Her father is a three-time NCAA All-American, 11-time NBA All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee. Her mother is a three-time NCAA First-Team All-American, NCAA champion, two-time Big West Conference Player of the Year, and member of the United States women’s national volleyball team.

She’s ready to step into the spotlight for Penn State women’s volleyball.

Alexis Ewing is a recruiting class of 2025 prospect from Bullis School in Maryland who committed to the Nittany Lions over a year ago, but her athletic journey stemming from her parents Patrick Ewing and Cheryl Weaver goes far beyond that.

Alexis Ewing began playing low-level volleyball for fun at the age of 12, but after growing to 6’4″, switching club teams, working on her skills, and learning many valuable lessons from her mom and dad, she’s become one of the top recruits in the nation.

Ewing, who is averaging four kills per set in her senior season according to MaxPreps, visited Penn State over the summer before her junior year, and she verbally committed just over a month later.

“Penn State was my first visit, and immediately after my visit, I was like, ‘This is the place that I want to go to.’ Meeting with the players and meeting with the coaches, everybody was just so sweet and kind, and I wanted to be somewhere where I could feel like the team is like my family,” Ewing said.

Ewing did visit other schools despite falling in love with Penn State immediately. However, after seeing them, she knew Penn State would be her future home, saying the other colleges were “nice, but they’re not Penn State.”

Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley also had a role in turning Ewing into a Nittany Lion. Schumacher-Cawley, a national champion and two-time All-American as a player at Penn State, has been a positive voice for Ewing since the two met.

“I would say she’s a really big influence on me. She’s a big leader in my life,” Ewing said. “Everything I do, I want her support in it, and I feel like she’s always been super supportive of me and everything that I do. She’s a big supporter in my volleyball career, and in my academics as well.”

Weaver, Ewing’s mother, also felt comfortable sending her daughter to a Schumacher-Cawley-led Penn State team, both as a coach and as a mother figure, but it was a confident feeling that was sparked long before the recruitment of Ewing.

During her time as a player at Long Beach State, Weaver played against Schumacher-Cawley, and the two were also on the same side of the net as teammates for the United States national team.

“I love Katie. I’ve known Katie as a person for a long time, so I always knew it would be a really good fit for Lexi and Katie to be together,” Weaver said. “Leaving your child in someone else’s hands when they go to college, I felt safe and secure letting Katie take her like a mom.”

Not only did Weaver feel reassured with the care Schumacher-Cawley would be able to provide for Ewing, but she also noted her success as a coach as a selling point during the recruiting process. Weaver, who is also Ewing’s high school head coach, believed Schumacher-Cawley will get Penn State back to the top of the nation, with Ewing playing a major role.

“Penn State has such a strong legacy of volleyball. They’ve had some ups and downs in the last couple of years, and I know they’re trying to get back to that place where they had all those titles, and I think Lexi would be a huge part of that,” Weaver said. “They’re really invested in Lexi, even through the recruiting process, making sure that they were at all her games and sending her notes and encouragement. They look at her as a huge piece of the program.”

The national letter of intent signing period for Class of 2025 athletes starts in early November, and until then, Schumacher-Cawley can’t comment on specific verbal commits. However, like Weaver, she’s looking forward to the program’s future as a whole.

Schumacher-Cawley is in her third year as the head coach of the Nittany Lions and has been on the staff since 2018. She believed the current class of high school seniors, along with other future players, will be key in bringing the team back to one with national championship caliber.

“I’m so excited about not only this group but the future players that are committed to Penn State. I think it’s a special group,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “I know they fit in really well, and they all come from amazing families.”

Due to rules at her private school, Ewing is still unsure if she’ll enroll at Penn State for the upcoming spring semester or wait until the summer to join the team, but she’s hoping to make an immediate impact when she first puts on the blue and white.

Current freshmen Izzy Starck and Ava Falduto have made an immediate impact on the Nittany Lions, as they’ve both appeared in all 51 sets this season and while she knows it’ll take extra effort, Ewing is looking to step into a similar role next year.

“That’s honestly a big aspiration for me, making a big mark on the team as soon as I get there. I’m trying to work my best and train the hardest I can to stay consistent and be able to play with such a high level of players,” Ewing said.

Whether she becomes a star player in her first year or not, Ewing is expecting fans to know her name when she arrives at Penn State, a common theme throughout her life.

Ewing’s father Patrick is one of the most decorated basketball players of all time. He played four years at Georgetown, winning Big East Defensive Player of the Year in each of them and leading his team to three national championship games. Then, after being the No. 1 pick in the 1985 NBA Draft, he had a 17-year career in the NBA, in which he averaged 21 points per game and won a slew of awards.

Alexis Ewing is honoring her dad’s Hall of Fame status through the Ewing last name, but she also has hopes to bring Penn State fans to understand who she is as an individual.

“Obviously, I want to carry on the family legacy, but I do want to make a name for myself. I feel like that’s been a very important part of my life. Of course, both my parents were amazing at athletics, but I want everybody to know that I’m not amazing of them, I’m amazing because of myself,” Ewing said. “I just want to make a big impact and make sure everybody knows that, ‘Yeah, those are her parents, but she’s such a great player, too.'”

Weaver agreed that while she shouldn’t forget about her family name, Ewing has what it takes to add to the Ewing legacy.

“Her dad was a great player and he had a great legacy, but I think also, she just has the pedigree to be great. I think that she definitely wants to have a name for herself,” Weaver said. “I think if she just thinks about all of the words that her father does speak in her ear a lot, which is to work hard and to believe in yourself, and follows in his footsteps and the way he did with basketball, I think she’s got a great future.”

Ewing has taken many lessons from her mother on the volleyball court, and while her father was successful in a different sport, he’s also played a role in making Ewing the player she is today.

Patrick Ewing was described as a “supporter” by his daughter since he “doesn’t know much about volleyball,” but he has taught her many lessons that have translated to the volleyball court, such as working hard and having a positive outlook on herself.

One of the other most important lessons the outside hitter has learned from Alexis Ewing’s parents is separating her demeanor off the court from how she appears on the court. The demeanor she’s adopted on the court is a more aggressive one, and it’s been crucial in the development of her volleyball game.

“I would say I’m a really kind person, but I have to do better and learn how to have an on-and-off switch when I’m playing volleyball, so just staying aggressive and disciplined,” Ewing said.

As her mother and coach, Weaver has had a unique experience in seeing Ewing develop both on and off the court from the time she was a kid. Although Ewing is a “young senior” who turned 17 last week, she’s become physically and mentally tougher over the years.

“Every year, I just see her getting better and better. Even as a kid, watching her get taller and fill out in this body and have all these long limbs that she didn’t necessarily know how to do things with when she was little, and she used to jump and fall like a little doe,” Weaver said.

“And just seeing her mentally getting tougher and tougher every game, finding more confidence, and realizing she can be dominant in this sport if she really works hard. I’ve seen that as her mom and as her coach.”