National contenders

There’s an Invasion going on in amateur volleyball and it’s sweeping the nation – sweeping away medals and championship trophies, that is.
The Invasion Club, formed in 1998, enjoyed a successful summer in which the 14U, 17U and 18U teams all enjoyed great success in the Open Division at Dallas, which features the top 28 teams in that age group in the country.
The 18U team finished fifth in 18-Open Division. That team draws from all over the metropolitan area and has two players from Eastern Jackson County with Blue Springs’ Amanda Guess and Blue Springs South’s Priscilla Armendariz, who will play at the University of Missouri this fall.
The 17U team finished 15th in the 17-Open Division. Kaylee Miller, Ashton Bodenstab and Morgan Reynolds – who all attend Blue Springs High School – were standouts on that squad along with Lee’s Summit West’s Jessie Kopp and Kate Harris.
The 14U team finished 21st in the 14-Open Division. Chloe Robinson and Taryn Miller of Blue Springs, Grain Valley’s Sydney Fairfield and Lee’s Summit residents Allie Stephenson, Brooke Handley, Rachael Oziomek, Ali Patterson and Anna Hunter are members of that elite team.
And the 13U team finished fifth in the 13-National Division (there is no Open Division for the 13 group). That squad features Brianna Star, Holly Tarvin and Alexa Armendariz, who live in Blue Springs, Mercy Favrow of Independence, Megan Epping of Oak Grove and Alexa Ethridge and Kylie Bain of Lee’s Summit.
“The Open Division is the top-level division and includes, theoretically, the top 28 teams in the country,” said Cliff Robinson, the Invasion Club director and coach of the 14-year-old team.
“It’s been a pretty exciting summer with the success our teams had. We basically had two top-five, and two teams finish among the top 21 teams in the nation. And when they get to the Nationals, they are facing the top 27 teams in the nation.”
The official name of the recent competition was the USA Volleyball Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships (USAV JOVC), but it’s more commonly referred to as the Nationals. The national tourney was June 26-July 5.
“It was exciting to finish fifth in the country,” said 13-year-old team coach Mark Ethridge, “but we lost by two points in the third game to the eventual national champion. And that team was from St. Louis – and we don’t like to lose to any team from St. Louis.
“The girls were really serious this year and had a lot of success. It’s going to be fun to watch them the next few years and see how they improve.”
Don Harris is the coach of the 17-year-old team.
“When you finish 15th in the nation, and go to a tournament with the top 28 teams in the country, you have to feel like you had a successful season,” Harris said. “There are nine qualifying tournaments, with about 30 teams in each tournament – so along the way, you have to play, and beat, some very, very good teams.”
Harris’ squad placed third at the Nationals last year, which he said, “Just shows how tough it is to have success at that level of play.”
Reynolds, who played for Harris’ team, was The Examiner’s 2007 High School Volleyball Player of the Year. She will play at Oklahoma following her senior season with the Wildcats.
Marvin Forbes, a Kansas City police officer, graduated from Truman High School and played volleyball for the Patriots.
“That was a lot of fun, we just didn’t have enough teams or coaches to make it last more than a year or so,” said Forbes, who coaches the 18-year-old team. “I’m really happy with the fifth-place finish, because there are a lot of distractions when you coach 18-year-old girls – boys, jobs, going swimming, boys – but we did our best to make it fun for them.
“We practiced in the middle of the week and gave them weekends off. And when we started to play in tournaments, they were ready. I’m sure you know how competitive Priscilla and Amanda are from watching them in high school.
“Well, all our girls were that competitive, and it all paid off at the tournament.”