Ehlo emerges from background

Waiting her turn may not have been easy, but it’s something Erica Ehlo never minded.

A senior at Lewis and Clark, Ehlo has played varsity volleyball for the Tigers since her sophomore year. As an outside hitter, she was behind players such as Ivy Bush and Arianne Jackson and the Tigers already had solid middles in Hannah Zimmerman and Janae Forney.

“For two years (Erica) has played on varsity with great outside hitters who didn’t play other positions,” LC coach Julie Yearout said in an e-mail. “We needed Erica to be able to go into matches as either an outside or middle, depending on where we were breaking down and where we needed help”

This year the 18-year-old has come out of her shell and is no longer in the shadows. As a co-captain alongside best friends Forney and Zimmerman, with a deceptively quick arm swing, she starts every match on the outside and often leads her team in kills.

Though she didn’t mind waiting, she seems glad her time has come.

“This year has definitely been more fun,” Ehlo said. “I never really got to start before. To some extent it was frustrating. I guess it really wasn’t my time. I came on when we were so good and it was for the better of the team and I understood why.”

Ehlo, who moved to Spokane when she was in the fourth grade, has played volleyball since she was 11 years old. Her last year in club volleyball was with the Spokane Splash, with Forney and Zimmerman. She missed the last club season because of time constraints.

Forney, Zimmerman and Ehlo make up a senior class that Yearout will miss.

“We are going to miss them tremendously because they fill every spot, Yearout said. “Also, their presence in the gym will be missed because they are all so different. Erica is just enthusiasm, energy and a loud person. Hannah is so quiet, but she is always there, always reliable, always a force and everybody respects her, and Janae is the power player.”

Ehlo also plays varsity tennis at LC, but volleyball is her passion, even though she may have been more predisposed to basketball.

Craig Ehlo, Erica’s father and Washington State Cougars alumnus, had a 14-year career in the NBA with the Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks and Seattle SuperSonics. For the past two years, he was an announcer for the Sonics.

This year, to avoid the commute to Seattle, Ehlo will be part of the KHQ broadcast team for Gonzaga games and will also work some college games for Fox Sports and ESPN.

For Erica, though, there was never any pressure to play basketball.

“My parents never really put pressure on me to play basketball,” Erica said. “Since we were constantly moving, they never started me on AAU teams or anything. It really was never an issue.

“Everyone else, though, thinks your dad is in the NBA so you must be a good basketball player. But he’s been a really great role model for me, showing me how to be a team player and a team leader in any sport.”

With her dad’s influence, Erica has turned herself into a natural leader on the court. You can always hear Erica during rallies. She is the one with the bubbly personality talking to everyone else.

“I guess my role on the team is showing leadership,” Erica said. “I’m known for my enthusiasm on the court and keeping the team together.”

Like all seniors, Erica has some decision to make this year – what to do with the rest of her life.

She may or may not play volleyball next year. She has heard from various schools in Washington, but Ehlo wants to pick a school for more than just volleyball. She is considering schools such as WSU, Washington and several in California.

“I am definitely going to a four-year college,” Ehlo said. “For me, it depends on if there is a school I want to go to that has a volleyball team that I can or want to play for.”