Allie Bowman emerged from the trainer's room inside Panther Activity Center with a pack of ice taped to her right shoulder and a smile on her face.
The price of another victory for the Siloam Springs volleyball team is well worth it for the Lady Panthers' senior hitter.
"I love to play," Bowman said with a smile. "What can I say?"
In truth, whether it's a win or loss, Bowman goes through the same routine after every match and leaves the arena looking like she's been through a war.
Bowman has battled shoulder problems since she was in middle school when she dislocated her shoulder three times while participating in track and field. She said her shoulder is loose and she has bursitis, or inflammation of the joint.
"They can't fix it unless I stop playing sports," Bowman said. "Until then, I just tape and ice and just keep going."
Bowman's efforts don't go unnoticed from the Siloam Springs volleyball coaches and teammates.
She's been a recipient of the Lady Panthers' Heart Award last year after her junior year.
"You see how hard she works," said first-year head coach Joellen Wright. "She's all out. If the ball drops, she's on the floor with the ball. She's trying to sacrifice whatever body parts she's got left basically."
She also was voted a team co-captain heading into her senior year.
"Allie was voted captain by her teammates, and they recognize and see the value in her hard work and how she just gives and gives and gives -- her body and of her time," Wright said. "She worked really hard this summer to have everything ready to go before school started. The T-shirts and the team bonding -- she takes care of those little things too She realizes the importance of what that is."
Wright added that as a first-year head coach Bowman couldn't have been more supportive of the change at the top of the program.
"I'm really thankful that she bought in when I came in," Wright said. "I was looking for seniors to go, 'OK coach I'm with ya.' She was one that was just like, 'You bet, let's do it.'"
Another impressive trait Bowman displayed prior to the season was her dedication to improving her volleyball skills.
"Allie doesn't have any plans to play college volleyball, but she is so committed," Wright said. "She played club ball this past spring again. She got private lessons. When she was struggling earlier in the season, she got private lessons again to help her get her rhythm back."
Heading into Tuesday's final regular season match against Greenwood, Bowman ranked second on the Lady Panthers (13-13) with 97 kills behind leader Ellie Lampton's 193.
She also had 25 service aces, which ranks third on the team behind Chloe Price's 42 and Lampton and Shaylon Sharp, who both have 34.
"It's just a lot of hard work," Bowman said. "I'm a very, very competitive person, and if I want time, my parents always told me if you want time you've got to work for it. That's just what I've done. For me, getting better is just a part of the game. If I'm not getting better then what am I doing? Being the best that I can be for my team as well, and sometimes, that's not on the court. Sometimes that's being the best player on the bench cheering. I think that's a huge part of it as well."
Bowman's hitting has improved from her junior year, but she doesn't know that she's changed anything.
"I don't know that I've done anything different except Chloe (Price) and I have really kind of clicked this season," Bowman said. "Our chemistry is better. In the back of my brain, I'm like, I want to be like Ellie. I want to be like Shaylon. And so like I'm just trying to whack it as hard as I can and sometimes that means I hit it to the back of the wall like I did a couple of times tonight. But yeah I want to be there with them."
Wright, meanwhile, just wants Bowman to be Bowman.
"She can hammer it. It doesn't look just like Shaylon and Ellie's but that's OK," Wright said. "It's effective. Then she's crafty -- roll shots, tips. She comes in hard and just drops it. It changes up a defense."
Bowman started the season at outside hitter with Sharp out at the beginning of the season while recovering from a torn ACL. She's played on the right side as well.
At 5-foot-8, she offers the Lady Panthers some height at the net, but Bowman also does things that don't always show up on the stat sheet.
For example, Wright said when the Lady Panthers set a hitter, Bowman always comes running hard at the net regardless of whether the ball was set to her.
"She's really good at being vocal," Wright said. "On the quicks, when we need to shoot it out to Ellie or Shaylon, she's 'Yeah, yeah yeah!' coming in hard like she's going to hit that six (set), and then we smoke it to the outside. It draws the blocker. It's not a stat that you could ever give anybody, necessarily, it's not an assist; but it's a piece of volleyball that's very important."
Wright also pointed out that Bowman is a very gifted student in the classroom.
"She'll definitely be above a 4.0 and her ACT score is a 33," she said "She came and told me the day after she got her scores. After that it was like she super-relaxed and just playing because she loves her team and loves the game."
It's been an enjoyable season for Bowman as she and her teammates gear up for the opening day of the 6A-West Conference Tournament on Saturday. Siloam Springs is likely going to host a match on Saturday against an opponent to be determined. Tournament seeds and information should be released later this week.
"I'm having a lot more fun I think," she said. "I think it was a lot more stressful the past couple of years than right now. It's my last season. I'm not going to play in college. I'm just really loose and just wanting to play."
Sports on 10/11/2017