By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Julia Hunt has spent the last two months traveling to major cities, but her actual summer vacation is still a couple weeks away. That when the Holy Cross High School junior gets to relax on a Florida beach and review the college scholarship offers she received while playing in national volleyball and basketball tournaments.
“Not really had a summer break at all, but it’s all been fun,” said the multi-talented 6-foot-3 athlete being recruited by NCAA Division I teams as a middle hitter in volleyball and swing player in basketball.
Last week, Hunt attended high-level training sessions with the USA Volleyball National Team Development Program in Tulsa, Okla. This is the second year that she was selected for the program that uses a scouting network to locate the best high school players in the country.
When that was over, Hunt and her mom boarded a plane and headed for Florida to rejoin the Kentucky Fusion girls basketball team that will play in the National Basketball Exposure national championships that begin Saturday in Orlando.
The Kentucky Fusion roster includes eight players from Northern Kentucky and one from Indiana. As a final tune-up for the 16-under age group national tournament, the team played in the Orlando Splash tournament earlier this week.
Hunt didn’t practice with the Fusion team while she was attending volleyball training sessions so the Orlando Splash gives her a chance to reboot her basketball skills.
“This first tournament I think is a lot easier than nationals, so I’ll kind of get back in the grove with that tournament and dust the rust off a little bit,” she said.
Hunt’s companion during her hectic summer has been her mom, Jill, who keeps track of tournament schedules and recruiting contacts. She said her daughter has received more Division I scholarship offers for volleyball than basketball, but she won’t divulge any numbers or colleges.
“It’s hard as a 16-year-old to figure out what they want to do with the next four years of their life, especially for her because her offers are from all over the country,” Jill said.
“We’ve got to figure out what part of the country you want to go to and do you want volleyball or basketball. Dealing with one sport in recruiting is hard enough, but she has two. That makes it a little harder.”
Julia said basketball was her favorite sport when she was younger, but she has gained much more notoriety playing volleyball in high school and junior national tournaments.
Last month, she was on a NKY Volleyball Club team that made it to the quarterfinals of the gold medal bracket at the USA Volleyball 16-under national tournament in Indianapolis.
In a few weeks, she’ll start her junior season at Holy Cross as the state’s top volleyball player in the 2024 graduating class, according to prepdig.com. Last year, she was one of the state’s leading hitters with 579 kills in 101 sets for a 5.72 average that ranked third in statewide statistics. She was one of 16 players named first-team all-state by the Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association.
That’s why Julia is being courted by college volleyball teams from all across the country, and the clock’s ticking for her to make a decision.
“For volleyball, you get five official (recruiting) visits. I’m trying to narrow down my list and take those visits before I make a decision,” she said. “I’m not going to make it fast, but it’s got to be sooner than later because the offers can start going away as more people commit.”
Working on that list is something Julia and her mother will likely do during their family’s vacation in Florida early next month. Her main focus right now, however, is playing in a national basketball tournament with the Kentucky Fusion.
She was selected for that team after averaging 16 points and 10.9 rebounds while shooting 54 percent from the field as a sophomore forward for Holy Cross last season.
With her in the lineup, Fusion won the Showcase Bracket in the 16-under age group at the Battle in the Boro in Louisville to qualify for this week’s nationals.
The Fusion roster also includes Logan Alexander, Meleah Alexander and Bella Deere of Cooper, Anna Hamilton of Conner, Kayla Unkraut of St. Henry, Ava Slusser of Simon Kenton, Jolee Litz of Williamstown and Kendall Sterling of Seymour (Ind.).
If Jill plays well in the national tournament, she could attract a few more college scholarship offers in basketball.
“We’re leaning toward volleyball, I guess, but I love them both,” Julia said of the two sports. “I really don’t know. I’m just in the middle right now.”