Tarvin looking to continue streak of success

Holly Tarvin enjoyed the summer of a lifetime, leading Kansas City Invasion Black 15- and-under Invasion volleyball team to a national championship.

“It felt so good,” the Blue Springs High School sophomore said of the Invasion winning the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship tournament June 26-30 in Reno, Nevada. “It was like the best feeling ever. It was the happiest moment.”

Tarvin and her Wildcat teammates also experienced a “happiest moment” Tuesday night when they opened the season at home with a dramatic 20-25, 25-22, 25-18 victory over area power O’Hara. That might not be such big news, were it not for the fact that the Wildcats have so many newcomers on the team.

“I don’t know if we were supposed to be this good, this early in the season,” said Tarvin, who stood toe-to-toe on the front line against O’Hara’s all-state returnee Tori Hurtt throughout the three-game battle.

“This is a great way to start. We’ve sat the bar pretty high – but that’s okay. I think we can keep winning – I think we can win a lot this season.”

Tarvin’s Invasion team also set the bar high. They were seeded No. 2 heading into the summer tournament, and went 10-0 in match play and 20-3 in games, beating teams from Southern California, Ohio, Texas, Nebraska and Northern California to take only the second open national championship from the Heart of America region (Kansas and Missouri).

In the semifinals in Reno, the Invasion defeated the defending national age group champions, TAV (Texas Advantage) from Dallas, in two straight games.

So this up and coming young star is accustomed to playing against the best.

“Holly did a great job tonight going against Tori,” Wildcats coach Katie Grusing said. “That might be one of the best players she will ever face. She plays against great players who are her own age in the summer, but Tori is three years older and has a lot of experience.

“Holly never backed down. None of the girls backed down. After we lost the first game, they just seemed more determined to come out and have success in the second game.”

Tarvin saw plenty of action for a Wildcat team that placed second at state last year, but newcomer Dani Severns (12 kills) was waiting her time to shine as she played behind Examiner Player of the Year Lisa Henning (who is starting at the University of Missouri).

“Dani is this year’s Kirsten (Erikson, who played behind former Player of the Year Morgan Reynolds at Blue Springs),” Grusing said. “She played so well tonight. Our front row did an outstanding job.

“We have a lot of new kids out there, but I didn’t really think we looked like a team with new players. I thought they played hard and they played like a team.”

However, Severns wasn’t sure what to expect against a team like the Celtics.

“I don’t think many people expected us to do this, because I don’t know if we expected to do this,” Severns said. “We weren’t scared or anything after we lost the first game. And we didn’t change anything. We just played better.”

Veteran setter Kieley Culbertson, who will play volleyball at Georgetown University next year, had seen that scenario before.

“Everything just seemed to click tonight in the second and third games,” said Culbertson, who had 40 assists. “There are a lot of new girls out there the fans might not recognize, but they’ll get to know them. This could be another great season.”