Kansas sophomore Ainise Havili concentrates as she makes a set during the Jayhawks' volleyball match against in-state rival Kansas State Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015 at the Horejsi Center. The Jayhawks bested the Wildcats, 3-1, and improved to 13-0 on the year.

One of the standout athletes featured in the “Faces in the Crowd” portion of the Nov. 16 edition of Sports Illustrated is standing out from the crowd more and more all the time these days.

Ainise Havili, sophomore setter on the Final Four-bound Kansas University volleyball team, was pictured next to text that in part read, “had 37 assists and a .625 hitting percentage to power a 3-0 sweep of Oklahoma, opening the season with a program-record 19 straight victories before falling to Texas.”

If Havili plays as well at the Final Four in Omaha, Nebraska, as she did at last weekend’s West Regional in San Diego, she could graduate all the way to the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Banking in equal parts on precision and deception, Havili consistently put the ball in the right hands at the right time and place, setting up teammates for punishing kills. She was an easy choice for MVP honors after leading Kansas to victories against Loyola Marymount in four sets and USC in five, a match that featured a dramatic comeback in the fifth set, when Kansas scored the final six points.

Kansas' Madison Rigdon, Ainise Havili (11) and Maggie Anderson (19) come together to celebrate a point during the Jayhawks' NCAA volleyball tournament first round match against Furman onThursday evening at the Horejsi Center. The Jayhawks swept the Paladins in three sets and will face the Missouri Tigers in the second round of the tournament. The first serve is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Horejsi Center

Showing timing as sharp as when setting up teammates, Havili broke the opposition’s spirit with soft shots over the net that dropped to open spots on the floor.

The most memorable shot of her remarkably efficient weekend came when she executed what is known as a “back dump.” She went up with both hands, as if ready to set for a teammate, and used a back-handed shot to dump the ball over the net and onto the floor.

She gave credit for that trick shot to assistant coach Todd Chamberlain.

“He’s been trying to get me to do that the entire season,” Havili said. “It matters a lot that you keep your right hand up and be sneaky about it. More credit to my hitters for pulling blocks to the sides of the court. It makes it a lot easier for me. I’m not going to dump it over a 6-3 middle like USC has.”

Nobody looked happier than Chamberlain.

“I was probably as shocked as anybody that she went after it, but she’s got kind of a knack for the timing, and she’s got the ability to make almost any play,” Chamberlain said. “She can throw with either hand in either direction. And she’s got some gusto behind her, so she’s not afraid to take that risk in the moment.”

Outstanding hitters overpower defenses. Talented setters deceive them, frustrate them into thinking they were somehow cheated, unfairly made to look the fool.

“She’s pretty sneaky,” Chamberlain said. “She’ll put a kill over the net for us, or she’ll feed a quick ball to Janae (Hall), or set a back-row attack, or reverse the flow back to (Kelsie) Payne. She makes it very, very difficult to read where she’ll be setting the ball, and it makes it very difficult for the blockers to guess where it’s going to go.”

In a manner that never comes off as scripted, Havili is quick to credit coaches and teammates for her achievements. The daughter of Tongan natives, Havili said, “It’s a modest culture based on humbleness and respect. I try to implement that in whatever I’m doing. It’s really important to my parents that I always show that I’m humble and grateful for every opportunity that I’m given.”

Nobody can accuse her of the Sports Illustrated appearance inflating her ego.

“I saw a picture of it, but I never got a copy of it,” Havili said last week. “My sister (former Murray State setter Lia Havili) bought, like, 20 copies, so I can grab one.”

Ainise, parents Mele and Moses Havili, and, according to Mele’s estimate, 38 other relatives were in San Diego. They came from San Francisco, Salt Lake City and Fort Worth, all wearing black T-shirts featuring the Jayhawk mascot holding a Tongan flag.

Relatives of Kansas University's Ainise Havili cheer as the team wins the first two sets against the University of Southern California on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, in San Diego.

How many SI copies were purchased by Mele, from whom Ainise inherits her dry sense of humor?

“I got one. My niece got 10,” Mele said. “I just got one. I’m a bad mom, huh?”

How ’bout that back dump?

“I actually didn’t see it,” Mele said. “I was too nervous. I was at one of those moments where I just couldn’t watch. Everyone around me told me, but I didn’t see it. I’m a bad mom. I don’t handle stress too well.”

As do all good parents, Mele and Moses left the decision on where to go to college to their daughter.

Assistant coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn initiated the recruitment after L.J. Sariego, who was working as color commentator on a KU-TCU match in Forth Worth, told Kuhn a setter from a smaller club would be trying out for the renowned TAV Club, for which Sariego coaches. Kuhn said she flew back to Dallas to see Havili’s first practice.

“It was a no-brainer,” Kuhn said of the to-that-point underexposed prospect. “I came back from that match and sat down with coach B (head coach Ray Bechard), and they came in for a visit later that month.”

Kuhn noted that in her first major tournament with TAV, Havili led the team to the 17U national title and earned MVP honors.

Of her recruitment, handled mostly by Kuhn, Havili said, “It took awhile for me to commit, and then Coach B said, ‘All right, we need a decision.’ I was, like, ‘Well, it’s a pretty cool place, so I’ll come here, I guess.'”

Her final two schools: Kansas and University of San Diego, the very campus from which Havili would lead the Jayhawks into the Final Four inside lively 5,100-capacity Jenny Craig Pavilion. Now it’s on to CenturyLink Center in Omaha to face Nebraska with most of the 17,000-strong crowd rooting for the Cornhuskers. If Havili looks nervous, remember two things: 1. Looks sometimes deceive; 2. Great setters expertly practice deception.