By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports Editor
While most teenagers were enjoying the start of summer vacation last week, four area volleyball players decided to make the most of a trip to Orlando, Florida.
Playing at the Walt Disney World Resort, the Wisconsin Juniors 14-1s team – which includes Burlington High School incoming frosh Ali Rueter, Phoebe Hozeska and Quinn Spieker, plus Union Grove incoming freshman Kylie Wilks – won the AAU National Championships, beating VC Nebraska 19-25, 25-20, 15-11.
The match was broadcast on ESPN3 – ESPN’s online channel – with the announcers proclaiming the talent of both squads and the potential futures for them all.
But for the four area youngsters, the national championship wasn’t about looking ahead. It was capitalizing on the here and now.
“Being a national champion is kind of a big deal for us,” said Kylie Wilks, the youngest of three standout volleyball players in the family. Her oldest sister, Katie, is a middle hitter at Elmhurst College, while Kassidy Jo heads to Furman this fall on a full volleyball scholarship.
“It’s something we dreamed about for a while,” she added.
Hozeska said the national title was a goal, but the team didn’t think they would get this far. When it came to the national championship game, the goal was simple.
“Stay positive the whole time,” she said. “Go out there and have fun.”
And admittedly, expectations were high.
“We had a lot of Juniors people, other families, who expected us to go out and win the whole thing,” said Spieker.
Still, the Juniors lost the opening set 25-19 before rallying to take the second. A spat of errors gave Nebraska an early led in the third and pivotal set before Spieker got a kill and then went back to serve.
The Juniors ran off four straight points to take the lead, and the Juniors would not trail again – though it stayed close. At 13-11, the Juniors got a kill from a quick set, and then Hozeska finished it off with a hit from the middle again.
“It was our first nationals. We were just happy with being there,” Rueter said. “We were just really focused on leaving it all on the court, because it was the last time us 10 would be together.”
As for the future, the next step is, hopefully, varsity volleyball at their respective schools. Spieker, an outside hitter, Rueter, an outside hitter/setter, and Hozeska, a middle hitter, have a chance to step onto a BHS team that is the defending state champion, while Kylie Wilks will follow in the footsteps of her two older sisters at Union Grove.
“I’m kind of excited to see where we all end up,” said Wilks.
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