Westfield sophomore outside hitter Sammi Spees knows better than anyone how her teammates feel. Senior outside hitter Catlin Goodman and junior middle hitter Kelsey Maloney have spent the past two weeks fighting off illnesses. Both were sick enough that Bulldogs coach Jim Bour didn’t allow either to even attend last Thursday’s game against Annandale.
For kids who live and breathe volleyball like Maloney and Goodman, that isn’t an easy order to follow. Spees said she felt the same void when she spent the first two months of the season hobbled by a severe ankle sprain.
“It’s really frustrating, especially when you don’t know how long you’ll be out,” said Spees, who was hurt on Aug. 6 during practice and only recently returned to the court on Oct. 5. “I think we’re all ready for the game where everybody is healthy and we’re finally back to normal.”
But even without three of its top players, Westfield hasn’t missed a beat. Senior Brittany Hurst established herself as a key presence filling in for Spees and senior Danielle Barondess has been a jack-of-all trades wherever Bour needs her. Add in senior Rachel Haney, who has 15 blocks and picked up the slack for Maloney, and steady seniors Jill Sasek, the libero, and Kim Corcoran and the Bulldogs believe they have enough depth to make some noise at this year’s Group AAA state tournament.
Maloney, a 6-foot-3 middle blocker, is still out with pneumonia and may not be at full strength until the postseason tournaments begin at the endof the month. Goodman was scheduled to return Tuesday night at Yorktown after missing two games with the flu.
“Any other year we couldn’t have survived losing our best players for long stretches like this,” Bour said. “But these kids have been up to the challenge. In this generation-of-me time, it’s one of the most unselfish teams I’ve ever coached.”
Bulldogs bite
» Westfield is ranked No. 1 in The Examiner’s Top 5 poll and was 12-1 entering Tuesday night’s non-district game at Yorktown.
» The Bulldogs have an ambitious upcoming schedule. They host Concorde District rival Centreville, the defending district champion, on Thursday and travel to Richmond on Saturday for matches against Douglas Freeman and Deep Run, last year’s state finalists.
» Westfield is the defending Northern Region champion. The Bulldogs lost in the state quarterfinals last year to Deep Run, 3-0.
