THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Blasts from the past at state volleyball

You see a lot of familiar faces at state volleyball.

Some of them are from other teams throughout the state — you might not know their name, or even their school, but you remember seeing them at a past state tourney.

Then you glance through the rosters.

In this instance, the roster of the 5A Madison Bobcats of Rexburg.

You notice a player with the last name of Boice and another with the last name of Lamph, and you start asking around …

And you find out Aspen Boice, a sophomore libero, and Brookie Lamph, a junior middle blocker, are granddaughters of former Madison coaches Bob Boice and Jim Lamph.

Only old people like me, who has covered state volleyball tournaments for some 40 years, would remember something as seemingly trivial as that.

But what I remember about Bob Boice, in particular, was how delightfully animated he was on the Bobcats bench during matches in the early 1990s.

You almost found yourself rooting for Madison to win a big point, just so you could look at the bench and see Bob get up and do a little dance, or some other entertaining form of celebration.

Under Boice and Lamph, Madison won the state title in 1992, defeating Sandpoint in the final. Boice also led the Bobcats to state titles in 1988 and ’89.

Bob passed away earlier this year, but seeing those names on this year’s Madison roster brought back some awfully cool memories.

AND THEN there’s Post Falls volleyball coach Willow Hanna.

She played for the Trojans, graduating in 1995, and has coached at her alma mater for 13 seasons, including four in this, her second stint as head coach.

And after guiding her team past Timberline of Boise in the first round of the state 5A tournament at Lake City, Hanna accepted congratulations from Post Falls supporters.

One of them was Greg Cossette, an assistant under Hanna during her first stint as head coach.

Another was Karla Merrill, who coached Willow in high school.

“It’s fantastic,” Hanna said. “I had a former player that played for me in 2008 come by and say hello. It’s pretty special that we have people — teachers, former players that attended Post Falls High School that want to come back and support us in these events. We have lots of folks that come back to watch us play, and it’s just really special, and speaks to the family that Post Falls builds, while you’re in school and once you leave.”

MERRILL, WHO now lives in Boise, has remained a friend of the Hanna family, watching their kids play whenever they’re in the Boise area.

“It’s a lot of fun to watch someone that you’ve coached coach, and do so well,” said Merrill, who coached the Trojans from 1987-99. “And she is so open, and a great human, how can you not pay attention? We are good friends with her family.”

Did she see the future coach in her player, who was a setter at Post Falls?

“Yes,” Merrill said. “If you look at Willow’s gut, and her intensity, and her tenacity, she can do anything.”

Like me, Merrill has seen a few decades of state volleyball tournaments.

“What I love about volleyball now is, the kids are so much better. All you can do is watch,” she said. “The girls can see the court; they’re earlier to the ball; it’s just amazing. I think it’s a ton different.

“The passing’s better; the setting’s better,” Merrill continued. “But more importantly, the kids are seeing the contact of the ball off the hand, both hitting and serving, they’re reading where the hitters are going. … I think it (volleyball) is a lot better.”

Hanna said Merrill was a great role model as a coach.

“She always had positive comments about our play and since I was a setter, we talked about how to best run our offense,” Willow said. “Karla really understood defense and how players should read the hitter to gain an advantage. I have applied these things to my coaching. We still have great discussions about the game.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.