The difference between sophomore outside hitter Alexis Jackson’s freshman year and this year has been almost as dramatic as the difference between her childhood home of Los Angeles to her collegiate home of NYU. But change is something Jackson welcomes, and it’s what has allowed her to go from not even being on the 2014 traveling volleyball team to leading the Violets in kills in 2015.

“I came to my visit, and the whole vibe at the school had a good energy,” Jackson said. “I wanted something different.”

But Jackson didn’t know quite how different collegiate athletics would be. Ever since she was spotted as “one of the tall kids” at just 11 years old, Jackson has been used to getting a lot of playing time and being a feature on every team she’s been on. In high school, she started all four years and was named to the All Sunshine League Honorable Mention team twice.

“My freshman year athletics-wise was a hard adjustment,” Jackson said. “It was a lot of emotions, and you’re stressed out and you’re not playing. I lost a lot of confidence.”

Her confidence has returned, and at the perfect time for a team with eight freshman looking for direction. Her 2.61 kills per set are over a half a kill higher than the next best player on the team. Her confidence has certainly returned on the court, but it’s also done so off the court. Jackson, originally planning to be a lawyer in the music industry, has now decided to pursue a career where she can use her “artistic mind.”

“I wanted to be in the music industry, but I started realizing that I want to be in the music industry in a different way,” Jackson said. “I’m taking music tech classes, that’s going to be part of my major. So producing, making beats, writing.”

Instead of getting involved in the law and business side of the industry, Jackson is trying to crack into the music scene as an entertainer. The hopeful Gallatin or Steinhardt transfer will look to take classes where she can express herself via the spoken word and in turn forge a career in the footsteps of some of her favorite artists.

“I want to take classes like ‘Hip Hop and Politics’ and just see the different ways that hip hop has impacted our culture,” Jackson said. “I want to be a spoken word artist, or rapper.”

She is an interesting combination of her old home and her new one. Jackson considers her rap — an eclectic combination of all New Yorkers in Pete Rock, Nas, Jay-Z, Tupac, Biggie and others — to have a West Coast feel. More than that, Jackson puts a premium on the old school feel that so many rap aficionados crave. She stated that even her taste in new music, which includes superstars like J. Cole, Drake and Kendrick Lamar, has an old school feel.

Now that the challenge of her first year is over, and she has a more definite direction in her personal and professional ambitions, Jackson is focused on becoming a mentor for the freshman on her team who are going through the same things that she went through. With such a young team, and sophomores like Jackson already looking to become role models and leaders, the Violets volleyball team has a future looking brighter and brighter by the match.

“A lot of freshman came in this year. There’s a few of us upperclassmen. It made us want to be closer to them just so they can have somebody to lean on, just because we know — especially me, I know what it’s like to be a freshman,” Jackson said. “Everyone is just as good as you now when you go into college. I just learned as long as you focus and try your best you’re going to get good results.”

A version of this article appeared in the Sept. 21 print edition. Email Bobby Wagner at [email protected].