Bellarmine sets up winning formula

Chemistry and communication.

Bellarmine Prep’s volleyball team has one and is working on the other.

“Our motto is we like each other and we work hard,” Lions coach Jody DeGroot said. “Doesn’t mean that everything is perfect and we don’t have things to work on; we’re going to communicate them out.”

With 12 returning letter-winners from a team that reached the Class 4A state tournament last fall – there’s the chemistry – Bellarmine Prep is poised to make a deep postseason run.

“With our senior leadership – it’s definitely strong for a team – and they’ve been working hard all summer,” DeGroot said, “this is definitely a goal of theirs, to be a contender this year.”

Speaking up on the court might be the difference in going from contender to champion. When asked what they learned last season that can apply this fall, Bellarmine Prep’s three captains gave similar responses.

“We have to talk on the court and not assume something is going to happen,” said senior Nakaira Petty.

DeGroot said the lessons hit home during the state tournament. In the first round, the Lions played Jackson tough. Though they were swept in three games, the scores – 25-23, 25-14, 25-23 – show that Bellarmine Prep hung with the eventual state champions. In the consolation bracket, the Lions swept Wenatchee before falling to Kentwood, 3-1.

“What they learned is that no matter what, they were right in there in every match that we came across,” DeGroot said. “We went (four) games with Kentwood at 11 o’clock at night. We were exhausted and learned that we need to have endurance and need to communicate on the court.”

DeGroot, entering her 10th season as the Lions’ head coach, has had a group with this type of talent and experience before. Bellarmine Prep claimed back-to-back league titles in 2005 and 2006.

Outside hitter Courtney Schwan, a powerful 6-foot-2 sophomore, is one of the top players in the South Sound. A member of The News Tribune’s All-Area team last year, Schwan has received interest from more than 50 colleges from across the country. DeGroot said she’ll be even better in 2011.

“Her strength and power have improved, her approach to the ball,” she said. “Definitely her blocking.”

Schwan admitted to deferring to upperclassman last year but promises to be more vocal this season.

“Oh, yes,” she said, “that’s one thing I really need to work on is communicating with my teammates. Being vocal and yelling out what you see on the other side of the net.”

Seniors Kali Johnson and Hallie Wurst earned second-team all-Narrows League 4A honors last year. Johnson has played setter, libero and outside hitter in the past, but will settle into a role as a libero and defensive specialist. The 5-foot-10 Wurst is an opposite hitter.

In addition to the 12 returners, the Lions added talented underclassmen in sophomore Julia Wright and freshman Reghan Pukis.

When Bellarmine Prep opens its season today against defending state champion Seattle Prep, the Lions begin a nonleague schedule studded with powerful programs that includes matches against Puyallup, Curtis, Kentwood and Bishop Blanchet.

DeGroot insists on scheduling elite teams.

“These are teams that I know tend to be contenders in either 3A or 4A,” she said. “You want to put your team in position to deal with adversity, and also to prove to themselves what they can do. If we wait until postseason, that’s not going to do us any good.”

Doug Pacey: 253-597-8271
doug.pacey@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/preps

FOUR PREP VOLLEYBALL STORYLINES TO FOLLOW

Olympia has had a stranglehold on Narrows League volleyball in recent seasons, winning three consecutive league titles. The Bears face talented, experienced challengers this season. Bellarmine Prep lost one senior from the team that reached the state tournament last fall, and Stadium welcomes back five starters, including Western Washington University-bound MB Sarah Caylor.

A year after Auburn Mountainview opened, the Lions reached the state tournament. They’ve been back every season since – a five-year streak – but have yet to claim a trophy. With four returning starters, including SPSL 3A MVP Kelsey Fausko, and the addition of two sophomore outside hitters in 6-foot-1 Molly Cichosz and 6-foot Maya Williamson, coach Momi Bowles’ team is primed for a deep postseason run.

Rivals Tumwater and Black Hills have become two of the premier programs in Class 2A, sharing the Evergreen Conference crown the past two seasons. The Thunderbirds have reached the state tournament five times since 2005 and the Wolves have qualified 11 times in 14 seasons. Tumwater is bolstered by seven returning starters, plus a couple of transfers, including MB Erika Waldner from Olympia, who has orally committed to Central Washington. Black Hills has six starters back, ensuring another season of a fiercely competitive rivalry.

Jackson ended the seven-year reign of Spokane high schools when the Timberwolves claimed the Class 4A state title last fall. Will the Eastern Washington schools begin another championship-winning streak in 2011? They’ll have to do it in Western Washington, as the 4A and 3A state tournaments moves from the Tri-Cities to Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, while The Evergreen State College in Olympia will host the Class 2A tourney.

Doug Pacey, staff writer