They’re in it to win it.
But when the Kent Juniors U18 Baden volleyball club takes the court this morning at the national tournament in Miami, Fla., the players certainly will have a little added incentive.
That incentive?
For most of the girls, including Kent’s own Jessie Genger, Stephanie Shumaker, Lauren Campbell and Aryn McCarthy, this will be their final tournament together.
The national tournament will be the end of a long, successful run for this core group. That run reached a peak last summer with a program-best fifth place in this same tournament.
“Knowing this is our last tournament together with this group of girls and how much we’ve been through, it makes me want to work a bit harder to end on a good note,” Genger said.
The tournament is set for July 1-4. Kent qualified for it in late April by finishing among the top six teams at Western Nationals in the Far Western Qualifier in Reno, Nev.
This is the fifth straight year the team has qualified for the national tournament, which includes the top 30 U18 squads in the nation. Though the state high school tournament is more in the spotlight, the national tournament is considerably bigger.
“State has a different feeling,” said Shumaker, who has placed at state the last four years as a key cog in the Kentwood High program. “By far (this is bigger). They’re amazing teams (at nationals).
“Everything is just surreal right now.”
Surreal because this is the last hurrah for the Kent team.
Surreal because, at the conclusion of the tournament, most of the players will go their separate ways and begin new journeys at the college level. In the fall, Genger will be at Boise State University. Shumaker won’t be too far away at Lewis & Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, while Campbell will head south to play at Northern Arizona University.
And though Kent isn’t among the top-seeded teams in the tournament, coach Dawn Colston likes the feel of this bunch.
“With this group of kids, it’s never about just being there,” Colston said. “The thing that will carry this group is that they’ve been playing together for a while. These kids want to finish strong because they have a lot to prove.
“I think we’re going to surprise some people.”
• ALSO: The Kent Juniors U18 Baden team won’t be alone among locals at the national tournament. Joining the U18 team will be the Kent Juniors U14 program, which will be playing in its respective age group in Miami from July 2-5. The U14 team took second in the Puget Sound Prime Time tournament in April to earn a berth to the national show.
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