THE FRONT ROW with BRUCE BOURQUIN, Oct. 3, 2014

Maddi Seidl, a 5-foot-8 sophomore setter for the North Idaho College volleyball team, has a seemingly limitless future while studying toward her nursing degree, working on a possible future as a volleyball player at a four-year school and oh, by the way, a long-term possible future as a doctor.

The 19-year-old with the curly golden locks of hair is setting herself up to get to that point first.

THE GRADUATE of Castle Rock High, in her birthplace of Castle Rock, Wash., population 2,120, 68 miles west of Mt. St. Helens and 63 miles north of Portland, has earned a 4.0 grade-point average and is seventh in NJCAA Division I in assists per game at 10.59. She made the Dean's list in the spring semester as well.

As a child, Seidl visited her grandmother, Sandy Logan, who was a receptionist in the radiology department at St. John Medical Center in Longview, Wash., a town of roughly 36,000 people located 12 miles south of Castle Rock.

"I've been fortunate in that I've never had a bad experience in hospitals," Seidl said. "As a kid, I've never had a reason not to like them. I feel like things that happen with people in hospitals are sometimes the hardest things that happen in their lives. It was always a place I got to go and get stickers or suckers and I've always loved helping people, so working in a medical setting is something you can do for the rest of your life ... I've been really thinking about going to medical school ... I just love pushing my knowledge and understanding and eventually I want to go as far as I can."

Growing up, Seidl was surrounded by people her age in the medical field - a friend is a pharmacist, a cousin is in physical therapy school.

"My family doesn't really work in the medical field, it's just something I took a liking to," she said. "My mom can't stand the sight of blood, so she's out."

FIRST-YEAR NIC coach Kelsey Stanley was an assistant coach on former coach Miles Kydd's staff last season when Seidl was a freshman, and an assistant the season before under Kandice Gregorak, who left to take an assistant coaching job at Montana. In a transition period during the summer right before Kydd was hired, Stanley landed Seidl when she was on a visit to NIC with her boyfriend, wrestler Levi Godinho. Godinho earned his associates degree from NIC last year, and has returned to Castle Rock High as an assistant wrestling coach.

"It wouldn't surprise me if she became a doctor," Stanley said. "She was the first recruit I offered. The sky's the limit. She's a born leader. She gets lemons and makes lemonade."

Last year Seidl shared setting duties with Allison Meehan, who is now playing at San Jose State. The Cardinals finished 18-13 (6-4 SWAC) and sixth at nationals last year. This season, going into tonight's match at Snow College, they are 8-4 (2-0).

Seidl has given it her all in trying to fill those shoes, coming off of last season when she finished with 464 assists, or 8.29 per game.

"Last year, she had a different role where we had Allison as our main setter," Stanley said. "So coming into this year, knowing she was going to be our head setter, she stepped it up right away and it was like we didn't lose Alli. She's so consistent and she makes a huge impact on our team. She'll definitely get offers soon (from four-year schools). I have no doubt in my mind she'll get recruited quickly."

SEIDL'S PARENTS are Nick, a former wrestler at Castle Rock High and a longshoreman near Castle Rock, and Tiffany, a former Castle Rock volleyball player who is now an accountant. The two and several members of the Seidl family were in the Castle Rock area when Mt. St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980.

"My family's house is right along the Cowlitz River. When the mountain blew, the sky was black for days," Seidl recalled her parents telling her. "You could not tell the river was a river. Everything was just debris, everything was washed out."

She wants to play volleyball at a four-year school, but education of course comes first.

SEIDL IS enrolled in difficult classes at NIC such as microbiology, physiology and anatomy, after passing classes in high school like college prep physiology and anatomy, plus Advanced Placement English and math. There were between 80 and 90 students in her graduating class, with nearly 400 in the entire high school that is in class 1A in the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Seidl was the team's Most Valuable Player her last three seasons. Seidl led her team to top-four finishes at the state tournament in each of her four years at Castle Rock High and the Rockets won the state 1A title when she was a senior. She was a WIAA all-state first team volleyball player her junior and senior seasons, as well as the WIAA 1A state MVP her senior year, playing with her sister Nicole.

But being among hospital beds, needles and other medical equipment is where this student is home, outside of a townhouse she shares with teammates Kennedy Chadwick and Zoia Basargin.

"In my high school we have this program called the health occupations program during our senior year," Seidl said. "If you're interested in medicine, you can take the class. It's like a CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant) class. So after I completed the class I had my CNA and growing up, I volunteered at our local hospital since eighth grade. So I loved being in hospitals. I love the challenge and science has always been my interest. Through the class and volunteering, I got to job shadow and worked in the hospital and I knew that's the place I wanted to be."

SEIDL HAS picked the brains of the Cardinals' athletic training staff at times, as some of the students are in her classes. Seidl has been the go-to girl, so to speak, for advice on teammates' health.

"Kennedy always goes to me with whatever she has," Seidl said. "The other day she had some bruises and she said they're out of the ordinary and she's kind of the hypochondriac. They'll go to me, just because they know that I have some background and knowledge in it. In that sense, I'm the team's go-to person for medical-related things. They joke about me about my studies and how I am about school and how I'm always doing homework. My classes require a lot of time."

Seidl has plenty of time to get even better in volleyball and of course, in the medical field.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013 or via e-mail at [email protected]