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Lee's Summit, MO —
Six weeks of summer league volleyball at Lee’s Summit North boiled down to an all Suburban Big Six final as Blue Springs topped Raymore-Peculiar 26-25, 25-15 Tuesday night in the season finale.
The six-week Lee’s Summit North Summer League offers area teams the chance to fine tune their game and allowed coaches to become more familiar with their players.
“We accomplished a lot over the past six weeks,” said Blue Springs coach Katie Grusing, who was beaming following her Wildcats’ victory in the title match.
“It’s a competitive environment, but it doesn’t come with the pressure of the regular high school season. There was a little more pressure tonight, because when you play in a single-elimination tournament, you want to keep playing.
“I really enjoyed watching the girls and am happy with what I saw. I’ve been happy with the way they’ve played the past six weeks.”
After splitting the first two games in a semifinal match against Lee’s Summit North, the Wildcats downed the Broncos 21-19 in the deciding third game.
“North, Ray-Pec – those are two very good teams,” Grusing said. “You have to feel good when you come away with wins over two conference rivals.
“Plus, this has been a day of wall-to-wall volleyball. We played in the Lee’s Summit West League all day, ate dinner, then came over here.”
When asked about the long day, Wildcats middle hitter Holly Tarvin jokingly rolled her eyes and quipped, “I’m exhausted!”
She was kidding, although she did admit, “It was a long day, but it was a rewarding day. We had a lot of girls playing out of position, we tried some new lineups and we brought up some players from JV and everything worked. I’m really proud of the way we played today.”
While Grusing realizes that there are always aspects of the game that need perfecting, she walked away from the summer league with a great deal of satisfaction.
“We brought Alexis Williams and Johnna Higginbothem up from JV and they did a great job,” she said. “By watching them tonight, you wouldn’t be able to tell that they hadn’t been playing with this group of varsity players all summer.
“We’re losing some very good kids off last year’s team, but we’re replacing them with some very good players. It’s going to be time for last year’s role players to step into starring roles, and for JV star players to move up to varsity to become role players.
Six weeks of summer league volleyball at Lee’s Summit North boiled down to an all Suburban Big Six final as Blue Springs topped Raymore-Peculiar 26-25, 25-15 Tuesday night in the season finale.
The six-week Lee’s Summit North Summer League offers area teams the chance to fine tune their game and allowed coaches to become more familiar with their players.
“We accomplished a lot over the past six weeks,” said Blue Springs coach Katie Grusing, who was beaming following her Wildcats’ victory in the title match.
“It’s a competitive environment, but it doesn’t come with the pressure of the regular high school season. There was a little more pressure tonight, because when you play in a single-elimination tournament, you want to keep playing.
“I really enjoyed watching the girls and am happy with what I saw. I’ve been happy with the way they’ve played the past six weeks.”
After splitting the first two games in a semifinal match against Lee’s Summit North, the Wildcats downed the Broncos 21-19 in the deciding third game.
“North, Ray-Pec – those are two very good teams,” Grusing said. “You have to feel good when you come away with wins over two conference rivals.
“Plus, this has been a day of wall-to-wall volleyball. We played in the Lee’s Summit West League all day, ate dinner, then came over here.”
When asked about the long day, Wildcats middle hitter Holly Tarvin jokingly rolled her eyes and quipped, “I’m exhausted!”
She was kidding, although she did admit, “It was a long day, but it was a rewarding day. We had a lot of girls playing out of position, we tried some new lineups and we brought up some players from JV and everything worked. I’m really proud of the way we played today.”
While Grusing realizes that there are always aspects of the game that need perfecting, she walked away from the summer league with a great deal of satisfaction.
“We brought Alexis Williams and Johnna Higginbothem up from JV and they did a great job,” she said. “By watching them tonight, you wouldn’t be able to tell that they hadn’t been playing with this group of varsity players all summer.
“We’re losing some very good kids off last year’s team, but we’re replacing them with some very good players. It’s going to be time for last year’s role players to step into starring roles, and for JV star players to move up to varsity to become role players.
“We learned a lot about the team this summer, and we finished with a big win tonight.”
North coach Rhea Moses was pleased with her team’s play throughout the camp, even though the Broncos came up short in the semifinal match against the Wildcats.
“Anytime you play, you want to win – whether it’s a high school match of a summer league match,” Moses said. “You’re out there to win, especially tonight. But overall, I was pleased with the way we played throughout the league.
“Six weeks is a long time, and we had to squeeze it between club nationals. We have quite a few kids coming back from last year’s team, and it was great to see them play and interact with their new teammates.”
The league featured 10 varsity and 15 junior varsity teams, that played games in three gyms at North.
“Twenty-five total teams, three gyms and five courts,” Moses said when asked about the dynamics of the summer league. “I think all the coaches enjoyed the league and learned a lot about their teams.”
