Benny Westcott
Three former Sweet Home volleyball players from last season’s squad which delivered the Huskies their first-ever state volleyball championship, were back at it over the weekend as Linn-Benton Community College won its first-ever Northwest Athletic Conference championship victory in any women’s sport.
Freshmen Shelbey Nichol, Graci Zanona and Savannah Hutchins helped the Roadrunners triumph over Skagit Valley 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-15) in the NWAC championship volleyball match at Pierce College in Pulllayup, Wash., on Sunday.
The game put the finishing touches on a dominant year for the Beaks, who finished with a 32-2 overall record, including a perfect 16-0 mark in South Region play. The 36-member NWAC is the largest community college conference in the United States.
Nichol, who played at the opposite hitter and middle blocker positions this season, said that playing with her high school teammates “was natural and made me really happy. We all enjoy playing with each other so much, and I’m really happy we got to continue.”
“It was great,” said Hutchins, a setter. “I’ve known these girls for many years. We all grew up together and have been playing with each other since we were nine.”
Zanona, who played libero, added that “it was like old times playing back at Sweet Home when all three of us were on the court together. We were able to make connections.” She speculated that the former Huskies were all on the court at the same time about 25% of the gameplay this season.
Linn-Benton Volleyball Head Coach Jayme Frazier, in her 28th year in that role, said that the three Sweet Home recruits were “already great teammates and good friends, and contributed to our great chemistry across the board with this team.”
“Sometimes people would shy away from bringing three people in from the same program,” the coach continued. “But in this case, she noted the trio’s athleticism, competitiveness and willingness to learn.
“They’ve been completely open to coaching,” Frazier said, adding “It’s been nothing but a win, for a number of reasons.”
Frazier spoke highly of the three former Huskies’ work ethic.
“All three of them love to be in the gym all the time. They were raised around sports. They live it.”
She noted that the girls have “exceeded expectations.”
Zanona said she believes her experience playing for Sweet Home prepared her well for the college level.
“(Coach Mary Hutchins) was very hard on us and expected a lot of us, so I expected a lot of myself,” she said.
“Frazier also has very high expectations and holds us to a high standard. But I was used to that already.”
Zanona also credited the fact that Sweet Home played “really good teams” at the 4A level, and competed against “some girls that went on to play at the D1 level or for other colleges.”
“Playing all those girls, I was already playing against college athletes,” the freshman said.
Still, college ball was a level up from high school, she said.
“The pace of the game was quicker,” Zanona said, a sentiment echoed by Nichol, who said, “I definitely feel like high school is a little slower-paced.”
Hutchins said that during her time playing for Sweet Home, she learned “how to be extremely competitive, trust my teammates and work well with people I just met.”
Nichol said the key to the Roadrunners’ success this season was “executing on the details.”
“We really focused on the important things first,” she said. “The game in front of us was always the most important thing. We never talked about, ‘If we beat this team, we’ll have this team next.’ We always had the mentality that ‘This game is what matters now.'”
Zanona said “We were very good with each other. There was no drama between anybody. We picked each other up when we were down.”
“We all had really good relationships with each other,” Hutchins said of the team. “We are great friends and worked well together.”
And despite their success this season, the Roadrunners had their fair share of “downs” to overcome this year. The Sweet Home girls alone all had to be quarantined for COVID-19 at different points in the season. Zanona was quarantined for two weeks from Aug. 20 to Sept. 4 after contracting COVID, she said.
“I got pretty sick. It was not a good time.”
She missed some scrimmages and one preseason game. “It was definitely hard, being a month in and then getting COVID,” she said. “I missed out on team dynamics. Luckily, I was able to come back and connect with the girls.”
Nichol said she was quarantined for COVID three times, while Hutchins had to sit out three times as well.
All team members had to undergo COVID tests before every away game, and non-vaccinated athletes had to get tested before all games.
Still, the Roadrunners persevered. The Sweet Home players won a state championship this past spring while working through COVID protocols, having to wear masks during gameplay. That helped the former Huskies prepare for competing at the next level in a pandemic environment.
Nichol also credited her high school career for teaching her how to play in tense situations. “If Jayme (Frazier) asked me to go in at crucial moments, I wasn’t going to fold or be nervous about it, I was just going to play like I always had. Mary (Hutchins) taught me how to be poised under pressure.”
Frazier talked highly of Sweet Home’s program. “They just keep putting out a winning program, year after year, and producing great athletes who have opportunities to play at the next level if they want,” she said of the Huskies.
Nichol, Zanona and Hutchins join Michelle Burnet Tow, Ally Tow, Mandy Vannice Elliot, and Krissy Tack as Sweet Home volleyball players who went on to play the sport at LBCC. Previously, the Roadrunners’ best results were runner-up finishes in the NWAC championship in 2000 and 2016.
Nichol had a hitting percentage of .249 this season, putting her third-best on the team in that statistic. The percentage is a barometer of how well a player is making successful kill attempts, and is calculated by subtracting errors from kills and then dividing that by total attempts. The 5-11 freshman had 120 kills this season, putting her sixth on the team in that statistic.
Zanona had 128 digs on the season, putting her at fifth on the squad in that tally. And Hutchins had 104 digs of her own, while racking up the third most assists on the team with 271.