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After two years of heartbreak, making USA Volleyball's Junior Olympics was very sweet for the Brazos Valley Juniors 16s.
The 16-year-olds are one of three teams from the Brazos Valley Juniors program that qualified for the Junior Olympics, which begin Saturday in Miami. Brazos Valley teams also will compete in the 17-year-old and 12-year-old divisions.
"It's a big deal to qualify for Junior Olympics," Brazos Valley Juniors director Jacky Pence said. "It is the only national volleyball tournament you have to qualify for. It's not like other sports where they have national tournaments all the time. Less than 5 percent of the club volleyball teams qualify for Junior Olympics.
"We've never taken more than two teams. Last year, we went 0-for. We had two teams that reached bid matches, but they both got beat."
One of the BV teams that came within a victory of qualifying for the nation's biggest junior volleyball tournament was in the 15-year-old division. Most of the members of that team also got within one win of the Junior Olympics when they were 14.
The group came painful close again this spring at a national qualifying event in Indianapolis, losing 16-14 in the third game of a semifinal match to come up just shy of one of the two Junior Olympics bids available.
The pattern of heartbreak stopped when BV won its quarterfinal match to earn one of the four bids at a Lone Star Regional tourney in Houston.
"It finally happened," Pence said. "The fourth time was a charm. It was thrilling to know they finally could get it done, finally get over that hump. They came so close, so many times."
There will be two divisions at the Junior Olympics -- open and club. The Brazos Valley teams will compete at the club level, with 48-team fields that will be whittled through pool matches and then bracket play.
Pence said all three BV teams are capable of finishing in the top half of their divisions. That is the previous best finish by a Brazos Valley team, the 2004 squad in 14s that included current college volleyball players Carli Kolbe, Amanda Cune and Kallie Pence.
This year's 16s qualifier features 10 players from A&M Consolidated and one from Iola. Three of the players were full-time starters and a couple of others were key reserves on the Consol team that reached the Class 5A regional semifinals last fall.
The 17-year-old team includes seven players from Consol, two from Bryan, one from Caldwell and one from Brenham. The 12s roster has eight players from College Station elementary schools, one from Lexington and one from Caldwell.
"As the club director, I actually like it better when it's mixed," said Pence, the head coach at Rudder High School. "The kids get an opportunity to play on teams with kids from other schools that they're normally on the other side of the net from. It's a great opportunity for them to make friends and get exposed to other styles of play."
Pence said combining players from crosstown rivals Consol and Bryan works well.
"It makes those fall [high school] matches that much more fun," Pence said. "They do terrific together. It's not a problem."
Members of the Brazos Valley Juniors pay to play and to travel to tournaments. Pence said some players' families come up with all of the required money through fundraisers that are optional.
Three BV 17s players already have committed to play college volleyball before their senior year of high school. Bryan's Tiffany Regmund will join Kallie Pence at Rutgers, Bryan's Kaylee Piatt will play at Lamar, and Huntsville's Caitlin Germany picked Louisiana Tech.
Erika Arthur, who will be a junior at Consol, should receive plenty of attention from college scouts during the Junior Olympics. Arthur has been selected to the Lone Star Region Youth High Performance Team and will play in another national event in Fort Lauderdale next month.
Brazos Valley 12 Mizuno
Players: Meghan Bauman, Cypress Grove; Christi Corkran, Oakwood; Hannah Hejl, Oakwood; Carly Hicks, Oakwood; Paige Kopetsky, Oakwood; Karsen Ross, Lexington; Keaton Schrank, Cypress Grove; Hayley Slocum, Oakwood; Madison Smith, Caldwell; Sarah Hancock, Cypress Grove.
Coaches: Bill Reynolds and Tori Schwarloze.
Brazos Valley 16 Mizuno
Players: Erika Arthur, Consol; Lauren Cummings, Consol; Bailey Gillum, Consol; Shellie Hudspeth, Consol; Ashten Landry, Consol; Mollie Jane Martinez , Iola; Paulina Ramirez, Consol; Hallie Shafer, Consol; Julia Westerbur, Consol; Mandy Nelson, Consol; Neely Edwards, Consol.
Coach: Stephen Gbur.
Brazos Valley 17 Mizuno
Players: Megan Caruso, Consol; Karrian Chambers, Consol; Melissa Cumby, Caldwell; Brooke Davidson, Consol; Shelby Dickson, Consol; Caitlin Germany, Huntsville; Ashton Holliday, Consol; Kelsey Kinley, Consol; Emily Nixon, Consol; Kaylee Piatt, Bryan; Tiffany Regmund, Bryan.
Coaches: Dennis Hargett and Sara Nearn.
