By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
For four days in Florida, the Munciana 12O Peppers volleyball team was unstoppable.
The Peppers competed in the 49th AAU Junior Nationals tournament two weeks ago in Orlando. Playing in the Open Division, which features the highest level of competition, the Peppers claimed the national championship, going 12-0 over the four-day event.
“It is very difficult not to lose at all during nationals week,” said Kylie Johnson, head coach of the Peppers. “Not to get complacent, not to let nerves factor in. It’s just very difficult to do.”
Four Hamilton County girls were on the team, and each had a big role to play. The local girls include three from Westfield – Eva Clevenger, Brooke Neale and Eden Wise – and Haili Winkle from Fishers. The Westfield girls are incoming seventh-graders, while Winkle will be going into eighth grade.
The Peppers easily won all of their matches on the first day of the tournament. On the second day, the team found itself down 14-8 in the third set against an opponent. Since all the matches at nationals were best-of-three sets, that meant the Peppers found themselves down several match points.
But instead, the Peppers came back to win. Amelia Howell served for the team as it came back to 14-14, and eventually the Peppers won the third set 18-16 and the match.
Amelia is the daughter of Peppers assistant coach Keri Howell.
“I didn’t realize how confident she was in her serve,” said Keri Howell. “I have four daughters that play volleyball. What I learned about her that day was that she wanted to be a part of the big moment. She wasn’t scared, didn’t want to back down.”
Amelia’s aggressive serving was paired with the stellar front-row play of Kyra Murry.
“She had at least two kills and one big-time block,” said Keri Howell. “Amelia’s service pressure created the overpasses, and Kyra was able to have flawless attacks and blocks that allowed us to keep getting points, so it was a great team effort.”
The Peppers kept their unbeaten record intact on Day 3 of the tournament, winning two of their three matches in three sets to improve to 9-0. That would move them into the championship bracket,
“You just try to take it day by day,” said Johnson. “You don’t want to look to far ahead, because you really have to focus on the opponent at hand. In the nationals situation, we just really focused on every single point, every single game. Each day we just started over. But you could feel the momentum climbing after Day 3, after we were still undefeated.”
That momentum carried itself into the tournament’s fourth and final day. The Peppers swept through all three of their matches in straight sets. That included a two-set victory in the championship game over A5 from Atlanta, Ga., 25-16, 25-22.
The Peppers led early in the first set at 10-7, then extended their lead to 25-13 before winning the set. A5 jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the second set, but the Peppers came back, then took a 21-18 lead. A5 pushed back to tie the score at 21-21, but the Peppers rallied again, winning four of the next five points in front of a big crowd of Munciana fans.
They were just totally relentless in their pursuit of their goal,” said Johnson. “They were not going to lose no matter what they had to do to win. Just ultimate competitors. If we were down, they didn’t get nervous.” Instead, Johnson said the players “just kept their head down and kept closing the gap and would eventually take the lead.”
Four Hamilton County players were part of the national champion Peppers team: Eva Clevenger (Westfield), Haili Winkle (Fishers), Eden Wise (Westfield) and Brooke Neale (Westfield). (Photo provided)
CARPOOL FRIENDS
It was a memorable tournament for the Peppers, and it certainly made the long car rides worth it for the Hamilton County girls, as they traveled back and forth from their homes to Muncie in order to practice with the team. The four girls would carpool together, and as a result, became fast friends.
Johnson and Howell had something to say about each of the four local girls and their contributions to the team.
Brooke Neale was named as an All-American at the conclusion of the tournament. She is the Peppers’ libero, so she spent most of her time in the back court.
“She did an incredible job,” said Howell. “This was her second year on the Peppers team, so she knew the expectations. She knew what was going to be asked of her and she delivered. She made some plays that most 12-year-olds wouldn’t even think about playing.”
“She only leaves the court for a very short time,” said Johnson. “She was so tenacious on defense. There were no balls that were going to land on our court if she had anything to do with it.”
Meanwhile, this was Eva Clevenger’s first year at Munciana, and she made a big impression right off the bat.
“Eva absolutely shined on Day 3,” said Johnson. “Without the impact of her hitting on Day 3, it would’ve been a different story.”
“She was an outside hitter for us at nationals, and she really came into her own and started just really pounding the ball,” said Howell. “We’ve been waiting for her to do that all year and she just really came into her own during nationals, which was extremely helpful.”
Haili Winkle was fearless for the Peppers during their tournament run. Johnson said Winkle was the team’s “go-to in the middle” for all four days of the event.
“She never had a letdown and she’s undersized,” said Johnson. “She was going up against middles that are 5-9, 5-10 and she is maybe 5-4, 5-5. And she would beat them because she is so quick and has such a quick arm. She showed no fear at all at the net.”
“She was a go-to, if we needed a point,” said Howell. “She also was a very good server, too. She was able to get several aces in the final match off of her serve.”
Howell said that serving and passing is a key to winning at all levels of volleyball, “but at the 12-year-old level, it is just vital to be able to serve a tough ball,” then also be calm and relaxed when it comes to receiving serve, “because it can be kind of never-wracking,” said Howell.
Speaking of serving, Eden Wise was very good at it.
“She had an incredible serve,” said Howell. “Her serve created a lot of aces and caused other teams to be out of system quite a bit. You wouldn’t expect her to have such an aggressive, tough serve.”
“She was our designated server,” said Johnson. “She is just tough as nails behind the service line. And she would serve big points for us. She would not get nervous or rattled. She would just go in and do her job.”
The Peppers had been practicing for months, and they finally achieved their goal two weeks ago.
“They want to be there, they want to work hard and they want to put in the time because they know they’re one of the top teams in the nation, and if they can put forth the effort, they can be successful at the national tournament,” said Howell.
The Peppers can now say they were successful at the national tournament, with a banner and a trophy to prove it.