A year ago Maggie Bodman was completing her first season of high school volleyball on the New Trier freshman team. So her emergence as a key piece for the Trevians varsity team this season has come as a bit of a surprise.
“To make that jump in one year,” New Trier coach Hannah Hsieh started to say, before adding, “She’s really grown tremendously for us this season.”
Bodman is the team’s starting middle blocker and helped New Trier secure another Central Suburban South title this season. The Trevians (26-3, 9-1) also earned the top seed in the Class 4A New Trier Sectional.
“She’s just a tenacious middle blocker,” Hsieh said. “She never gives up on the ball. She’s been getting more and more blocks as the season’s progressing. She’s making her presence known. She had trouble initially adjusting to the pace of the varsity offense, so she’s done a better and better job adjusting to that and generating offense for us as well.”
At 6-feet tall, Bodman has the prototypical size for the position, but she put in a lot of work in the offseason to make the leap from member of the freshman team to impact player for the varsity. She began the postseason with 78 kills and 49 blocks.
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Bodman said her work on her club team, the Wildcat Juniors, was an integral part of her development. She said she had practice five days a week and played in countless tournaments, which allowed her to refine her blocking skills.
The busy schedule has translated to results on the court this season.
“My blocking has improved a lot,” said Bodman, a Northfield resident. “I’ve been focusing on actually getting out to the pins and closing, so there’s no seam. That has been big. I’ve just learned a lot of new types of hits, because our setters are really good at distributing the ball around.”
Bodman said it took her roughly three to four weeks to really feel comfortable at the varsity level. Part of the adjustment was of the social nature: She had to acclimate to older teammates who have played together for awhile.
Bodman’s loquacious demeanor helped ease the transition.
“At the beginning she was obviously a little quieter because she didn’t really know us,” said junior setter Payton Hielscher, a Winnetka resident. “But she’s like the loud personality and so we got to know her easily and she’s willing to try anything so that made her get better quickly.”
Hielscher said aside from her play, Bodman also has helped the team with her constant energy. In addition, Bodman’s infectious personality created a connection with Hielscher.
“At the beginning it wasn’t perfect, but she adapted easily and it was easy to adapt to her,” Hielscher said. “Whenever I would throw at her, even if it wasn’t perfect, she was able to get a play off of it.”
New Trier was scheduled to open postseason play Tuesday in the regional semifinals and Bodman is excited to be along for the ride.
“We definitely want to go downstate,” Bodman said. “We’ve been practicing with that mindset to get there. We’ve been working on a lot of specific things, especially our defense. We really try to strive for that.”
Brett Christie is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press