There’s an empty spot in the Willard gym that the volleyball team has tried to fill for 14 years.
“We’ve just taken pictures throughout the season just pointing to that spot on the wall, because that’s where our state plaque would go with all our names on it,” said sophomore volleyball player Maddy Bushnell.
“My kids have stood beneath that spot since the first day of the season. And they knew if we put it together we had the team to do it,” said head volleyball coach Jamalee Hancock.
A team of mostly underclassmen, and their names will be hanging in the rafters after beating Blue Springs South in the quarterfinals, making it to state for the first time ever in Class 4.
“The first thing I thought was that we finally did it, and I just started crying because I’m just so proud of everybody, because we all just stepped up together and really showed what we can do as a team,” said sophomore Payton Van Veen.
A big part of this team is the height, and the Tigers are led by the two six-foot sophomores, Payton Van Veen and Maddy Bushnell.
“Maddy and Payton, both of them are a big threat. Maddy will pull the block because she’s super hard to defend. She’ll open up stuff for our outside hitters. Payton is so powerful on the outside,” said Hancock.
What’s it like playing with Maddy? “Oh, it’s definitely a blessing, because Maddy is such a good player. I’m so happy I get to play with her because she’s so good and so talented and really works for the team,” said Payton.
“I love it. I’ve played with her for a long time, we’ve played club together, and she’s great. She’s really fun to play with,” Maddie said.
Payton and Maddy have two more years playing at Willard after this one, and possibly four more after that, since this spring both of them verbally committed to play for Missouri State.
“She committed first and I was like yeah, and I wanted to do it too, and now we get to do it together,” said Maddie.
For a great season, and many more to come Payton and Maddy are this week’s Arby’s High School Athletes of the Week.
