Richland’s Kamry Breard named All-Area volleyball MVP

With a plethora of talent in the Mid-Columbia Conference, Richland’s Kamry Breard was surprised to hear she was named the Herald’s All-Area volleyball player of the year.

Bombers coach Bob Raidl was not.

“There may be players with better numbers, but not a better all-around player,” Raidl said. “We had some good hitters in our league, and she was one of them. She is a quiet kid and leads by example. She knows what it takes to work hard. You need an older player to lead the way. She shows people what to do.”

Breard, a 5-foot-9 junior, finished with 203 kills as an outside hitter, handed out 322 assists in the Bombers’ 6-2 offense and had 188 digs, 42 aces and 25 blocks as Richland won the MCC title with a 13-1 record.

“I think we had a really good season,” Breard said. “We were successful and had a lot of fun.”

Tri-Cities Prep’s Marcie Brown was named coach of the year. The Jaguars reeled off 16 consecutive wins after opening the season 0-2. They shared the Southeast 2B regular-season title with Walla Walla Valley Academy at 11-1 after splitting their season series with the Knights.

The MCC coaches tagged Breard as a setter on the all-conference team, which she found odd.

“I’ve always been more of a hitter — that is where my strength is,” Breard said. “I was surprised I was on there as a setter.”

But that’s not to say she isn’t good at what she does.

“It’s not a lot of pressure playing different positions,” Breard said. “I like playing other positions, but killing the ball, that is a good feeling. I’ve set off and on in club the past few years, and this year, coach Bob wanted another setter. We ran a 6-2 with me and Taylor Moody.”

The Bombers will lose just three players off this year’s team, giving them a strong core coming back to defend their conference title.

“We are fortunate we only lose three,” Raidl said. “Now if I could just get them to grow.”

Brown, 32, just finished her sixth season at TCP. She took the Jaguars to state for the second time in three seasons.

A surgical technologist by day, Brown was coaching club ball when Charlie Hoppes let her know there was an opening at Prep.

“The reason I applied was one of the girls I coached (Mary Hoppes), her dad told me she was going there,” Brown said. “I had never been a head coach, just club. I really liked the people and thought it was a good fit. It has been a great experience.”

The Jaguars, who finished 16-5, opened the season with a loss to Columbia-Burbank, then fell to 0-2 when they lost their league opener to WWVA. From there, they didn’t falter again until they lost the District 7-9 regional title match to Colfax, which won the Class 2B state title the following week.

Brown (nee Cleavenger) grew up in Burbank and graduated from Columbia-Burbank in 2001. She went on to play volleyball at Walla Walla Community College.

With her two kids getting older, she’s not sure if she will return to the bench next season.

“They are really active, and it’s tough to make it to all of their games,” Brown said of her kids. “It’s hard to balance everything. I’m still thinking about it.”

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Richland’s Kamry Breard named All-Area volleyball MVP."