Parkites playing volleyball on a Salt Lake team at a Texas tournament

Park City athletes on the Salt Lake City volleyball team at a USAV tournament in Dallas. Photo: Andrea Terwillegar

DALLAS, Texas — A third-generation Park City athlete, Lucy Terwillegar is in familiar territory traveling to elite sports competitions. This time it’s for volleyball, as she and her fellow Park City teammate, Ella Russell, recently returned from the Lone Star Classic. It was their second year in a row attending.

The Junior National qualifier tournament brought 8,000 high school-aged volleyball players from all parts of the United States to play on 117 courts over three days. 

Terwillegar is a sophomore at Park City High School and transitioned from gymnastics to volleyball a few years ago. She plays on Club V in the Salt Lake Valley and two other players she played with on last year’s club team went to Dallas too. 

This USA Volleyball (USAV) competition featured the top two teams in each division who earned their bid into the tournament. Club V does two out-of-state travel tournaments. The team community considered themselves lucky this year, however, since Salt Lake City hosted a USAV tournament in March.

Lucy’s mom, Andrea Terwillegar, told me, “Dallas wasn’t necessarily our best tournament but we ended it strong with winning our final two games and solidifying a fun team bond among players and parents. The teenage girls even let us take a few pictures of them.”

With the season winding down, it may give Lucy even more time to continue working at the sports store her late grandfather started, Jans.