Torn ACL hasn't stopped junior

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Ashlee Reddout had already had surgery on her left knee once, two years ago, and then had suffered a partial ACL tear of the same knee again during last fall’s volleyball season.

But when she blew the rest of that ACL in a Jan. 19 nonleague game against Freeman, it looked like her season was over.

“I thought she was done,” said her coach, Andy Affholter.

That could have meant the Spartans’ hopes for another state-tournament trophy run was in jeopardy. “We can play without her,” says teammate (and cousin) Sam Zapien. “But there’s that extra trust when she’s in there.”

After that January tear, though, Reddout was not done. The 5-foot-8 junior slowly worked her way back into the lineup in short stints — six minutes, then eight, then 10. In Wednesday’s first-round victory over Granger, she played nearly 19 minutes and scored 12 points.

“Now that it’s completely torn and she can’t hurt it anymore,” Zapien said, “she’s just carefree.”

And having a carefree, confident Reddout in the roster, albeit with a bulky knee brace, can only be a good thing.

“She takes us to a whole new level,” Affholter said. “She has the softest hands, when you pass the ball to her; if you even get it anywhere around her, she’ll catch it.”

She’s still slower than she was before, not quite as mobile, but at least she’s not playing in pain.

“Actually, it doesn’t bother me when I’m playing,” Reddout said. “Before, I was scared I would hurt it and I wouldn’t be able to play. Now I just go all-out.”

She won’t have to do it much longer. She’s scheduled to have that knee surgically repaired a week from Friday.