Junior setter Alexis “Pookie” Gonzalez’s enhanced play is a key reason why volleyball is off to a 9-7 start and why she’s on pace to place among the MAC’s best.

The 2012 MAC All-Freshman Team honoree was not always a volleyball player; in fact, she didn’t start playing the sport until she entered middle school. The first sport she played was tennis at the age of 2 behind a push from her father. Her dad, Francisco Gonzalez, won the individual Big Ten singles crown in the 1975 and 1976 seasons and was an All-American while attending Ohio State. Professionally, Francisco Gonzalez was ranked as high as No. 34 in the world in singles and No. 24 in doubles in stretches in his career.

“He definitely supported me in whatever I did,” Gonzalez said. “He just wanted me to be the best at whatever I want, just like all parents want. They want you to be the best that you can be, and my parents were great. They were so supportive in anything that I did, anything that I wanted to try. They knew that I was a very determined person.”

After a Bullard High School tennis career that included being named first team all-conference in all four years in addition to being a four-year varsity letterwinnner in volleyball, Gonzalez decided it was time to set aside her racket and pursue volleyball full force.

“I’m definitely more confident now that it’s into my third year,” Gonzalez said. “I know how [head coach] Ray [Gooden] wants things done [and] I know how to lead the team, but, again, in order to be a good leader you have to have good followers, and there are multiple leaders on our team [who] I would choose to follow, as well.”

Gooden knows the setter position well; the three-time MAC Coach of the Year was a three-time All-Big Ten player when he was a member of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the early 1990s. He said his setter has made some positive strides in her junior year campaign.

“I think she’s taken a real positive step with her ability to lead and to command the court,” Gooden said. “I think she for sure understands the role and what it takes to be one of the elite setters of our conference … if not the country. I think that she continues to improve and continues to learn. She’s done a good job with our group.”

Gonzalez has been setting up her hitters well, registering 569 assists at 9.81 assists per set in her 16 starts this season. Her total assist number is the third-best mark in the conference and a big reason behind the 2-0 start in MAC play for NIU.

Gonzalez sits at No. 5 on NIU’s all-time assists list.

“With the assists I’m trying to get as many as possible,” Gonzalez said. “It’d be a huge honor to get as high as I could. Even to be just top 10 I was amazed at what I could do. But, without my nice hitters and great passers I couldn’t do any of that. It all goes back to how the team does for anyone to do good individually.”