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McDonald surpasses 2000 career digs to become program's all-time record holder
When Northview’s Bradee McDonald entered the high school volleyball program alongside the highly touted freshmen class that also included Keira Lucas, Rachel Rounds and Morgan Oellig, she was hoping to make an impact on the team in one way or another.
Being a libero, McDonald knew that would likely come on the defensive side of the floor, and she set a specific number of digs that she’d like to accrue over the course of her career.
“I thought I could get over 1,000,” said Bradee McDonald.
But that number quickly changed after she saw how the Northview defensive scheme, implemented by head coach Scott McDonald, who is also her father, worked, which led to her recording 616 digs in her first year.
“We’ve always based our defense on feeding everything to her. We put a lot of pressure on her defensively. We have ever since she left eighth grade and came in as a freshman,” said Scott McDonald. “Our blockers have really set that up and have the mindset of, ‘This is what we need to do.’ She gets tons of touches on the ball.
McDonald followed that up with 590 as a sophomore and 615 as a junior, leaving her just under 200 digs to surpass the 2,000 mark, something she viewed as attainable entering this fall.
“After last year, I ended up with 1,850, so I knew I was pretty close,” said Bradee. “And then when I got 93 digs in the Brebeuf tournament [to open the 2024 season], I knew I was really close to doing it.”
And over the weekend, after setting the single-game school record with 52 digs last week in Northview’s 3-1 win over Plainfield, McDonald became the program’s all-time digs leader at the Plainfield Invitational, leaving a mark on the program she always dreamed of.
“It’s exciting to know that I left a mark on this program and had an impact,” said Bradee. “But most importantly, I’m glad I was able to give our hitters opportunities.”
For Scott McDonald, seeing Bradee cement her name in the record books was a moment he won’t ever forget. It also gave the younger McDonald daughter some extra bragging rights to use during arguments with her sister, Madison, who is also one of the Northview assistant coaches.
“On the dad side of seeing it happen, this has been really cool, especially hearing her and her sister argue about who was better, who had a higher GPA and who took harder classes,” said Scott. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
Sitting at 2,112 entering a four-match week against Parke Heritage, Cascade, Bloomington South and Edgewood, that number will continue to grow. McDonald said she’d like to surpass 2,500 digs before everything is said and done, but for now, she’s got her sights set on accomplishing something much bigger than herself during the postseason.
“I’m hoping to make it past regionals this year. That’s definitely our goal,” said Bradee.