St James Academy captured Janice Van Gorp Volleyball Classic

We head to Shawnee Mission Northwest for a special tournament, in honor of the late Janice Van Gorp (JVG). Van Gorp, a native of Shawnee, Kansas, graduated from Shawnee Mission Northwest, where she was a standout athlete in volleyball, basketball, and track. The 12-team tournament showed teams in midseason forms, contenders or pretenders, as we start our October volleyball coverage.   I name my Game Changers or all-tournament team recipient from my scout's perspective from the particular tournament or match(es) I personally watched. Some players may shine throughout the day or caught my attention from one match. The JVG Volleyball Classic was played on 4 courts in two different gyms and did not provide an all-tournament team selection. Here are my take from the tournament and presenting Prep Dig Marshall's Game Changers.   1st Place - St. James Academy   [player_tooltip player_id='154039' first='Reese' last='Messer'] - S - 2025 [player_tooltip player_id='119723' first='Julia' last='Headley'] - MB - 2024   <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-medium"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/10/Marshall_JVG-6334-200x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-232446"/></figure>   Led by sophomore sensation setter [player_tooltip player_id='154039' first='Reese' last='Messer'], St. James can do no wrong as they rolled through the competition. The Thunders was the only squad that won their matches in straight sets at the tournament. Messer was instrumental in running the St. James 5-1 offense. She provided her hitters with exceptional set selection that created one-on-one matchup and was solid defensively with her blocks. Messer's court awareness helped her modify St James attacking option by sending unexpected second ball hits. [player_tooltip player_id='119723' first='Julia' last='Headley'] was on fire and hit exceptionally well to be the Thunder's leading hitter for all of their matches. Headley got hot early and was Messer's go-to player the rest of the day. She started with 9 kills against DeSoto with a 0.400 hitting average and finished the day with 28 kills in 4 matches, good for 3.5 kills/set.   2nd Place - Blue Valley Northwest   [player_tooltip player_id='122202' first='Alayna' last='Pearson'] - Libero - 2023 [player_tooltip player_id='222086' first='Morgan' last='Sears'] - MB - 2026   Pearson's calm presence is contradictory on how she played. The senior libero played lights out and was not afraid to chase down balls. There were a plethora of plays where we think the point was over and here comes Pearson to save the day. She ran over her own teammates, chairs, and would run through the bleachers if she could. Pearson's 38 digs was good to be the Huskies dig-leader on the day. Though only a freshman, Sears is making a big impact for Blue Valley Northwest. She may not be the top kill leader for the Huskies but her powerful hits through the middle opens up options for their pin hitters. She was good for 10 kills (0.316 hitting percentage) in a match against Blue Valley North.   3rd Place - Mill Valley   <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-medium"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/10/Marshall_JVG-6250-200x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-232449"/></figure>   [player_tooltip player_id='154038' first='Ella' last='Florez'] - S - 2026 [player_tooltip player_id='152830' first='Kaitlyn' last='Burke'] - OH - 2025   Florez stayed composed running the 6-2 offense for Mill Valley and stayed in the front row to hit on the right side. Florez's athleticism was put on the test on some tight balls to the net and the freshman setter saved some plays with a one-handed set. She's a triple-threat player and is the closest one to record a triple-double in a match. I'm sure we'll see that stat line one day as she was close to do so against Olathe South in the Championship semifinal match (14 assists, 10 digs, 4 kills, and 17 serves if we can count that). Florez can be counted on as Mill Valley's clutch player when they needed a point. Burke did a great job terminating on the ball when she had the opportunity. She gave Mill Valley a spark when they needed it most and her ability to score gave the Jaguars the edge over SMNW during pool play and helped them take Olathe South in 2.   4th Place - Olathe South   [player_tooltip player_id='150066' first='Sara' last='Allmon'] - OH - 2025 [player_tooltip player_id='150075' first='Jaya' last='Johnson'] - MB - 2023   Allmon was the Falcons 6-rotation outside and was instrumental in keeping the team in contention for a championship. She was the go-to hitter for Olathe South as she hit from all sides of the court and snuck in some pipe back-row option when necessary. Teams better watch out when the Falcons are in-system because Johnson will obliterate balls through the middle. At one point in the tournament, a few parents in the stand were amazed how powerful Johnson hit and stated "I wouldn't want to be on the other side of that net right about now". Johnson mixed up her power with some finesse move as she ran some slides option.   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>   Honorable Mention   [player_tooltip player_id='119708' first='Rachel' last='Van Gorp'] - OH - 2024 - Heritage Christian   <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-medium"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/10/Marshall_JVG-6372-200x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-232450"/></figure>   Heritage Christian was the only 3A school in the tournament and had a great showing playing against teams in higher classification than they are. HCA were 2 points short on being in the top 4 teams with a 3-set loss to Olathe South during pool play (27-25, 29-31, 16-25). Their tournament result did not do them justice in how well the team played overall. Van Gorp was a key piece in their success as HCA's 6-rotation outside. She has tremendous power to get kills for HCA and is a go-to piece in their offense.   [player_tooltip player_id='150074' first='Taylour' last='Standifer'] - OPP - 2024 - Shawnee Mission Northwest   <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-medium"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/10/Marshall_JVG-6318-200x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-232451"/></figure>   Standifer played incredibly well against Blue Valley North in their bracket play semifinals and caught my attention to be the Cougars Game Changer. Her stat line from Max Prep confirmed what I saw. Standifer contributed to the Cougars offense with 6 kills on a 0.308 hitting percentage and had a team-high 14 serves during the match. She was active on the net with 2 total blocks and helped on the defensive end with 6 digs. With Northwest's modified serve-receive pattern, Standifer passed 9 serves which is second only to the libero.     <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>   Winner's Circle   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/10/F6938B67-C0F9-4D79-B62D-057FD99CFCD9-1024x731.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-232515"/><figcaption>Photo courtesy of Marshall Goenawan</figcaption></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>   There are plenty of other athletes from the tournament that deserve recognition and will be featured in the next article.   Did we miss someone we should be aware of? Please email PrepDigMarshall@gmail.com or Twitter <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.x.com/prepdigmarshall" target="_blank">@PrepDigMarshall </a>with your inquiries!

We head to Shawnee Mission Northwest for a special tournament, in honor of the late Janice Van Gorp (JVG). Van Gorp, a native of Shawnee, Kansas, graduated from Shawnee Mission Northwest, where she was a standout athlete in volleyball, basketball, and track. The 12-team tournament showed teams in midseason forms, contenders or pretenders, as we start our October volleyball coverage.