Leah Wiiest Deer Park Year: Senior Sport: Volleyball Position: Middle Hitter

Here’s a quick scouting report on Deer Park’s volleyball team, courtesy of DP coach Jim Janzen:

“I want at least half of our sets going to (Leah Wiiest),” Janzen said. “When Leah goes up, she hits it really hard.”

With Wiiest leading the way, the Stags are 5-0 heading into tonight’s Northeast A match at Colfax (4-0).

The last time DP played Colfax, late in 1994, was for a trip to the State A tournament. Colfax made state, DP stayed home.

“Last year … everyone on the team was terribly sick all through the season,” Wiiest said. “It really hurt us in the long run because we didn’t have the conditioning.”

This year the Stags are strong, with four starters back. Wiiest and two other starters scouted Colfax at Lakeside on Tuesday, so the Bulldogs are no mystery.

Neither is Wiiest, a returning all-leaguer who plays club ball with Greater Spokane League standouts Brandy Barratt of Gonzaga Prep and Jessica Sanborn of Mead.

“I’ve blocked Brandy a couple of times,” Wiiest said of the highly recruited 6-foot-1 force. “I think it was just a bad game for her.”

Volleyball is Wiiest’s lone sport. The Spokane native tried basketball as a youngster, but hurt herself too often. Now she tells basketball coaches looking for a 5-11 athlete: “I just don’t know anything about it.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo