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Show OREM GENEVA TIMES Thursday, July 14, 2005 Trot Page 6 COMMUNITY SPORTS, people and 2004-05 GIRLS in rns Orem senior provided leadership and intensity Landon Olson It 's common to see honors hon-ors heajjed on players from ( hampionship teams, hut the final standings aren't the only measurement of an individual's ( out nlmt ions i lelping a team to surpass ex-k- tat ions and stepping in as a leader an: also good indicators of a player's out rihiil ions. And of course there are the stats, as well as the obvious garner out rolling erforrnanc('.s. In a similar situation on two dillerent teams new head ( oai lies and most of the starters start-ers having graduated - Jen I iso helped l)oth the Tiger basketball bas-ketball and softball teams fur exi eed exx'ctalions this season. lor her accomplishments in both sxirls, as well as in the ( lasstoom, Orem's Jen I-iso has leen selected as the Times' All-Sirl All-Sirl .it Is I layer of the Year. With baielv a month to go until she star ts s hool at t he College Col-lege of f aster n Utah, Jen liso has a plenty to keep her busy. I .ike linding a jot) "I'm going to et a jol) somewhere," some-where," she says "My parents told me that at the beginning of the summer, but I've never had a job lielore so I didn't really re-ally know w hat to do. I didn't do anything I haven't looked or anything So my dad, just today, said. 'You m-ed to get a job ' " It may seem to lie a little late in the summer lor that, but I'iso isn't deterred Mm h like she wasn't deter de-ter ied by the situations facing hei in Ixith of basketball and soltball. Although the I iger basket bas-ket hall team I unshed second in Region 7 the year before, it also had to deal with the loss of the entire starting lineup and a new bead coach. Outside of the team, expectations expec-tations somewhat lowered something the Tigers would prove completely wrong. Not only did they exceed expectations, but again finished CLUB VOLLEYBALL Local clubs finish fifth Orem players help teams to strong showing at national tourney Landon Olson SALT LAKL CITY - T hree tlays of tumbling across the floor for that point -saving dig, going high to hammer the attack at-tack and sliding into position to close the block were enough to put two local dub volleyball teams in exactly the position thev wanted. Both Summit VBC 171 and Havers 171 survived three-game three-game matches July 7 to advance ad-vance to the gold bracket July 8 at the Junior Olympic National Volleyball Championships at the Salt Palace. But the run ended there. After winning game one 25-20, 25-20, Summit couldn't maintain the momentum and dropped the next two games, 25-20, 15-5 to Kaepa Circle City (Indianapolis), (Indianapo-lis), finishing fifth out of 48 in the 17 American age division. Meanwhile, just a couple of courts over, Players couldn't rally and fell 2-0 to the Munci-ana Munci-ana Bulldogs, taking fifth of 48 in the 17 National division. "We thought we took eighth," said Hayers libero Janae Mortensen, who is from Heas-ant Heas-ant Grove. "Knowing that we PLAYER OF THE YEAR second in the region. And I'iso was a big part of that. She was the second leading scorer at 10.1 xiint.s per game, and led the team in scoring six times. She also had a career-high 21 points against Pleasant Grove on Feb. 9 to help her team to a key region victory. The other game that stands out was at Timpanogos. With the other four starters on the bench three in foul trouble, one injured Jen took over the game in the second quarter, giving giv-ing the Tigers enough cushion to hang on for the win. "She just has this presence alM)ut her where she'll just do what she's supposed to do and the other girls just tend to follow her," said coach Jamie Nebeker, who assisted with the basketball team and was the head softball coach. "She doesn't need to tell them verbally, verbal-ly, but actions let the girls know how it should be done." In regards to the Timpanogos game specifically, Nebeker said I- iso got much more vocal in leading and then took the team on her shoulders. "That's just how competitive she Ls," Nebeker said. "She just wants to win, whatever it takes. That's why she did take the game over. She'll do whatever it takes to get that victory." l iso said, "I always try to play hard. I just felt like more of it was on me so I just had to carry my team, I guess." The same was true in softball, where Jen was put into an important im-portant spot leadoff hitter. To start the season it took her some time to get into rhythm at the plate, but by region play, I iso was hitting over .350 and had an on-base percentage much greater than that. "It was kind of nervous to be the very first one to set the tone for the game, but I really like it," I'iso said. "I don't think I'd have it any other way." Not only did she get hits, but she also was hit a lot. More than anyone else on the team. "Maybe they don't like me?" See FISO, Page 7 L"":"T" jZ''' 1 LANDON OLSON 'North County Summit VBC 171'j Angie Glassford, of Mountain View, serves during gold hrucket pluy ut the Junior Olympic Volleyball National Chumpionship on July 6. Summit finished fifth. got fifth we're a little more excited. We're just happy with what we did. Fifth in the nation, wow." Thrilled Ls what they should be, with both teams finishing as high, or higher than, expected. Summit f mushed right on its No. 5 seed while Players moved up from the No. 22 ranking it had going into the tournament. "The fact that we made it thus far is a pretty big accomplish '; -m ... . 'fa . " ' It fw,r-' outdoor fun r "She just has this presence about her where she'll just do what she's supposed to do and the other girls just tend to follow her." Orem softball coach Jamie Nebeker - T,:rU fpnn ki new, .... '"' """" "" - in in ii m i N -- "V I Wat -3a ;4 W i x-" . .v i YS. X 4 , - ment I think," said Summit's Sh-antell Sh-antell Durrant, a middle blocker from American Fork. Players coach Wayne Wood said, "That was a great accomplishment. accom-plishment. That was a huge step for this team and for a lot of the girls on this team. We jumped up a lot of spots." Tough losses With both teams bouncing back from a game down in the previous night's challenge match, the potential for a title run was there for Summit and Players. After losing game one 25-17 in the challenge bracket, Summit Sum-mit bounced back for a 25-19, 15-6 victory. "We played a heck of a match," said coach Jeremiah Larsen. "It was exciting and we worked hard." The momentum looked to hold through the first game in the gold bracket, with Summit jumping out to a 6-1 lead and staying in control the entire way. But then in the second, despite being close midway through, Kaepa Circle City pulled away, then dominated the third. "We thought we had it," said Summit's Carly Taylor, an outside hitter from Orem. "We were really excited and I think we let up a little bit then we got nervous." Durrant said, "After we started getting down on our- i m fifes at national tournament selves, we just couldn't bring ourselves out of it after that second game." Still, considering being without with-out a starting outside hitter, Summit stayed tough. Jackie Fotu, from Lone Peak, missed the tournament due to injury, in-jury, but Taylor and Mountain View's Angie Glassford filled that hole. "We had two girls playing outside out-side hitter who had never played outside hitter in a national tournament. tour-nament. Ever," Larsen said. "I thought they did a great job." The route Players followed was very sirnilar. The first game in the challenge bracket was a 25-21 loss, but Players bounced back to claim 25-23, 15-12 victories in the next two games to advance to the gold bracket. "Nerve-wracking is what it was," Mortensen said "We lost the first so we were a little stunned and shaky. But we came back and ended up going three games and we pulled it out." But, in the gold bracket, the Munciana Bulldogs escaped game one with a 26-24 win, and Players couldn't rebound, falling fall-ing 25-19 in the second. "We played really well yesterday. yes-terday. We stepped it up and played good" Wood said. "We played average today and had glimmers of greatness." Win or lose While the early champioaship Photo round losses were a bit of a disappointment, dis-appointment, players from both teams say they wouldn't have turned down the opportunity to play in the gold bracket, even if it meant the chance to play more matches. "I'd rather be in the championship champi-onship any day, because then you at least have a chance," Durrant said. Taylor echoed those sentiments. senti-ments. "The gold bracket. There's a lot better competition," she said of her preference. While a lot of players had to fret about the college coaches watching their every move, there were also those who didn't have to worry one bit. Already committed to the University of Washington one of the nation's top teams and a member of the stacked PAC-10 Durrant only had to worry about playing. "It's nice because then you're not worried about how good you have to play to impress people," she said. "You already know where you're going." Other than Durrant, teammate team-mate Ashley Hamilton, from Lone Peak, has already committed com-mitted to the University of Arizona, where she'll likely see Durrant as the Wildcats are also in the PAG 10. From Hayers, Heasant Grove's Hailey Jeppson is the only player already committed, having accepted an offer from BYU. i Illustration by LANDON OLSONNorth County Back to class Although the club season is now over, players will be able to take their experiences back to enrich their high school programs. pro-grams. Even with tryouts still a month away, it doesn't mean the next few weeks will be spent idle. Conditioning and camps will fill some of the time, and then after tryouts, players will have to be ready for two-a-day s and plenty of practice. "It's a lot different, that's for sure," Durrant said. "High school isn't as good. It's a lot different, but it's still fun." After playing on what are essentially all-star teams at the club level, players will have a little bit of extra experience for the prep season. "I think it will definitely help," Taylor said. "It's not at the same, but it gets us ready and gets us prepared for that type of thing." Besides the experience and exposure, there was one other important aspect of the tournament tourna-ment for players representing represent-ing their home state. Even facing national competition, competi-tion, the two Utah teams found their way into the gold bracket and took fifth in their divisions. Which shows a lot about the level of competition in the state. "It's nice. Especially when people ask us, 'Where are you from? We say 'Utah' and they're way surprised," Durrant said. |