Momentum is key

Rachel Bonertz has been there.

The senior East Valley middle blocker knows first-hand the power of momentum on the volleyball court. A starter for the Spokane Splash U-17 club team, she helped the squad place third in the Junior Olympics.

Perhaps more than any sport, volleyball teams feed on momentum. A team gets on a roll and opposition can get swept aside like water off a bowsprit.

“You see that all the time,” Bonertz said. “The better team doesn’t always win. Momentum is a huge factor.”

And it will be key for the Knights this week.

Coming off a battle with Greater Spokane League power and two-time defending State 4A champion Mead Tuesday, East Valley can cement an automatic berth in the Class 3A regional tournament with a victory at West Valley tonight.

The Knights swept aside Class 3A rivals Cheney and Clarkston, but dropped a five-game thriller to North Central.

Having been on teams that have taken full advantage of momentum, the East Valley captain would love to share the feeling with her current teammates.

“That is so extremely important, especially when you do it early in the season,” she explained. “You learn that you can do it, and if you can do it then you can do it for the entire season. You start your season with a win and carry the momentum through the whole season.”

That’s difficult for the Class 3A teams in the GSL, the premier Class 4A league in the state boasting three of the top four finishers in last year’s state tourney.

“It’s hard to keep going,” she said. “Sometimes you just get slaughtered. Some of the teams have so much more than we do, experience-wise. It can be difficult.

“Then they get those huge hits and that gets the crowd fired up behind them.”

Bonertz has worked hard to help her teammates feel that thrill.

“The thing about this team is that we are so together – more than any team I’ve been on here,” she said. “We all get along so well. I remember what it was like to be a freshman and how intimidated I was by the seniors on that team. I didn’t want this year’s freshmen to feel that way. I wanted them all to feel they were an equal part of the team.”

She’s also helped pass along what she’s learned from the game through her experiences with the Splash.

“Whatever I’ve learned, anything I’ve picked up playing the game, I’m happy to pass on,” she said. “So much of volleyball is about knowing where you need to be, how to read the person on the other side of the net so you can be where you need to be.

“At the same time, I really try to be positive. I remember what it was like when I was younger and how much it meant to me to have one of the upperclassmen pat me on the back.”

Bonertz also encourages her younger teammates to play club volleyball.

“With some of the bigger schools, their whole team is made up of club volleyball players,” she explained. “We don’t have that luxury there. Volleyball isn’t everyone’s first sport, I understand that, and it’s OK.

“But I know what I got out of playing club volleyball. I didn’t play a lot at first. It wasn’t until I was in my junior year that I got to play and moved into the starting lineup. That experience has really helped me.”

Most of all, she said, her game has gotten to the point where she doesn’t have to think about her positioning – it comes as a natural flow within the game.

“When you have to stop to think about what’s happening and what you need to do, you can be late,” she said. “The more you don’t have to think about what you’re doing, the better off you are.”

Bonertz hopes some of her younger teammates will follow her lead.

“I don’t talk about playing club volleyball with the upper classmen on the team,” she admitted. “I know they have other priorities. But if some of our younger players, the freshmen, want to focus on volleyball, I encourage them to play club ball.”