PORT ANGELES — Her first love is volleyball, there’s no question about that.
“Really, volleyball is her passion,” Port Angeles girls basketball coach Michael Poindexter said about his star player, Kiah Jones.
Jones signed a letter-of-intent after the fall season to play Division II volleyball at Central Washington University starting next year.
That’s after she was voted Olympic League MVP by the league volleyball coaches and then voted All-Peninsula MVP by all the North Olympic Peninsula volleyball coaches.
Then the 6-foot forward started playing basketball in winter with no other expectations than to make the Roughriders a better team.
“Basketball is fun to play but I don’t enjoy it as much as volleyball,” Jones said.
“I play basketball for my teammates.”
So, what does she do but go out and get voted Olympic League MVP by the league basketball coaches and then get voted All-Peninsula MVP by the North Olympic Peninsula basketball coaches for an unheard of two-sport MVP by both league coaches and Peninsula coaches one right after the other.
That’s because Jones doesn’t do anything at half-throttle. It’s full-speed ahead or nothing for her.
That shows in all elements of her life.
Jones is an honor student with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, she’s vice-president of the Associated Student Body and she’s co-editor of the school yearbook.
“She pushes herself hard and challenges herself,” Poindexter said.
Add to that a total dedication to volleyball and basketball and one would expect her social life to be nonexistent.
Nope, that’s not Jones. Remember, all or nothing.
“I make time for my friends and social life,” she said.
But she pays for all that by the end of the day.
“I get tired. I never have a problem falling asleep,” she said.
Jones would not have it any other way.
“I try to be well-rounded,” she said, “but I never focus on one thing.”
Except for when she’s doing something, then that one thing has her full attention.
“She’s one of those people, like our boys athletes Hayden McCartney and Keenen Walker, who could do well at anything she chose to do,” Poindexter said.
Like Jones, McCartney and Walker are multi-sport athletes who excel in all sports.
“If she had chosen basketball [as her first sport], she could have played it at [the Division II] level, too,” Poindexter said.
That all-around ability shows in Jones statistics for the season: She scored an average of 11 points per game, hauled down 7.4 rebounds a contest and was second on the team in steals and assists.
Her point totals aren’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, but her value on the court is so much more than what her stats indicate.
“Kiah was nearly an unanimous choice for [league] MVP,” Poindexter said.
“The other coaches commented on her defense, how she guards the opponents’ best player, her leadership skills and maturity on the court, even her offensive skills.
“She even played some point guard at times at the end of the year.”
It’s that all-around ability that makes Jones so valuable, Poindexter said.
And that will make it hard for any one player to replace her next year.
“Who is going to step up and play the kind of defense she plays next year?,” Poindexter asked.
“Who is going to be consistent and score the 11 to 12 points a game she scores? Who is going to help with the younger players like she does?
“That’s a lot of roles to fill for one player.”
Jones picked up her game this year in part because she became stronger, according to her coach.
“She is one of the most dedicated players in the weight room,” he said.
“She got stronger, and that helped make her faster.”
Complementing sports
Jones’ dedication to volleyball has helped her level of play in basketball.
“Kiah’s ability as a shot blocker in volleyball at the net has given her a better technique than others have at the post in basketball,” Poindexter said.
“It’s her leaping ability, timing and technique that has made her a better basketball player.”
It also helps that Jones stays on the court throughout the whole game.
“She never gets into foul trouble,” Poindexter said.
Multi-sport athlete
Central Washington volleyball coaches encouraged Jones to play basketball in the winter season despite the possibility of an injury.
“College coaches encourage kids to play more than one sport in high school,” Poindexter said.
“[Multi-sport athletes] learn not only new physical skills but also emotional and social skills.”
On top of all that, Jones has been a dream athlete for Poindexter to coach.
“She is very, very coachable,” he said.
“She listens well, she’s intelligent and she’s fun to coach.”
That intelligence helped Jones see things on the court that she would communicate to her coaches.
“She would always do what we asked of her, but if she had an alternate view of something, she would tell us in a respectful way.”
That talent, intelligence and maturity helped spark the Roughriders to their first state appearance during the final weekend in many years.
Port Angeles advanced to the Yakima Valley SunDome and just missed getting into the trophy round but still finished in the top eight.
It was an experience, though, that Jones won’t forget any time soon.
“It was really, really cool,” she said. “It was a lot of fun.”
After all, that’s why Jones turned out for basketball. Just for the fun of it.
The league MVP award, her second of the year, is just icing on the cake.
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Sports Editor Brad LaBrie can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at brad.labrie@peninsuladailynews.com.