Martinez: Kendall Mairs’ passion switches from basketball to volleyball

Kendall Mairs is now all in on volleyball.

But if you told the Camas senior that would be the case five years ago, she might not believe you.

Mairs grew up playing soccer and basketball.

But when the pandemic hit, health restrictions put limits on her ability to play club basketball.

Those same restrictions did not apply to volleyball, so Mairs began playing club volleyball.

And she found a new passion.

Its a passion that will lead her to a fourth consecutive trip to the 4A state volleyball tournament with the Camas Papermakers this week in Yakima.

Camas is the No.

5 seed and will face Glacier Peak in a first-round match Friday.

Mairs has also made three trips to the state tournament in basketball, culminating last winter when Camas captured the 4A state championship.

But there wont be a fourth trip to state in basketball for Mairs.

She made the tough decision this fall to focus all her efforts into volleyball.

In previous seasons, she had to juggle playing basketball for Camas with playing volleyball on her club team, and that became challenging.

Definitely it was hard leaving my best friends and not playing the sport that I grew up playing and love playing, Mairs said of basketball.

But I kind of grew out of it.

And I knew that I needed to focus on what Im going to be doing for the next four-plus years.

What Mairs will be doing in the future is playing college volleyball at San Diego State.

And that too came with some change.

Mairs made a verbal commitment last winter to play volleyball for San Jose State.

But San Jose States volleyball program has been embroiled in controversy surrounding an alleged transgender player on the team.

Several of San Jose States opponents forfeited games rather than play the Spartans.

An assistant coach was suspended for remarks on the situation, and the program is part of a number of lawsuits over the issue.

By the end of October, the controversy and uncertainty around the program led Mairs to reconsider her college choice.

Things just kind of fell through with that, Mairs said.

It didnt feel like the right fit anymore.

Im glad I found San Diego State, and honestly I feel like this was the perfect fit for me.

Mairs said San Diego State was one of her top options in her original recruiting process.

I went down there last week, and just fell in love with it, Mairs said.

I had a great connection with all the girls on the team.

I was like this just feels like the right place for me.

So I committed then and signed on Wednesday.

And there was another change this season for Mairs.

After spending the previous three seasons getting kills as an outside hitter, Mairs moved into the role of setter on this years Camas team.

Its a position she has played during club volleyball and likely will play again in college.

But as the lone senior on the Camas roster, it has allowed her to take a bigger leadership role.

Its definitely different, she said.

Obviously, Im the only senior, so I have to have leadership that way.

But also now being the setter on the team is like being the quarterback, running every single thing, touching every single ball that comes to our side.

Its good to keep everyone going.

Mairs loves to talk to and laugh with her teammates.

But verbally directing them on what to do is something shes less comfortable doing.

But being setter allows her to be a better leader by helping her teammates succeed.

It feels like a different way of being a leader, Mairs said.

Im kind of vocal at times, but I feel like a better leader in knowing where to put the ball and giving people the ball at the right times.

And if all goes well this weekend, Mairs hopes to lead Camas volleyball to another trophy finish after the Papermakers placed fifth in 2021 and sixth in 2023.

If one person is struggling, we have people ready to step up and kind of step into the spot, she said.

Everyone here is just ready to go and step up to another level..

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