A Perfect Setting Ruen Returns To Original Volleyball Position And Thrives

Rochelle Ruen always wanted to be a setter.

It’s the position she played when she took up the sport in fifth grade.

The Sandpoint High junior didn’t set long, though. She switched to right-side hitter because her multiple skills were needed to fill voids on her club and junior high school teams.

When she reached high school, she made another switch, moving to middle blocker, a position she started on varsity as a freshman and sophomore.

She decided to give setting another try during the recent club season. It went so well that she caught the attention of several major colleges.

The list of schools writing her each week - NCAA rules allow colleges to send one recruiting letter a week to juniors - is a who’s who of national powers. Some of the more prominent ones are Long Beach State, Pacific, Southern California, Ohio State, Arizona, Nebraska and Colorado State. Her cousin, Post Falls High grad Janelle Ruen, is an Eastern Washington freshman who will play volleyball and basketball.

Ruen’s high school and club coaches believe she’ll be among the top five setters in the nation recruited next year.

“She could be in the top three,” said Art Lambert, the former University of Notre Dame coach who directs the North Idaho Volleyball Club. Ruen has the physical and athletic package colleges look for in a setter. She’s 5-foot-11, has long arms and a natural feel for the game.

As smooth as the transition was during club, Ruen, at the most, was going to be the second setter on the high school team in a 6-2 attack with Jessica Lippi, a senior and returning three-year starter.

Ruen became the lone setter when Lippi had to sit out the season with a serious back injury. Moving Ruen from middle blocker was made easier when coach Jeff Hurst was able to fill the middle with much-improved Jennie James and transfer Kendrea Meyer.

Still, Hurst debated the decision.

“I was taking one of the top hitters in the state and moving her to setter,” Hurst said.

The Bulldogs - and Ruen - have made the transition. Sandpoint is 18-1, 6-0 in the Border League, and appears to be rounding into form to contend for a state title.

Ruen is glad she went back to her roots.

“I love the challenge of setting,” Ruen said. “It’s the most involved position on the team. You have to know everything that’s going on, who’s doing what, who’s playing well, what the other team is doing, where the other team is blocking. And then you have to communicate it to your team.”

Initially, though, Ruen was uncomfortable during the early club season.

“I felt really out of place - that I should be hitting,” Ruen said. “I just never thought I’d be good at it.”

The most difficult part was getting the timing down.

“I could set balls that were coming straight to me, but as soon as I had to take more than a step I’d get messed up.”

The touch finally started to come.

Ruen’s hitting skills also give Sandpoint another threat at the net as she frequently records kills off free balls, overfeeds and dumps.

And she’s developed a particularly nasty jump serve that, with the right amount of topspin, dives quickly to the floor.

What’s made setting easier this fall is that she has been the beneficiary of on-the-mark passes from talented teammates.

“That’s helped a lot,” Ruen said. “But I still have a lot of room for improvement.”

Lambert has stressed that Ruen must commit herself to a strength program if she wants to reach goals of being an Olympic- and international-level player.

“She has the physical capabilities to do anything she wants - anything,” Lambert said. “That’s heady praise. But if she wants to achieve her goals it’s going to take a lot of commitment off the court. There’s a price to pay.”

Ruen has applied to be a foreign exchange student in Australia during the fall semester of her senior year. So she’s approaching this season as her last. She played on the state runner-up team two years ago and was on the Bulldogs’ regular-season undefeated team (27-0) that fell short of expectations last year.

State will be held at Sandpoint, where the Bulldogs will be heavily favored.

“Last year, we expected we’d win it,” she said. “This year, we know we just can’t expect to win it. We know we’re going to have to compete and do our best. We know this is the last chance to win a state title for a while.”

To that end, the Bulldogs are in good hands with Ruen.