When Camp Verde High School senior Tierney Schuh was about 10, she started playing “crime scene” with a friend, making up crimes to solve. At the time, it was simply a game being played by two 10-year-old girls. But it sparked a passion in Schuh that’s evolved in the subsequent years.
Wanting to pursue a job in law enforcement is relatively common with high schoolers, but what Schuh wants to do is a little more specific.
“I plan to go to a university — most likely out of state — and study criminal justice,” Schuh said. “Then I want to become an FBI SWAT agent. At first I wanted to be an FBI officer. That quickly grew to me wanting to become a SWAT.”
Schuh recently concluded her fourth and final season with the Cowboys’ volleyball team.
One of Schuh’s best memories of her senior season came in a game against the powerhouse Northwest Christian team. It started with a conversation between Schuh and fellow senior Paige Seneca.
Knowing they were up against a powerhouse team, Schuh and Seneca knew that they’d have to either block the Crusaders’ shots with their arms or heads. Shortly into that match, that came to fruition — though not for either of them.
“A few plays after we said that, our libero, Jaydyn [Rayburn], took it right off of her head,” Schuh said. “But she got it over. Because she got it over, while everyone was checking on her and she started walking off of the court, I was telling her, ‘You need to get back into it.’”
Fortunately for all involved, Rayburn was not hurt on the play. Because of that, Schuh is able to laugh when looking back at the strange play.
Another one of Schuh’s more memorable volleyball moments with Camp Verde came early in her senior season when the team was staying overnight for a scrimmage in Ash Fork.
It was there that the Camp Verde team did an exercise from Character Matters, a program the team uses to help players focus on positive character traits as volleyball players, as well as people. That provided a moment with Schuh that stuck.
“We did a Character Matters where we describe each team member,” she said. “That’s a really good bonding memory as a team from when we would have had tournaments that we didn’t get to have because of COVID.”
Schuh also played basketball as a freshman and sophomore, and softball as a freshman. She played only volleyball
as a junior and isn’t playing any more sports as a senior. Away from sports she’s a member of the National Honors Society at Camp Verde.
COVID-19 shortened Schuh’s volleyball season as a senior — at the beginning when the start was delayed and at the end when an outbreak caused the Cowboys final three games to be canceled. But while the season was short, it left Schuh with a lasting memory.
“Even though we were young and didn’t know each other that well personally, we were more in sync as a team,” she said. “And if any of those girls were having a problem I would be right there for them through thick and thin.”
