Inseparable

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Brooklynn Bradbury and Shelby Lausen were two of the first recruits when Kandice (Kelly) Gregorak took over the North Idaho College volleyball program.

And after meeting for the first time last year, the two have became almost inseparable — as teammates, sophomore captains and as roommates.

“They’ve been really special because they’ve stuck with it and deserve to be captains,” Gregorak said. “Both of them are great leaders and if I’ve got any questions, I go to them for their opinions. I lean on them a lot and they do everything I ask.”

Bradbury and Lausen moved in together at the end of the spring semester in 2011.

“We became best friends by the end of last year,” Bradbury said. “She lived with me for the final month and a half of school and we’ve built a great friendship.”

That friendship almost didn’t happen as Lausen was interested in another sport.

“I played hockey for 12 years before coming here,” said Lausen, who was a defenseman for a club team in her hometown of Carseland, Alberta. “I loved it. If there would have been more of a chance at scholarship money, I’d probably still be playing. I was hoping to go somewhere to get a full-ride scholarship and this was the closest to home.”

Living together isn’t out of the ordinary for Bradbury, who also lived with a couple of teammates last year.

“I’ve done it since I’ve been here and love it,” Bradbury said. “I’m a pretty laid-back person, but when I get on the court, I’m a very competitive person — but never with a teammate. I’ve never had any problems and Shelby and I get along really well.”

“We were friends last year, but I didn’t get close with her until we moved in together,” Lausen said. “It’s great and she’s the best roommate ever. I don’t think we’ve ever fought. We bicker, but other than that, she’s great to live with.”

Bradbury, who played at Auburn Riverside High in Auburn, Wash., also played club volleyball with teammate Kaitlyn Molloy for the Lake Tapps Volleyball Club, based in Puyallup, Wash. Both were second-team All-Scenic West Athletic Conference selections this year.

“It was really fun,” Bradbury said. “We played when we were 16, 17 and 18 years old and grew up in the game together and went through the college process together and our families got to know each other really well.”

During practice or matches, Bradbury and Lausen are focused on getting better.

“They’re extremely tough on each other on the court, but they handle it really well,” Gregorak said. “I told the team from the get-go that I think like a man and I’m black and white. I was tough on Shelby last year. She didn’t know volleyball all that well. She came here in bad shape and just had a huge volleyball learning curve and I almost redshirted her. And she’s so tough — she just takes it. Same with Brooklynn, her defense has improved this year, but I’m always on her and she can take it.”

Both the 6-foot-3 Lausen and the 5-7 Bradbury are getting offers to continue playing at Manhattan, Memphis and schools in North Dakota and South Dakota.

“We’re taking to a handful of schools,” Bradbury said. “I’m really excited to see where she goes. Ultimately, we’re looking at the same schools, but I know that if she goes somewhere else, I’ll wish her the best. Shelby’s a huge hockey fan, so she’s looking for that kind of atmosphere as well.”

“Shelby’s a very laid back, relaxed person,” Bradbury said. “But she’s very confident in herself and tells it how it is and is not afraid to speak her mind.”

Gregorak recruited Lausen as a middle blocker, but moved her to right side hitter as a freshman. This season, she has 72 blocks, 83 kills and 37 digs.

“She’s a really determined athlete,” Bradbury said. “I haven’t seen someone work this hard in a long time and she’s very committed to her team and cares a lot about the program and her team.”

On the court, Lausen has helped Bradbury become a better leader with a team high 528 assists and 174 digs in her first season as the starting setter.

“She’s taught me a lot about leadership in the sense that there’s a lot of different athletes and you’ve got to treat them different,” Bradbury said. “I’ve played on teams where we’re so close that we can yell at each other and hold each other accountable and get on each other when things aren’t working. While Shelby’s like that, she’s also taught me to be more sensitive to other people’s emotions.”

Once the Cardinals won their semifinal match against Salt Lake Community College in the Region 18 tournament to qualify for nationals, emotions weren’t something that Bradbury could control.

“She’s one of a kind,” Lausen said. “She’s not the most sensitive person I’ve ever met, but at the same time, she knows how to handle things with sensitivity. I’ve never seen her cry except for when we beat Salt Lake to go to nationals this year.”

NIC enters the NJCAA tournament 22-5 and is the seventh seed, opening the 16-team tourney Thursday against Hutchinson (Kan.), which is 27-8. All tournament games will be streamed live on the internet and available by going to the www.nicathletics.com and clicking on the “live webcasts” link.

“I can’t wait,” Lausen said. “I think this year we can win the national title. If we can get everyone healthy, we can win it.”

It is the third time in four years that NIC has advanced.

Both Lausen and Bradbury have been fighting nagging injuries, but there’s no doubt they’ll be in the lineup this week, according to Gregorak.

“With Shelby, her knee or shoulder always hurts, but she just pushes right through it,” Gregorak said. “Brooklynn, there’s something definitely wrong with her tailbone, but you wouldn’t know it by the way she plays. They’re both just really tough kids and I adore them and they reciprocate it.”

Earlier this season, NIC was the top-ranked team in the nation, starting 12-0 before a loss to Salt Lake at home to open Scenic West Athletic Conference play.

“We were No. 1, but we didn’t act like it,” Lausen said. “We acted like we’re the last-place team in the league. Confidence isn’t something we’re worried about this week, because I think last week everyone bought into what Kandice had to say and believes we can win.”

“That was their main advice in the preseason to the freshman,” Gregorak said. “They said, ‘yes, I know you’re frustrated, but you need to buy in. If you don’t, it’s hard as a team to have that chemistry and buy into that she knows what she’s doing.”