‘Surreal’ for Sanchez
Sophomore even surprises herself with role in Andrean’s run to state final
Andrean’s Marin Sanchez struggles to comprehend how fast all of it has happened.
“I still can’t believe it now,” Sanchez said. “Most of the people I know have been playing forever. It still feels surreal to me that it’s been such a short time.”
The 5-foot-9 sophomore outside hitter started playing volleyball in sixth grade. Just four years later, she’s one of the key offensive weapons for Andrean, which will play Western Boone in the Class 2A state championship match at Ball State on Saturday.
Sanchez was an avid softball player before making the switch to volleyball. Her mother Jessica was a college volleyball player, and conversations with her steered Sanchez to give the sport a try while still in grade school at St. Michael in Schererville.
“I started playing it and just fell in love with it,” Sanchez said. “I loved it more than softball.”
Her father Nick was a college baseball player, so there was plenty of athletic stock from which to draw for Sanchez.
By the time Sanchez was in eighth grade, Andrean coach Grant Bell started hearing about the local middle school kid who was thriving in CYO. It didn’t take long for Sanchez to make an impression on Bell once she arrived at Andrean last year.
“She’s just so physically gifted,” Bell said. “She can jump so high and has such long arms.
“It quickly became apparent that she belonged on a high-level team, and she stepped up to every challenge of what we asked her to do.”
As a freshman, Sanchez was all over the stat sheets for the 59ers, finishing the season second on the team in kills with 154, tied for third in aces with 29 and fourth in digs with 131.
Her first postseason experience ended in disappointment, however. Andrean lost to Fairfield in a regional semifinal, a loss that Sanchez described as “one of the worst moments of my life.”
A teamwide focus emerged from that loss, though, with each player searching for ways to improve to ensure that particular pain would not be felt by any Andrean player in 2021.
For Sanchez, that meant improving her vertical leap so more of her hits found the floor. Bell said they also have been working with Sanchez to make her a scoring threat no matter where the ball arrives when it’s heading in her direction.
“Great outside hitters can hit from wherever the set is,” Bell said. “This year we’ve noticed that she’s been able to do that.
“She’s making more aggressive swings on not-perfect sets. She also increased her arm speed so she’s hitting the ball harder too.”
Sanchez’s numbers have skyrocketed this season — some of that attributable to Andrean having fewer matches affected by the coronavirus pandemic. She’s up to 342 kills — second on the team behind senior Angelina Majchrowicz’s 377 — with 268 digs and 37 aces.
But Sanchez’s favorite number this season is Andrean’s 31-5 record. The 59ers are one win shy of the program’s second state title.
“I know we’re all going to have some nerves at first,” she said. “It feels like it’s more of a mental game now than a physical one. I keep daydreaming about what it’s going to be like because I’ve never been in a gym that big before.”