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SIERRA VISTA — On her way to the USA Junior Olympic Girls Volleyball Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, Buena High School senior Kyra Brown saw a touching moment.
“There was this one experience on an airplane,” Brown said. “We were flying to nationals. There were a few military personnel on the plane. The captain of the plane wanted them to be recognized. They got back from Iraq. It was a good experience for me because I have family who are in the military. It got me thinking how much respect people have for this country. Outside of volleyball, that was my most memorable moment this year.”
Retired Army Warrant Officer Leland Fenn is Brown’s grandfather. Her brother, Craig Fenn, is in the Navy. Brown said she is looking at either Brigham Young University-Hawaii, University of Nevada at Las Vegas or possibly the U.S. Naval Academy.
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Brown played at the setter position for Zona 18-Errea, a club girls volleyball team based out of Tucson coached by A.J. Malis.
“She was a great leader,” Malis said. “She demonstrated a lot of poise. She was fantastic to work the offense.”
Brown was an outside hitter on the Buena varsity girls volleyball team and a setter on Zona. This fall she will be a setter for the Lady Colts. Brown passed for featured players like former Rincon High product K.C. Clayton and CDO’s Lindsay Armstrong, both of whom will play for Louisiana Tech University and Arlee Tamietti, who will play for Boise State University.
In Atlanta, the team finished 31st out of 48 teams in the 18 American Division.
“We were one of two teams from Arizona who played there,” Brown said. “It was real fun, it was real competitive. It was a lot of time.”
Zona held three-hour practices on Mondays through Fridays during the summer and three days a week during the school year, from December until July 5.
“To qualify we had to go to a national qualifier in Phoenix,” Brown said .”We beat Club Red, a team from Phoenix who was our main rival. We lost a lot to them earlier in the season. We beat them twice. They were a great team.”
Zona 18 played in convention centers in places like Reno, Nev. and Denver,
Colo.
In addition to Brown’s accomplishments, Buena teammates Sari Hardt, Emily Filleman, Ashley Morris, Dyanna Luevano and Brenna Redmond all played for Club Cochise 18’s. They played in the Open division and normally stayed in the top bracket.
“Any kid that plays in the offseason will benefit from it,” Buena varsity girls volleyball head coach Amy Cooper said. “They get more reps. I can’t say enough about club teams. They get more individual coaching. It’s less competitive, everyone gets to play. Kyra had the opportunity to play on a competitive team. It’ll be an asset for us.”
