Logan Branstetter has had a couple of health issues in 2022, but she is hoping to bring awareness to an even bigger issue that others are battling.
For her senior project, the Columbus North volleyball player is raising money to try to help combat breast cancer. The Bull Dogs’ game against Jennings County on Sept. 15 will be Breast Cancer Awareness Night.
Branstetter is planning a bake sale, t-shirts, and a raffle, and donations will be accepted at the game that night. North and Jennings will wear pink jerseys.
Money raised from the game will go to Jill Bless, the wife of former North football coach and assistant athletics director Tim Bless. Jill Bless currently is battling breast cancer.
“I was really familiar with the Bless family,” Branstetter said. “My brother (Mason) played football, and I knew about Jill, and I knew that her cancer had come back over the summer. There have been people in my life that have been affected by breast cancer, like my great aunts and my grandma, and I just know there are a lot of people in the community with breast cancer who have had it or still do have it, so I just think bringing awareness will be great for the community.”
A three-year starter, Branstetter is the most experienced Bull Dog, and she has emerged as a team leader this season.
“Her leadership this year is tremendous,” North coach Jenna Ortega said. “I’ve know Logan for a few years. She’s played (club volleyball with) HAVOC, and knowing her from club, last year, she started coming out of her shell a little more, and this year, she is one of our top leaders right now. On the court, off the court, in the locker room, team functions, no matter what we’re doing, she’s the first one to get people going.”
Branstetter missed most of the first week of practice with COVID, and as a result, had only nine of the required 10 practices in and did not get to play in Tuesday’s season-opening loss at Seymour. She was back on the court for Thursday’s home opener and victory against Shelbyville.
“We played a few girls from my club team, so it was really nice,” Branstetter said. “We were battling for it, and we were in our home gym, so it was really nice that we won. At Seymour, it wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but we were missing some of our players. We did a lot of good things. (Thursday) night was really good. We had a ton of energy, so I’m hopeful for a really good season. My last year, I want to leave it all out there and have a really great year.”
Ortega noticed a big difference with Branstetter, who is playing both outside and right-side hitter, on the court for the Shelbyville match.
“Even with Seymour, she was still on the bench and cheering on her team,” Ortega said. “But being actually on the court and keeping our team riled up, getting her on the right side for blocking, getting her on the outside for some swings, she contributes quite a bit to this team.”
Branstetter missed most of her club season with Team Indiana this winter and spring. She broke three bones in her back in the first club tournament of the year in January and was out of action for 5 1/2 months.
“They don’t really know exactly how I broke it,” Branstetter said. “I was playing in my first tournament, and all of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain from my lower back all the way into my leg and then I couldn’t jump or run or bend down. We found out the next week there were three fractures.
“It’s been a long recovery,” she added. “I missed the majority of my club season, which lost a lot of interest from college coaches. So now I’m just working on regaining all the interest and basically working my butt off this year to get back to where I was at.”
Branstetter is looking to make the most of her senior season at North through her leadership and play on the court.
“I feel like I’ve grown with a lot of the girls,” Branstetter said. “There’s five seniors this year, and we all are super close, and I feel like we’re all really good at being leaders. I’m just trying to be the biggest leader on the court, as much as I can be at least.”
