TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Johnson Picked For Tournament

ADVERTISEMENT

By STEVEN HINTON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 23, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Pasco County will be represented at a national level this summer after Jessica Johnson, an incoming freshman at Wiregrass Ranch High, was selected to play in the 2008 National High Performance Volleyball Tournament in Tucson, Ariz., today through Sunday.

Johnson will be on one of three teams representing the USA Volleyball Florida Region.

The selection process involved three different tryouts. For her age group (players born on or after Jan. 1, 1994), girls from all over Florida attended a tryout. From those tryouts, 24 were selected. Those players were then put through another tryout, and the team was cut down to the final 12.

"I was really excited, but before I found out I was very nervous because I didn't think I was going to make it," the 14-year-old Land O' Lakes resident said.

The tournament will take place in the Tucson Convention Center exhibition halls and arena in downtown Tucson.

"I've never been to Arizona, but I heard that it was the total opposite of Florida," Johnson said.

"I want to see the town, but I'm not really sure since we'll be playing most of the time. ... I guess it depends on how much time we have," the outside hitter said.

The tournament teams will be involved in at least one round-robin of pool play, followed by playoffs. All matches will be best-of-five-sets to 25 points, with the fifth set only going to 15 points. Most teams in the tournament will play seven to nine games. It will consist of teams from region High Performance programs, USA Volleyball High Performance programs, international clubs and other national teams.

The tournament will have both boys and girls competing, broken down by age groups, which include: Women's Junior, Girls' Youth, Girls' Select, Men's Junior, Boys' Youth and Boys' Select.

Johnson has been playing competitive volleyball for the Tampa United Volleyball Academy and the Sandspurs Volleyball Club since 2005. When asked how the national tournament will benefit her entering her first year of high school, she admitted: "I'm not really sure. It will be a lot more competitive in Arizona than it will be in high school, in my opinion. I think that playing club for all these years has prepared me for high school, so I think I'm ready to play volleyball in high school."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT