she contacted was Ljungqvist. Ah Mow-Santos instant messaged Ljungqvist even before she was offered the job, and asked Ljungqvist to be on her staff. Ljungqvist initially thought she was joking, but after realizing it was a serious request, agreed to join the coaching staff. She finished her law degree in Sweden, then returned to Hawai'i to become a coach.[12]