Washington Township’s Flanders has come a long way

Updated: October 3, 2011 7:15PM

Vickie Flanders was a bench warmer on her eighth-grade volleyball team.

She rarely rides the pine anymore.

Flanders, who has been starting on the Washington Township volleyball team since her sophomore season, is the top player on the best team in the Porter County Conference these days.

And after Friday’s win over Morgan Township, the Senators clinched their fifth straight regular season conference championship with a 7-0 mark.

Flanders had a lot to do with that.

“She is our leader in every aspect,” Washington Township coach Scott Campbell said. “She’s always there to help us out; she’s got just such a natural, athletic ability. When we need a kill, she pretty much gets us a kill.”

The 5-foot-9 outside hitter would have disagreed with that statement heading into her freshman year. Flanders said she hardly found time on the court eighth-grade year at Washington Township Junior High and wasn’t sure how much she would play as a freshman.

Turns out, she was pretty good once she found her rhythm on the court.

Flanders said her coach had a lot to do with her success.

“Coach Campbell helped me pretty much learn everything,” said Flanders, who racked up 353 kills her junior season. “He’s a good coach. He helped me with the front row, back row and serving.”

Flanders is having another strong season this year, posting 247 kills, 38 aces and 120 digs in 28 matches. Her team is currently 24-4.

But there’s still more work to do.

Flanders was up with the team her freshman year (2008) when the Senators started their current sectional championship streak. She plans to keep that tradition alive when the postseason rolls around.

Sectionals start on Oct. 18. The sectional draw will be announced next week, Oct. 10.

Flanders and her teammates are ready for the challenge ahead.

“We’ve all been playing together since our freshmen year,” said Flanders, of her five senior teammates. “We’ve all grown up together.

“We made it to the last game of regionals last year and we just didn’t play well. So our goal this year is to play better and get to semistate. I’m hoping we can step it up this year and get past regionals.”

It would be quite a feat since Washington Township has never won a regional title. It would also be a fitting end to coach Campbell’s career. The eighth-year coach is hanging up his whistle after the season.

“We definitely would like to win it for him, too,” Flanders said. “I know we’d like to do that for him.”

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