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While many of their friends are lounging at the neighborhood pool, hitting the mall or doing whatever girls do during their summer break from high school, the members of the Invasion 16 Black and Invasion 17 Black volleyball teams were honing their craft.
They represented their respective cities and played some of the top teams in the nation in a volleyball frenzy that would leave most exhausted.
Both teams recently returned from the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship tournament in Atlanta with the defending champion 16 Black team placing sixth in the nation and the 17 Black team bringing home a surprising and unexpected third-place trophy.
“We were seeded 10th, and believe me, we would have been happy to hold our seed,” said 17 Black co-head coach Don Harris, whose team finished 6-3 in pool play. “The first-, second- and third-place teams from a national championship AAU tournament and the defending national champion were all in our pool, and we actually placed first.
“That tells you how deep and how talented the field was from this tournament.”
It also explains the excitement in Taryn Miller’s voice as the Blue Springs High School senior-to-be talks about defying the odds and finishing among the top three teams in the nation.
“The competition was unbelievable,” said Miller, a front row player for the Wildcats who is Invasion’s libero. “It would have been great to win a national championship, but we worked so hard all summer, and we’re thrilled to finish in third place.”
Miller’s all-around play was a key to the Invasion 17 Black’s tournament success. The team also included Blue Springs South’s Carly Sojka, Lee’s Summit’s Ali Patterson and Lee’s Summit West’s Megan McGehee along with Emily Carr, Nicole Wemhoff, Megan Spencer, Katie Dulek, Annie Reilly and Kailey Riegel.
“Like every other girl on the team,” Harris said, “Taryn is just a great, great player. She is so versatile, she can do about anything we ask. She is strong on the back row and is an impact player.”
The 16 Black team is loaded with impact players. That’s a big reason they won the national championship last year as 15 Black after taking second as 14 Black in 2009.
Now, after living in a gym for most of the summer, the players agree that the past season was bittersweet.
“I have to be honest with you,” said Blue Springs junior-to-be Holly Tarvin, “we’re all disappointed. The field this year was unbelievable, and I think just about any team that was in the tournament could have won it, but we won it last year and wanted to win it again this year.
While many of their friends are lounging at the neighborhood pool, hitting the mall or doing whatever girls do during their summer break from high school, the members of the Invasion 16 Black and Invasion 17 Black volleyball teams were honing their craft.
They represented their respective cities and played some of the top teams in the nation in a volleyball frenzy that would leave most exhausted.
Both teams recently returned from the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship tournament in Atlanta with the defending champion 16 Black team placing sixth in the nation and the 17 Black team bringing home a surprising and unexpected third-place trophy.
“We were seeded 10th, and believe me, we would have been happy to hold our seed,” said 17 Black co-head coach Don Harris, whose team finished 6-3 in pool play. “The first-, second- and third-place teams from a national championship AAU tournament and the defending national champion were all in our pool, and we actually placed first.
“That tells you how deep and how talented the field was from this tournament.”
It also explains the excitement in Taryn Miller’s voice as the Blue Springs High School senior-to-be talks about defying the odds and finishing among the top three teams in the nation.
“The competition was unbelievable,” said Miller, a front row player for the Wildcats who is Invasion’s libero. “It would have been great to win a national championship, but we worked so hard all summer, and we’re thrilled to finish in third place.”
Miller’s all-around play was a key to the Invasion 17 Black’s tournament success. The team also included Blue Springs South’s Carly Sojka, Lee’s Summit’s Ali Patterson and Lee’s Summit West’s Megan McGehee along with Emily Carr, Nicole Wemhoff, Megan Spencer, Katie Dulek, Annie Reilly and Kailey Riegel.
“Like every other girl on the team,” Harris said, “Taryn is just a great, great player. She is so versatile, she can do about anything we ask. She is strong on the back row and is an impact player.”
The 16 Black team is loaded with impact players. That’s a big reason they won the national championship last year as 15 Black after taking second as 14 Black in 2009.
Now, after living in a gym for most of the summer, the players agree that the past season was bittersweet.
“I have to be honest with you,” said Blue Springs junior-to-be Holly Tarvin, “we’re all disappointed. The field this year was unbelievable, and I think just about any team that was in the tournament could have won it, but we won it last year and wanted to win it again this year.
“The positives to the season are that we were a successful team, and for me, I was playing with all my best friends. I knew that they had my back – win or lose – and when you spend as much time with a group of girls as we do with the girls on the team, that’s important. It was a bittersweet season, but a good one.”
Her Blue Springs and Invasion teammate, Bri Starr, agreed.
“We play a lot of volleyball, and we wish we could have done better,” Starr said. “But we’re spending time with our best friends, because our best friends are on the team, and we had a good season.”
The team also includes Blue Springs South’s Alexa Armendariz, Blue Springs’ Kourtney Thompson, Lee’s Summit North’s Morgan Beal and Alexa Ethridge, Lee’s Summit West’s Taylor Sandbothe, Park Hill’s Lindsay Grace, Winnetonka’s Haley Corkill and Bishop Miege’s Jordan Tucker.
Coach Mark Ethridge, father of Alexa, hopes his team is able to overcome the disappointment of failing to defend the national title.
“The girls need to look at the big picture,” said Ethridge, whose team was 7-3 in pool play. “Over the past four years, these girls have been fifth, second, first and sixth in the country – and that’s something to be proud of.
“Sure, they are disappointed, but look at all the success they’ve had. When you get down to it, this has been a very successful team for a long time. To be a part of a top 10 team in the country is pretty special, and they have been first, second, fifth and sixth – which is quite an accomplishment.”
