Crown Point’s Bella Del Real might have had a long-term future in softball if she had pursued it.
But her heart wasn’t in it.
“I didn’t really love softball anymore, and I knew that not loving it but still playing it was really hard on me because I just didn’t like it,” Bella Del Real said. “I knew that I had to give it up so I could be happy.”
So Bella Del Real hung up her cleats after her freshman year and focused on volleyball, the sport she watched her older sister Vanessa play at Crown Point. Vanessa Del Real, who graduated in 2023, leads Akron with 305 digs this season. Both sisters are liberos.
“We’re kind of in the same situation,” Bella Del Real said. “She started at libero as a sophomore, and she got better each year, and her confidence went up — and now she’s playing at Akron and loves it. Seeing the progress of her career made me want to stick with it and maybe get to where she is.”
Bella Del Real is certainly making her mark as a junior for Crown Point (27-6), which will play Warsaw (28-6) in the Class 4A Twin Lakes Regional championship match on Saturday. She entered the postseason with a team-high 381 digs before helping the Bulldogs win their sixth straight sectional title with a 25-17, 25-8, 25-11 sweep of Munster last week.
Crown Point coach Alison Duncan said speed is one of Bella Del Real’s strongest assets, a trait that may keep her off highlight reels because she can cover the necessary ground for a dig without a desperation leap.
“As a defensive player, the less you dive, the better,” Duncan said. “She’s able to stay on her feet and stay in control, so she makes a lot of great contact from a ball-control perspective. Really good defensive players are able to do that.”
Duncan added that Bella Del Real’s combination of physical tools and better understanding of the game has made her even more effective this season. Duncan pointed to the 26 digs Bella Del Real recorded during a match against Louisville Assumption, one of the top teams in the country. Crown Point won the first set but lost the match.
“She’s been able to read hitters better this year,” Duncan said. “So she’s in the correct position to make that big dig. One of the big reasons we were in that game against Assumption is because Bella played incredible defense.”
Vanessa Del Real isn’t surprised by Bella’s success, given how much she enjoys the sport.
“She was excited to go play volleyball and was always excited when the season started,” Vanessa Del Real said. “It was just the way she carried herself in volleyball. She had so much more confidence there.”
That confidence has only grown during Bella Del Real’s second varsity season. She prepared for her varsity opportunity by taking lessons from 2015 Crown Point graduate Alyssa Kvarta, who played at Eastern Tennessee State.
“I knew everyone else was playing club, so I was nervous that I wasn’t getting as many reps,” Bella Del Real said. “I was going to those a couple of times a week, doing stuff at home, working out, going to all of the open gyms and putting my all into it because I really wanted that spot on the team.”
Bella Del Real will be back at that spot on Saturday with a trip to semistate on the line.
“I just need to be really good on defense, bring lots of energy and keep moving on the court all of the time,” she said. “It’s those basic things that you have to do first to accomplish the next things.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.
