In The News: NHS volleyball duo travel similar paths to different destinations

Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic

Gabrielle Aihara and Jade Livesay-Groark support each other throughout recruitment process

The recruiting process for college athletics varies quite a bit for each sport, changing even further depending on the level of competition and the amount of scholarship money available.

Add in the variation involved with each individual and the path each can recruit takes can make for quite a personal tale.

At the same time, many prospective college athletes have similar experiences along the way, from the doubts and stress they endure when their future is unclear to the elation they feel when find a place that feels like home and make their dreams a reality by signing a letter of intent.

For instance, Newberg High School volleyball teammates Gabrielle Aihara and Jade Livesay-Groark basically went through the process together simultaneously, ending up in different places yet feeling gratified with the decisions they’ve made.

The duo are just one example of the many journeys that Newberg area athletes make each year as they plan for their academic and athletic futures.

“She’s my best friend, so she was there through this entire process,” Livesay-Groark said of Aihara. “She saw everything first hand and we basically went through it together, the stresses and also the feeling of winning because when you finally make it, it’s a really elated feeling.”

Aihara and Livesay-Groark both played club volleyball, around which most of the recruiting process centers in the sport, at Oregon Juniors Volleyball Acadmy in Beaverton and watched as many of their teammates experienced the bulk of their recruitment as juniors.

That made for a much more stressful senior season for the pair, comparatively, as they finished their high school careers in the fall and still didn’t know where they would play at the next level.

“It was stressful, especially being a senior recruit,” Aihara said. “It was definitely worth it, but extremely nerve wracking.”

Aihara had a spectacular senior campaign, earning Three Rivers League Player of the Year honors and becoming the first player in school history to become a first-team all-state selection.

The standout setter was pursued by colleges as far east as Manhattan in New York, but didn’t seriously consider moving that far away.

She also considered Seattle University and Southern Oregon, but ultimately accepted a scholarship offer from NCAA Division II Central Washington.

“The coaches are awesome,” Aihara said. “They are very caring and my teammates are just amazing and the campus is everything I’ve ever asked for. The program seems awesome from what I saw on my official (visit). Everyone just seems to care about more than just athletics. It was a no-brainer.”

Livesay-Groark took a very methodical approach to her recruitment, in part because only 52 schools in the country offered the combination of volleyball and a radiation therapy program.

She narrowed that list to 20 schools, applied to 10 and from there, made strong connections with three coaches.

St. Francis in Joliet, Ill., proved to be an easy choice for her because her other options, Oregon Tech and the University of Mary in North Dakota, did not feature nearby hospitals at which she could intern during her final two years of college, meaning she would have to forgo the final two seasons of her playing career.

Her official visit to St. Francis sealed the deal, much in the same way Aihara’s did.

“St. Francis was more of a home,” Livesay-Groark said. “I love the coach and the girls were awesome. Even though its so far away, it made more sense.”