Tight bond helps Bonney Lake volleyball team navigate difficult league schedule

The Bonney Lake High volleyball team has a tough road ahead.

The road to postseason leads through one of toughest leagues in state. And that comes without mentioning defending Class 3A state champion Auburn Riverside.

Yes, the 3A South Puget Sound League is brutal.

The Panthers are not kidding themselves about what it’s going to take to make it to the playoffs come November.

“I know we have a tough league, but I (also) know we can be really good,” senior captain Samantha Boudreau said. “We all have a really tight bond as a team, and that really shows on the court.”

The bond that the Panthers have forged will be crucial as the times will be tough, because the SPSL is just too good from the top to the bottom.

Just being a factor in the 3A SPSL is the goal for Bonney Lake. If the Panthers survive playing Auburn Riverside, Auburn Mountainview and Enumclaw, then they might be all right heading into November.

“We’ve got a lot of good teams in our league,” coach Ann Hansen said. “We have good teams that will give us a tough run for our money each game. And we have a young team — a lot of juniors and only three seniors.”

Having a young team with talent puts a lot of pressure on the three senior leaders: Boudreau, Kristen Cunningham and Amanda Chargualaf-Wright.

For Boudreau, there’s no pressure from the responsibilities of being a captain, just the added burden of getting her younger teammates to be their best on the court each night. It’s about having your teammates’ backs for this senior.

“We have each other’s back (each game),” Boudreau said. “Honestly, we go into our (pregame) room right there, and we just get hyped. We have a lot of fun together.”

“We all hang around each other, and we all are close to one another (outside of volleyball),” Payton Mitchell said.

Injecting fun and enthusiasm into the game makes players want to compete harder. Boudreau’s infectious competitive nature drives her team to turn this challenging game into a kid’s game, where it’s not about the results but the time spent together.

“On Friday, we have our team-building practice,” Boudrea said. “It really helps us out a lot.”

Finding any edge to pick up the win is what every team tries to accomplish. For Bonney Lake, it comes down the simple philosophy of playing for the person next to you, because they know you best.

It’s the theory that the best teams play for each other, not for the individual.

“All we have to do is give each other a look and we know what we have to do,” Mitchell said. “We just know each other enough where we don’t need to say anything.”

That communication — or lack thereof — will only grow as the Panthers continue to pick up the wins and head toward the postseason.

A spot from SPSL is theirs for the taking. All the Panthers need to do is come together and capture it.

“If they continue to work hard, I think we can get into the playoffs,” Hansen said. “Being in this league is only going to make us a better team.”

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Tight bond helps Bonney Lake volleyball team navigate difficult league schedule."