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One game to decide NHS' fate
Westview looms for Newberg
Bucks look to close out season with
win
St. Paul set to host Jewell in
sub-district matchup
GFU can't get by Bearcats, Wildcats
| Loudest
quiet leader |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
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Newberg High School junior Rachel Yurkovich doesn’t yell and
doesn’t scream. What she does do is hit the ball hard and often.
Late last week, Yurkovich was named the Pac-9 Conference’s most valuable
player after she helped the Tigers to their first-ever conference title and state playoff
berth.
However, obtaining the honor wasn’t at the forefront of her mind,
Yurkovich said.
“It was something I wanted but I really didn’t think I would
get,” she said. “(Athletic trainer Gretchen Nylander) said I should make it a
goal, so it was in my head but I never really thought about it.”
First-year coach Ronni Cook said Yurkovich is a quiet leader.
“She’s not super vocal, but the other players really feed off of
her energy,” she said. “She’s not really vocal but she really fires up
other players by her level of play. I think she makes her teammates step up to her level
of play.”
Yurkovich, a junior, who led the league with 371 kills this season, has made
an impression on the history of Newberg sports. As a freshman on the softball team, she
was a second-team all-league pitcher. But it was when she was a sophomore that she tried
her hand in the javelin for the track team and became one of the state’s best,
including picking up a victory at the Golden West Invitational, a meet of the
nation’s top high school athletes. Yurkovich also played basketball as a freshman,
but opted to concentrate on volleyball her sophomore season.
Last season, Yurkovich played on Newberg’s varsity team as well. She
said she had heard that Nike had several volleyball teams that played throughout the area
and she figured she would tryout for the team, even though she had to give up basketball.
“It ended up being something I wanted to do,” she said. “I
like basketball, but it’s a sport you really have to love. It’s a lot of work. I
like it and it’s fun to play but volleyball is what I like better. I didn’t feel
as strong in basketball as I do in volleyball.”
Yurkovich ended up making the top 16-year-old team — the Nike 16 Air
Elite. The season ran from November through July. Along with her javelin competitions,
last summer was busy.
“It’s really a long time, plus with doing javelin meets ... I was
in California four times in one month going back and forth for the javelin and
volleyball,” she said.
Her future on the Nike team is up in the air, Yurkovich said. She wants to
play club ball, but may tryout for the Nike team again.
“Nike was a great experience,” she said. “I learned a lot. If
it didn’t improve me, I learned a lot about the game, like more strategy than
anything.”
The end of the Nike season didn’t allow Yurkovich much down time in
order to prepare for the impending season for the Tigers. But she had such an advantage of
playing so much volleyball prior to the school season that she essentially became another
coach at the beginning of the season.
“It was awesome,” she said. “It was awesome to come in to camp
and daily doubles and be ready and be able to help other people. It’s hard to tell
people what to do because they’ll take it the wrong way. It’s being able to have
input there.”
The coaching aspect of the Tigers was up in the air. Bryan Bahns had resigned
and Newberg was trying to find a new coach. In stepped Cook, the junior varsity coach for
the past few seasons. Under Cook, the Tigers went from last season’s 6-10 record to
this year’s 13-3 record.
“I think she’s more of a friend to us and I think if we have
problems we can go to her,” Yurkovich said of Cook. “It’s not like last
year where everyone is bickering and fighting and stuff. Part of our team chemistry is
because of her and that we can talk to her ... She knows what to say and when to say
it.”
Coming into the season, Yurkovich couldn’t predict what kind of season
the Tigers were going to have.
“I think we didn’t know what to expect, but we didn’t expect
the worst,” she said. “We expected an improvement, but I don’t think
expected this and it’s not that we’re the best team out there. We all want to
win and we all have fun playing together. We just have a lot of chemistry on and off the
court.”
That chemistry has been evident. Newberg won its first eight games of the
conference season and went on to claim a dramatic victory over rival McMinnville in the
conference’s playoff game for the No. 1 seed to state. This season was
Yurkovich’s to shine.
“I have a great team,” she said. “I couldn’t have gotten
the MVP without them. Last year, we had Mallory (Webb), who was a great player, and this
was my year to do it.”
Webb was on the varsity team as starter for three years. The two not only
battled each other during the javelin meets but for the amount of sets each one received
last season. Webb, who was a second-team all-league selection last year, received the
majority of the sets.
“It was frustrating because she got the sets all of the time ... so I
know this year I got them all of the time so I can relate to (my teammates),”
Yurkovich said. “It’s not fair, I know it’s not fair, but I don’t
coach and I don’t tell (setter Allison Braun) where to set.”
Last season, everyone didn’t see it the same way.
“There were a few people that bickered and there were a few people that
fought and that got to everyone and I don’t know if it was jealousy or what but for
some reason that hasn’t happened this year,” Yurkovich said. “I know a
couple of times people have come up to me and said they were frustrated about not getting
sets ... Krystal (Barrera) is my best friend and we’ve played sports together forever
and we always fight in sports, but for some reason this year, we’ve never
fought.”
Winning a conference title and scoring the program’s first-ever trip to
the state tournament stops a lot of the bickering. The Tigers will travel to the Chiles
Center at the University of Portland Friday for three matches — an 8 a.m. match
against Barlow, a 10 a.m. matchup against Ashland and a noon matchup against the
state’s No. 1 team, West Linn.
Teams play the best 2-of-3 games. The first two games are to 25 points and
the final game is to 15 points. The top two teams advance to pool play on Saturday.
Yurkovich said she’s not sure if the rigorous schedule will effect the
team.
“We’ll see,” she said. “We’ve been running and I
think we’ll do our best. I’ve never been to state so I don’t know what to
expect, but we’ll play our best and see what happens.”
Cook said it will be interesting to see how the Tigers play against the
Lions.
“It depends on if we come ready to play and how West Linn is,” she
said. “I think we’re at a little bit of a disadvantage just because we’ve
never been there. They might feel a little more comfortable so I’m going to talk to
the girls a little bit about that this week to make them feel like they belong.
“I think if we start out strong and get a jump on some of these teams
that aren’t expecting it, I think we might surprise some people at the tournament and
that’s what we’re hoping for.” |
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From Oct. 29,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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