By Emily Bresette

Varsity volleyball seniors Kathleen Vogel, Nicole Wemhoff and Taylor Migliazzo were all selected to participate in the annual Greater Volleyball Coaches of Kansas City (GVCKC) Senior All Star Volleyball Game this past Sunday, Nov. 13. According to Migliazzo, area coaches from the Class 4 district chose seniors from the Mis. and Kan. teams. Two separate teams were then formed and the two sides played each other for three sets. The Kan. team won all three sets. According to Migliazzo, the process for selecting players first came from coaches choosing players they thought were the best at their position.

“Coaches, either your own or other coaches, could nominate you,” Migliazzo said. “Then there’s a vote where [the coaches] narrow it down to a couple peopl

e and that’s what decides it.”

According to Migliazzo, STA head volleyball coach Abby Lane initially told her, Wemhoff and Vogel that they would be playing in the game before the start of the District tournament.

“We were excited,” Migliazzo said. “[Finding out] was exciting because a couple girls had been on the All Star Team from St. Teresa’s a couple years back. It was just fun to hear about their experiences and it was exciting to know we would have the same ones.”

While Wemhoff says she was excited when she found out the news, she was even happier to be playing with her teammates again.

“I was really excited to get to play with Kathleen and Taylor again,” Wemhoff said. “I was sad when our regular season was over but the ability to get to play with them for one more game was pretty awesome.”

According to Migliazzo, playing with a new team in a new environment was a challenge going into the game. Migliazzo said she is used to playing with girls for three or four years at a time.

“[I’m] kind of nervous I guess,” Migliazzo said. “I would say [I’m feeling] more anxious just because [the team is made up of] new girls who you’ve played against. They’re familiar faces, you’ve just never played with them.”

Wemhoff feels the same way as Migliazzo and believes that lack of practice contributed to feeling anxious.

“It was definitely an adjustment [having to play with a different team],” Wemhoff said. “We only had one practice so we sort of had to get gellin’ pretty quickly. I think it definitely showed in our game. [Playing with new girls] was a challenge, but it was a fun challenge.”

Migliazzo said she plans to play volleyball at the University of Oklahoma and that this game will help prepare her to play at the collegiate level. Wemhoff and Vogel will also be playing college volleyball at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Loyola University Chicago respectively.

“I think just the high level of the game [will help prepare me for college volleyball],” Migliazzo said. “[The game] will be more fast paced and I think that’s what I’m going to need for college [volleyball].”

Wemhoff believes that even though the Mis. team lost, they were the better team.

“I definitely think we could have played better,” Wemhoff said. “I think we were the better team, but we just made a lot of silly errors. We missed a lot of serves our first game and that’s not how we want to be represented. It happens.”

Vogel says that she was somewhat surprised she made the team after sitting out most of the season with a broken fibula.

“It was kind of surprising [that I made the team],” Vogel said. “I was excited though. I guess [the coaches who voted] based it off past accomplishments.”

Wemhoff believes that even though it may have been surprising for Vogel to make the team coming off an injury, Vogel succeeded in doing so.

“I think [playing] was a challenge,” Wemhoff said. “I think it was a challenge that Kathleen rose to. She came back a lot faster than I expected or ever dreamed.”

Wemhoff said that if the roles were reversed, she does not know whether or not she could have made as speedy as a recovery as Vogel.

“If I would have had that same injury, I probably would not have been as strong as her to get back out there and play through the pain and keep working hard and make it to the All Star Game. [Vogel] worked really hard for that and she definitely deserved [going to the All Star Game].”