BC Volleyball Ready For NWAC Championships

Jocelyn Lawrence
Head coach Jocelyn Lawrence

The Bellevue College volleyball team has matured into a contender entering the NWCA Championship Tournament. Then again, with just three returning sophomores, it’s not like the Bulldogs had a choice.

The Bulldogs, with nine freshmen on the roster, steadily improved throughout the season en route to winning the NWAC North Region title with an 11-1 league mark and a 32-12 overall record.

The Bulldogs open play in the NWAC Championship Tournament against Spokane on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center. Spokane, the fourth-place finisher in the East Region, was 11-5 in league, but 33-9 overall. Bellevue lost twice to Spokane in the season-opening Everett tournament in mid-September, including the championship match.

The NWAC Championship Tournament runs from Thursday through the championship match on Sunday, Nov. 19.

“We have a really young team, we have nine freshmen, so they’ve improved immensely,” said BC head coach Jocelyn Lawrence, named Tuesday as NWAC North Region Coach of the Year. “Not only individually, but as a unit.”

Although the Bulldogs knew they had earned a spot in the NWAC tournament, the North Region title and subsequent top seed went down to the final regular-season match against Edmonds, which BC won 3-2, coming from behind to win the last two games. Had the Bulldogs lost that match, Edmonds would have won the region on a tie-breaker.

“The girls are ready,” Lawrence said. “We didn’t really start talking about this because the North was decided in the big match against Edmonds, so we really focused on that match, and then really started focusing on NWACs once we got past that. So, the last four practices have been really zoned in on what we want to do at NWACs.”

The Bulldogs won their first seven league matches before losing at home to Skagit Valley, 3-2. After getting back on track in a crossover tournament, BC won its final four league contests.

“Looking back, obviously you never like to lose, but it was kind of a good reminder you can’t rely just only on your talent,” Lawrence said. “If a comes in here and wants to work harder than you, they can take it.”

Despite the turnover in players, the freshmen are aware of last season’s NWAC tournament when the higher-seeded Bulldogs were up 2-0 in their opener and lost, before battling back for a seventh-place finish. Returning sophomores Averi Dyer, Erika Weber and Kyla Mellick.- now rounding into form after an injury – have passed along their tournament experience.

“Almost everyone would have picked us over them and I think nerves got in the way,” Lawrence said. “We got up early on them and they fought back and took it from us. The whole gym was watching.”

“Of the sophomores that could have been returning, these three know what it takes,” she said. “They know what it’s like playing at NWACs and what it’s going to take. They’ve been talking about the magic that happens at NWACs. It’s a different energy, different feeling that you don’t get anywhere else.”

Lawrence missed about two weeks of the season for the birth of her first child, Deacon John Lawrence.

“I had him on our first conference game, literally the same night,” she said. “I was watching the game from the delivery room.”

As such, Lawrence credits assistant coaches Angela D’Amelio, Jessica Forshee and Seann Smallwood for maintaining the steady improvement without missing a beat.

“I slowly worked back in, but my assistants took over,” Lawrence said. “They deserve all the attention and credit of this year. They took over for me big time. They took over when things started to matter, after our preseason games, but the ones that got us to NWACs.”

Dyer was named MVP of the North Region and Weber was a first-team all-region selection, as was freshman Carlee Rowell. Freshman Megan Rogers was a second-team pick.

“Our sophomores really led this team, but at some point all season, different players have stepped up at different times,” Lawrence said. “We couldn’t have won some of our games without our bench. We have 12 players that care about the six on the court doing their job and winning the game.”

 

 

 

 

 

Last Updated November 14, 2017