Happy to be healthy

Melissa Mauro is healthy.

The West Valley High School junior volleyball co-captain is finally healthy after two surgeries on her right knee since basketball season her freshman season.

“It’s starting to feel like it did before I got hurt,” the outside hitter explained. “I’m finally getting to the point where I can go out there and not have to think about it and not feel it.”

Mauro first injured her knee playing basketball as a freshman. After reconstruction surgery, she returned to play basketball as a sophomore and reinjured the same knee. This time, surgeons were able to repair the damage by less-invasive means.

Not only did the injuries keep Mauro off the volleyball court, it kept her off the track, where she is a state-caliber high jumper.

“Just before the start of this season I finally got the screws taken out,” she said. “That got me off to a slow start, but I’m getting close to being 100 percent again.

“The doctors tell me it will never be completely the size it was before.”

Having a healthy Mauro, combined with sophomore setter Alyssa Wold, has coach Drew Wendle thinking about the future.

Wold won the starting setter job at the start of her freshman season and has been the team’s anchor in the middle.

“I’m really enjoying watching those two play together,” he said. “But what’s exciting to me about watching them is knowing that I’m going to have them both back again next year. The more they play together, the better they get.”

Mauro is pleased with the way her team is playing.

“We were all pretty nervous before our first game in the new gym,” she said. “But once we got past that we’ve been playing better and better.

“We’ve got a really good setter, and we’ve done a good job of getting her the ball. It all starts with the getting her a good pass. If we get her a good pass, she does a great job of putting the ball where it needs to be.”

Wold has compiled 30 or more assists in three of the team’s first six league games and Mauro has led the team in kills on three occasions, twice amassing 13 put-aways in a match.

“It makes me want to really stay on her good side so she’ll keep feeding me the ball,” Mauro laughed. “We’re all working really hard and it’s so much fun when it all comes together.”

The volleyball team has been the first group to use the new gym – an element that added some extra adrenalin to its first match.

“Everyone was pretty pumped up about getting to use the gym for the first time,” she is said. “It’s great. We have our own volleyball scoreboard so it keeps track of our statistics, which is terrific. It makes us feel appreciated in our gym.

“The only problem is that it’s set up for basketball. The lines on the floor aren’t set up for volleyball, so we have to put tape down before every match. Once we get that part taken care of, it will be great.”

The Eagles opened the Great Northern League season with six wins in their first seven games – and that one loss was a win that just slipped away.

“That was against Pullman,” Mauro said. “They beat us in three games, but we were ahead in that match. But we gave up 11 points on out-of-rotation penalties and gave the game away. We just weren’t mentally in that match.

“I’m really looking forward to playing them again.”

Playing in the Class 2A GNL has been a good fit, Mauro said. The team goes into every match knowing it can compete with anyone.

“We started out the season with the jamboree against Central Valley, East Valley and University,” she said. “Once we figured out we could play with those big schools, it was no big deal facing anyone in our league.”

The Eagles open the second half of their GNL season tonight when they play host to Riverside, a team that pushed them to five games in their first meeting.

Mauro is excited about being injury free and able to pursue her favorite sport.

“The thing is, my favorite sport is whichever one I’m playing at the moment,” she laughed. “I’m excited about the basketball season. We finally have the same coach coming back. The seniors that graduated last year had four coaches in four years.

“And I’m really looking forward to being able to high jump.”