photo courtesy of BCR
High Hall School standout Kendall Rush was named co-2008 BCR Volleyball Player of the Year. Princeton senior Leah Shaw was the other co-2008 BCR Volleyball Player of the Year.Kendall Rush Named BCR Volleyball Co-Player of the Year
Shares Honor With Princeton's Leah Shaw
by Chris Yucus-BCR
December 05, 2008
SPRING VALLEY — For Hall standout Kendall Rush, having a short memory is essential to playing good volleyball.
“I like to focus on, if I don’t have a good game or if I hit a ball out of bounds, to realize what I did wrong and fix it, not dwell on messing up,” Rush said.
It is that focus that enabled Rush to gain unanimous NCIC Lincoln all-conference selection, all-state second-team honors and now selection as the 2008 BCR co-Player of the Year with Princeton’s Leah Shaw.
The responsibility of being a captain on the Lady Red Devil’s volleyball team, helped Rush establish her positive outlook on the sport.
“I think it makes me a better person, being a captain and getting to lead, I like that a lot. I knew that I had to keep the team up, and tell everyone how to react, not to get upset about messing up or anything,” she said.
By helping others, Rush says she was better able to keep herself focused on a strong mental approach to volleyball.
“I loved seeing her at practice and the smiles she seemed to have. I think she was one kid that made her presence known. She worked hard. She certainly had faith. It’s my number one criteria for a captain. I think she accomplished what she set out to do,” Hall coach Demi Salazar said.
Rush led Hall with 307 kills this year, with a 3.89 kill per game ratio, and helped get her team an appearance in the regional finals, where the Lady Red Devils fell to Princeton and co-player of the year Leah Shaw.
“She’s definitely one of the best players in the area, we really focused in on her a lot,” Shaw said. “They were a really good team and everything, they were fast, but we tried to make them make mistakes, and we tried to play our best games against them.”
Despite falling short at regionals, Rush considers the season a success.
“This year was a lot of fun, even though it didn’t end up like we expected it to be. On our team, everyone enjoyed each other, and we had a good time,” Rush said.
For her accomplishments on the season, Rush was picked as a second-team selection for the Champaign Gazette’s all-state honors.
“That was a big surprise, I got honorable mention last year, and I was really surprised (to make the second team), it was very exciting,” Rush said.
Rush credits time spent at the club volleyball level during the offseason with helping her game reach all-state caliber.
“My coach was Laurie Polte for last year and the year before that was Demi. They both know so much about volleyball, and coach it so well. I think that’s what helped me out. They tried to teach me where to hit it, how to hit different angles and everything, different positions,” Rush said.
“We asked Kendall to push herself to be that which nobody in the area had ever been. She hit more balls in the 10-foot line than any girl I ever coached. She grew from a girl who was a 50-percent in, 50-percent out hitter to one of the most powerful girls I ever saw,” Salazar said.
Rush says that the aspect of her game that she has improved the most over her career is passing. Losing her back-row spot as a freshman helped push her to improve her overall game.
“My freshman year I got my back-row spot taken away, and I was really upset about it. I kind of thought that I wouldn’t be in the back anymore and would just play front row. Volleyball was my favorite sport and you don’t want to sit on the bench for your favorite sport.”
Not content to languish on the bench, Rush focused on bettering her passing skills, with great results.
“She improved most at passing, but she expected to improve. She worked hard,” said Salazar.
Rush, a two-sport star in volleyball and track for Hall, says that she is leaning towards only pursuing track at the collegiate level, although schools are still contacting her about volleyball and she has yet to make a final decision. She says that if she picks track that she will give up volleyball in the future to remain focused on running.
