The ultimate team player

Published 11:46 pm Monday, September 29, 2008

Mandy Powell probably could have coasted through her final year as a member of the Darrington Loggers volleyball team.

The 17-year-old senior has found personal success in the sport as a four-year varsity starter for the Loggers and with her select team, being named to various all-district and all-area prep lists and playing in national tournaments on all-star club teams.

And with four colleges ­— so far — expressing an interest in having her playing at the next level, and the Loggers rebuilding after finishing fifth at the state Class 2B tournament last year, Powell may have been tempted to cruise through her final prep season.

But that’s not what leaders do, so to help the team Powell agreed to move from setter, the position she has played for years and is most familiar and comfortable with, to outside hitter.

“This is the first year I haven’t played that position since I was 12,” Powell said. “We lost nine seniors from last year, which was huge, and we needed somebody to go outside and hit the ball.”

Powell is the only senior on this year’s team, but even if she wasn’t it would be hard to find a player more experienced.

She has played competitively since she was 9 — the Northshore Juniors in Everett is just the latest club team she’s been part of — and has twice been selected to play on teams at the Junior Olympics.

So when Loggers coach Greg Powell — who also happens to be Mandy Powell’s father ­— looked at a starting lineup that included four sophomores and one freshman, he realized the options were limited.

“It was a really hard decision for the team, more than for her,” Greg Powell said. “We had to ask ‘Who’s going to develop faster to make the team better, the hitters or setters? What should Mandy do, because she’d be good at either.’”

With Mandy Powell moving to hitter, sophomore Madi Hatfield and junior Kolby Fanning split the duties of setter. At 5-foot-8, Hatfield plays setter in the front row with the 5-2 Fanning taking over when the position rotates to the back row.

Also returning this season are 6-foot twins Hailey and Randi Wales, who were varsity starters last year as freshman. Hailey Wales is a middle hitter and Randi Wales is a right-side hitter.

Sophomore Caresse Baker is the other outside hitter and freshman Jill Goldman is the defensive specialist for the Loggers, who are 3-0 in the Northwest 1A/2B League, 3-1 overall and ranked sixth in the state coaches poll.

“We’ve really come together as a team,” said Mandy Powell of the position shift. “Last year we had nine seniors so everyone was very experienced. … This year everyone is very, very athletic. If things go the way I think, we’ll do better this year.”

Growing up, Mandy Powell watched her father coach many successful Loggers teams, including leading Darrington to the state playoffs nine out of 10 years from 1994-2003.

The Loggers did not get past the district playoffs again until Mandy Powell’s junior year, so she readily agreed to switch positions to improve the team’s chances of getting back to the state tournament.

“If we’re going to reach the highest level, she had to be the hitter,” Greg Powell said. “If she stayed as setter we’d still be a strong team, but having her as a hitter should make us a great team should everything else work out.”

As a setter, Mandy Powell was a floor leader, calling plays and hitting every second ball so the outside hitters could finish the volley with a kill.

“You have to keep everybody on an even keel (as a setter),” Powell said. “Make sure everyone gets along. You’re the go-to person on the floor.”

The responsibilities of an outside hitter are much different, as are the physical requirements. Setters run a lot, but hitters leap for kills and blocks, and hit the floor often for digs. Greg Powell said after her first game as a hitter, a three-set victory, Mandy was “pooped.”

At 5-foot-6, colleges are not looking for Mandy Powell to be an outside hitter, but with a 26-inch vertical leap her height shouldn’t be a problem in the Northwest League — or the Class 2B state playoffs, should the Loggers get there.

“I actually really like to hit,” Mandy Powell said. “And I have a high vertical, so I can get up there and smack the ball.”

Greg Powell said the temporary move to outside hitter may actually help her when it comes to playing college volleyball.

“She’s passing, digging and receiving (as an outside hitter) which are skills she’ll use in college,” he said. “College coaches really like that she’s been a setter, as well as her court awareness.”

Mandy Powell expects to be recruited as either a defensive specialist or libro in college, and has been contacted by Washington State University, the University of Idaho, Central Washington and Western Oregon.

She is leaning toward playing for either of the Division I schools.

Although she said playing volleyball in the Pac-10 conference for WSU would be great, Mandy recently visited Idaho’s campus and came away with a favorable impression of the program, saying “I really felt welcomed by the coaches and players.”

But first Mandy Powell hopes to finish her prep career by leading the Loggers back to the state playoffs.

“Mandy was a bit fearful (of not going to state) after her sophomore year,” Greg Powell said. “Last year she said ‘Dad, we’ve got to make it.’ Getting there was an exciting moment for her, and an exciting moment for me, to be excited for her.”