By Ryan Haskel / Times Sports Writer
Whiting Senior Becca Papach loves basketball.
That’s her passion, that’s where her heart is. That’s how she spends
most of her free time.
Papach averaged more than 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds a game for
the Oilers in her junior season.
But she’s not a bad volleyball player either.
In fact, one can argue, she’s the best volleyball player to put on a
jersey at Whiting.
Papach reached the 1,000-kill mark for her career against Wheeler in
the Griffith Invitational last Saturday/ She has 1.078 career kills
following Thursday’s match with Griffith.
All of this came about thanks to one request from her older sister
Katie.
“My sister convinced me to play volleyball freshman year,” said Becca,
who is the second oldest of five kids. “She said, ’You like to jump
and stuff, so you’ll like it.’ I was really only concerned with
basketball up until that point. But she said. ‘No Becca, you’ll like
it.’ “
And she has enjoyed herself since. That’s why coach Dan Nichols made
her captain last season.
“Becca’s leadership made her an excellent choice for speaking captain,
even as a junior,” said Nichols, who saw Papach smash 219 kills as a
sophomore. “She is the best floor captain that I have ever coached.
She was always talking it up out on the court and encouraging the
other girls.
“Becca took the role of captain and lewd by example. Her intense play
and desire to win helped the other girls become better players.”
Papach finished with 394 kills, 113 block kills and 45 aces her junior
year and led the smallest school in the LAC to seventh place finish
out of 13 teams. She also was named second-team All-Area.
She leads the state with 364 kills this year and broke her own school
record twice by totaling 30 kills in a match.
“The most amazing thing about Becca is her net play,” Nichols said.
“She gets so high above the net that her hitting is the best in the
area, and possible the state. Her blocking is outstanding, (and) she
is leading the state in block kills, too.”
“Best of all, Becca is rarely ever in the net. She gets to almost
every ball, and over the years, she has pulled off some moves that are
worthy of being in an action sequence on the ‘Matrix’. Her ability to
avoid being in the net and getting balls that are seemingly unhittable
amazes me on an almost daily basis.”
Papach has done all this despite being double-teamed at the net most
of the season.
“It’s important not to get rattled,” said Papach, who also sets for
Whiting. “It’s kind of funny hearing the other coach saying, “Where’s
No.6? Where’s No. 6? But I’ve got good defensive players like Stacy
Combs helping me out.”
Setter Sarah Brown is pretty amazed that Papach has continued to
dominate, too.
“She’s our best offensive player,” Brown said. “I can put the ball
basically anywhere at the net and she’ll make a kill out of anything.
She usually handles it well. Our coverage is usually there is they do
get a hand on it.”
