Every athlete hopes for a perfect Senior Night. Dakota Bradley actually experienced one.

Playing a volleyball match on her home court for the final time, Bradley turned in the performance of her life on Oct. 29. Feted along with her fellow seniors before the contest, Bradley helped spark Archbishop Murphy High School to a 3-1 victory over previously unbeaten King’s, the No. 1-ranked Class 1A team in the state.

“If we gave out a game ball, she would have got it,” Archbishop Murphy head coach Jim Hardy said of Bradley.

“It meant so much,” said Bradley, whose effort helped Murphy avenge an early-season loss to King’s and earned the Wildcats a share of the Cascade Conference championship.

Greg Bradley, Dakota’s father, called it the most exciting evening of his life. “I would have been happy if the season had ended that night,” he said.

Against King’s, there was plenty of pressure on Dakota and her teammates to play well. But it was nothing compared to the personal challenges Dakota already faced.

‘A safe place’

On Dec. 8, 2006, at about 3 a.m., two strangers entered Dakota’s bedroom. The women woke up Dakota and said, “We’re going to take you to a safe place.”

Dakota had no idea who they were. Her dad did. Greg Bradley set up an intervention for his daughter. He refused to watch her life unravel any longer.

The two women who entered Dakota’s room — described by Greg Bradley as the biggest he’d ever seen — were from SageWalk The Wilderness School in Oregon. Telling instead of asking, they took Dakota to SageWalk, a facility for troubled teens in a remote area of central Oregon.

“I was at the end of my rope,” said Greg Bradley, who is divorced from Dakota’s mother and gained sole custody of Dakota the summer before her freshman year of high school. “I had no place left to go. Everything I had tried had failed.”

An Archbishop Murphy sophomore at the time, Dakota developed a problem with alcohol and drugs. She often lied to her father and snuck out of the house. Her life was out of control, she said.

“I was hanging out with a really bad crowd,” she said. “Even though I knew it wasn’t right for me, I still chose to do it.

“There was no stopping me. I was going to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it.”

SageWalk was an incredibly costly option. In the end, Greg Bradley spent the money he had intended to use for his daughter’s college education, more than $25,000. But the money would be useless, he reasoned, if Dakota continued on her destructive path.

“I had absolutely no idea if I was doing the right thing. But I remain confident to this day that if I hadn’t done that, I think my daughter would be dead,” Greg Bradley said.

For 63 days, Dakota didn’t see family or friends. Her contact with the outside world was limited to letters and photos posted online.

A Christmas present

In the fall of 2006, John Matusak knew a few things about Dakota Bradley: She wasn’t a great student and she was a member of Archbishop Murphy’s junior-varsity volleyball team. But Dakota’s other problems were not obvious at school, said Matusak, Murphy’s vice principal.

That changed when Greg Bradley met with Matusak and Archbishop Murphy counselor Tim Blair a few days after Dakota was sent to SageWalk. Struggling with his emotions, Greg Bradley explained everything.

“You could have knocked us over with a feather,” Matusak said. “Tim and I were blown away.”

The administrators assured Greg Bradley that whenever Dakota returned, they would try to get her back in school.

A few weeks later, Matusak was celebrating the holidays with his family in Longview. On Christmas morning, he called Greg Bradley and had a brief but moving conversation.

“Greg, I just want to let you know I’m thinking about you,” Matusak said. “You and Dakota are both in my thoughts and prayers.”

The unexpected phone call instantly brightened what Greg Bradley said had been a miserable holiday.

“That was the best Christmas present I ever got — just knowing that John was thinking of Dakota,” Greg Bradley said.

The turning point

At first, Dakota was angry. “How could my dad do this to me?” she wondered. Her plan, she said, was to fake her way through SageWalk and get out as quickly as possible.

Life consisted of daily hikes, lugging around a 50-pound backpack, building shelters and sleeping under a tarp. She and the other 10 or so girls in her group were constantly supervised by SageWalk staff members. They weren’t forced to do anything. But it was winter and refusing to build a fire, for example, had consequences.

SageWalk students are assigned to a primary therapist who monitors their progress. The goal is to help teens develop self-confidence, coping skills and leadership, said Sarah Casson, SageWalk’s admissions director.

“They come here and they’re not judged,” Casson said, “and it’s an opportunity for them to reinvent themselves.”

The change of scenery, the time to think and write, plus the support of SageWalk staff, eventually produced a change in Dakota. After 30 days in the wilderness, it clicked.

“I realized that I wasn’t going to be going anywhere and I might as well do something with my life,” she said.

She became a group leader and grew close to a SageWalk counselor. One day, near the end of Bradley’s stay at SageWalk, the counselor asked Dakota, “When you get home, what are you going to do?”

“That was a question I never really thought about,” Dakota said.

Despite knowing it wouldn’t be easy, she was determined to change for the better.

‘The arc is complete’

On Feb. 8, 2007, Dakota left SageWalk, after her therapist and her father agreed she was ready to graduate.

Since then, life hasn’t been perfect. There were follow-up phone calls with a SageWalk counselor and therapy sessions, but it’s been much better.

“She is a real polished young woman — very pleasant, always upbeat, wanting to be positively involved in both the classroom and on the court,” said Matusak, the Archbishop Murphy vice principal.

Dakota is fun and outgoing, like she always was, said Rachel Shober, one of Dakota’s teammates. The difference now, Shober said, is: “She’s really driven. She really knows what she wants.”

When Dakota returned to Murphy, she had to make up missed schoolwork. Despite her efforts, she was academically ineligible to play for the varsity team at the start of the 2007 volleyball season.

“That was another little turning point about whether she thought it was worth it coming back,” said Hardy, the Wildcats head coach. “That was a little rough, but she got through it.”

With her life back on track, Dakota yearned to compete again, to reconnect with her teammates.

“I knew I needed them and volleyball was a good outlet for me,” she said.

Dakota regained her eligibility and was allowed to play varsity ball halfway through the 2007 season. She was a member of the Murphy squad that placed fifth at the 2A state tournament.

This season, she has played a larger role, contributing as a starter. The 5-foot-2 senior treasures her libero position in the back row. “It’s my job. I’m so short — that’s where I belong,” said Dakota, whose team continues play Saturday in the 2A District 1 tournament.

Dakota, who lives with her dad in Lake Stevens, said she has no post-high school volleyball aspirations. She hopes to attend nursing school at Regis University in Denver to become a pediatric nurse. In between schoolwork and volleyball commitments, she is busy applying for scholarships and loans.

Greg Bradley said he is now certain he made the right choice nearly two years ago when he sent his daughter to SageWalk. The gut-wrenching decision forced Dakota to re-evaluate her life. Greg said that along the way he learned plenty of things about parenting.

“The only thing that changed about our life as father and daughter was everything. Absolutely everything,” he said.

The biggest lesson, he said, was learning to let Dakota be accountable for her choices. Greg Bradley deflects any praise for his part in her transformation.

“The person that’s most responsible for Dakota’s success,” he said, “is Dakota.”

Pondering the Archbishop Murphy volleyball team’s memorable win over King’s and his daughter’s dramatic turnaround, Greg Bradley put everything in context.

“The arc is complete,” he said.