Schuckman: Boyer, Raiders able to smile after meeting challenge of facing her former team

QUINCY — Madalyn Boyer’s trepidation made sense.

“I was nervous about it all day,” she said.

Danielle White could relate.

“It was a little emotional for me,” she said.

When your hometown team becomes your nemesis for one night, it’s challenging. 

Boyer, a senior middle hitter on the Quincy Notre Dame volleyball team, and White, the Raiders’ first-year head coach, are Carthage products who had to go head-to-head with Illini West on Thursday night at The Pit. It was their first matchup with players they once lined up alongside or coached.

“They had been my teammates forever, and now I’m playing against them, not with them,” said Boyer, a starter on last season’s Illini West sectional squad who transferred to QND during the offseason. “That was really weird. It was fun. It was different. It was neat to see from another team’s perspective what it’s like playing against Illini West.”

The intrigue didn’t diminish the emotional toll.

“I told (Boyer) at the beginning I’m going to get the awkwardness out of the way,” White said. “With our hometown being in the gym, I’m going to go tell everybody, ‘Hi.’ So I told her to just play. Don’t think about what it is because it will get in your head. Just play. It took her a little bit, but once she let loose, it was great to see her smiling.”

And swinging.

Boyer had two kills during the Raiders’ closing stretch in which they scored 12 of the final 14 points to finish off a 25-14, 25-15 victory and improve to 22-2 this season. By then, her anxiety was gone and the awkwardness had ended.

“At the end of the night, we’re all friends,” Boyer said. “It doesn’t happen what matters during the game. At the end of the game, we’re all friends again. Volleyball is very competitive, and we’re going to be competitive while we’re playing.”

For White, who coached most of the Illini West players in the Carthage junior high program, there was appreciation for how the Chargers fought, especially after losing the first set. Illini West tied the second set at 13 before QND pulled away.

“You build that relationship with them and you want to see them continue to grow,” White said. “When they came tonight, I was hoping they’d bring the fundamental volleyball I instilled in them as their coach and they are continuing to have instilled in them. When they showed up and brought that, it takes you back to where you had them.

“It was great to see Illini West bring great fundamental volleyball to The Pit. I expected that, but our girls came out with the energy needed to take care of business.

An energetic approach is a big reason why Boyer fits in so well at QND.

She’s feisty and fiery, but at the same time fun-loving.

“She brings a lot of energy and a lot of fun to the team,” QND senior libero Kourtney Keck said. “She has clicked really well with the girls. She has a similar personality to the rest of us.”

They discovered that in the offseason when they played together on the Club Four Boost 17 team that reached the USA Volleyball national tournament in Las Vegas. That bonding time made the transition infinitely easier for Boyer.

“Our No. 1 thing this season has been to have fun,” Keck said. “We always put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We always tell each other before a game that we’re at our best when we’re having fun.”

The smiles tell you it’s happening.

“They are girls you can automatically feel comfortable with and they are very welcoming,” Boyer said. “It was pretty easy to fit in here. It feels like I’ve been one of them for four years, not just this one year.”