For a high school volleyball players looking to play in college, junior year is a stressful time. That’s when recruiters are really honing in on who they’re after, and the process of getting exposure and taking advantage can place a lot of strain on a teenager.
The tension was even higher last year, when many opportunities to be seen during the spring and summer club season were wiped out by the pandemic. For many players, the high school season became the only chance to build up a highlight reel that would impress college coaches.
Center Grove senior Katie Egenolf is glad to have those uneasy days behind her.
“It was very stressful last year,” she recalled. “Like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to make sure the cameras are up,’ make sure the games are getting filmed and it’s not super shaky.”
Egenolf managed to make enough of an impression during her junior season with the Trojans to secure her future. She’s verbally committed to play college volleyball at Ball State, and she comes into her final high school campaign unburdened by the recruiting process.
That’s bad news for Center Grove opponents, who had a hard enough time dealing with the 6-foot outside hitter already. Egenolf registered 427 kills as a junior — a high enough number even without taking into account the nine matches she missed late in the season with severe shin splints.
That three-week stretch of time included the Trojans’ run through the Class 4A sectional.
“I felt like I was letting my team down,” Egenolf said. “It was just hard to not be out there with them, but they did an amazing job. I was so proud of them.”
Several of the players who stepped into bigger roles while Egenolf was sidelined are back this year, which should make for a more balanced team.
New Trojans coach Jennifer Hawk, a Center Grove graduate who has worked with other Division I college recruits in the past — recent Perry Meridian grad Caitie Baird is now playing at perennial powerhouse Stanford — believes that balance is critical for both the team and the individual star.
“It’s really important to build a core around them because they can be overused — and we don’t want injuries, obviously,” Hawk said. “It’s a familiar territory for me to have a player like that, and I just want to give her some good support and give our offense the ability to have other options and not just have to rely on one.”
Egenolf is confident that she’ll have plenty of help, even with graduated middle blocker Grace Boggess now playing at Butler.
“We have just as strong of an offense now, and even more variety to mix up the defense,” Egenolf said.
Though she’s excited for her own future playing volleyball at the next level, Egenolf wants to make the most of her last run here.
She’s ready to take on a greater leadership role after waiting her turn behind the likes of MJ Hammill, a former Trojan setter now playing at the University of Wisconsin — and she sees the same type of competitive fire in her new coach that she feels inside of herself.
“She won a state championship here,” Egenolf said of Hawk, “and I know that’s what she wants to do now, and I think she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get us there.”
