Learning to fly
Now a freshman at Lewis, Joliet Catholic graduate Bella Ray talks about the silver linings of not being able to play volleyball for months
Nowa freshman at Lewis University, Joliet Catholic graduate Bella Ray talks about the silver linings of not being able to play volleyball for months due to the pandemic.
If you try hard enough, you can find a positive in any situation.
Yes, even with COVID-19. Lewis University freshman Bella Ray was all about silver linings whenwe talked on Wednesday.
For the Joliet Catholic graduate, it started happening fromthe very beginning of the pandemic, when her daily life of playing volleyball was shut down for six months.
She and the other incoming freshmen on the women's volleyball team at Lewis got a March surprise fromthe older players.
“We actually were added into all of their group chats in March when school shut down,” Ray said. “They knew we were ending our club season and they wanted us to get implemented into the program early.
“Now, I feel like I've already known them all for so long. And everyone has been super welcoming and helpful.”
From one loving family at Joliet Catholic to another at Lewis. Ray certainly is blessed, isn't she?
Lewis coach Lorelee Smith feels pretty blessed herself. Ray, a 6-foot-2 middle hitter, won't make her first block or put down a kill in a match at least until spring.
But she's already made an impact on the program by showing Smith a quality that doesn't surprise meat all.
“We do a leadership training exercise in small groups and players get to be captains for a short period of a time,” Smith said. “When Bella was a captain, she used her voice and everybody listened.
“She's very articulate with the words she chooses. I think we're really lucky to have her.”
Blessed, lucky, or whatever youwant to call it, Joliet Catholic coach Christine Scheibe has already experienced it in abundance with Ray.
In back-to-back seasons, Ray was a dominant force in the middle for the Angels, who earned Class 3A state trophies for third and second place, respectively.
Talent? Oh, man. In just her junior and senior seasons, Ray totaled 558 kills and 199 blocks. But therewas more.
“She is just a great kid,” Scheibe said. “I mean, she always was. One of the things I always admired about her is that she was her own person.
“She never gave in to peer pressure and never felt like she had to conform and be like everybody else. I think the other girls respected her for that. I respected her for that.”
Ray totally enjoyed the ride. “I remember watching them go to state when Iwas in eighth grade and dreaming of being in that spot,” Ray said of JCA. “My junior season itwas like, ‘Wow, this is exactly what Iwanted. This is it. That's as good as it's going to get.'
“Then my senior year came and Iwas like, ‘We're doing it again.' Itwas kind of a surreal feeling to have the thing you dreamed about for so long come true.”
Itwas during her sophomore season that Ray sent a letter to Lewis and indicated an interest in coming.
“At that time, she wasn't as athletic as she is now,” Smith said. “Butwe liked her. Andwe kept watching her.
“Her junior year we really liked her. And then by club season of her junior year, we absolutely loved her and got her to commit.”
Now, Ray is ready.
“She just keeps getting better and better and more physical,” Smith said. “Even when she practices with us in groups of five or six at a time, I don't see her as a freshman.
“She doesn't carry herself like a freshman and she doesn't practice like a freshman.” And she's Angel strong. “I really do believe that playing for JCA gave me the backbone that I'll need to play at Lewis,” Ray said. “Itwas one of the best experiences.”
Trust me, more are coming.