While so many girls grow up on the softball and soccer fields of Hamilton Township, Jenna Arimenta had a different playground in her youth.
“My father introduced volleyball to both me and my brother Marc,” Arimenta said. “We used to just play in our backyard; but once Marc started playing competitively, my family and I went to all of his games and tournaments as a child.”
He was following Robert Arimenta’s footsteps, as the patriarch played both beach and indoor volleyball in high school and college. He was playing for fun by the time his kids were born, but they noticed. Marc began playing competitively at age 16 with the Panthers, a club team in South Jersey.
Thus, who was Arimenta to turn her back on the family funfest? She started playing competitively at age 12 and “I have loved it ever since.”
That’s fairly obvious by looking at the Notre Dame High School stat page. As a senior outside hitter for the Irish, Arimenta leads the team with over 100 kills and 100 digs. The statistics published on-line are not completely accurate because coach Tony Carpenter did not begin keeping stats until after six games when they were not being kept properly. He assures she is in triple figures for both.
Whatever they numbers, they indicate that Arimenta is good at what she does.
“She’s just a smart all-around player,” said Carpenter, who’s in his first year with ND. “She knows the game very well. She comes from a volleyball family. She just has a really good volleyball IQ. She hits shots, she knows where to place the ball. She’s good at things like that. She’s just a real smart player. The main things are she grew up watching and started playing early, so she’s got a lot of experience.”
A product of University Heights Elementary School and Crockett Middle School, Arimenta started with the West Windsor Volleyball Club, which has since become the Princeton Volleyball Club. She began playing varsity as a freshman at Notre Dame, where she has been solid Outside Hitter 2. The difference between that and an Outside 1 is that she will not overpower an opponent, but will kill them with consistency.
“I have been an outside hitter every year except for my first,” Arimenta said. “They had me as a middle, which quickly ended because of my (5-foot-8) height.”
Arimenta is playing for her third head coach in four years, and Carpenter immediately saw he had something special when he took over the Irish this year.
“I knew she was gonna be a good player,” he said. “You could tell she just has a good eye for the game. She picks up things very quickly, you don’t have to tell her a whole lot of times. You kind of tell her once and show her, and she’s able to translate it from practice on to the floor.”
During Arimenta’s first three seasons, the Irish were 6-10, 12-13 and 11-17. This season they were 8-11 as of Oct. 18. While those don’t seem like glittering records, volleyball is not a hot sport in Mercer County, as only a few schools feature it. The Irish are forced to play around the area against schools that are more experienced and talented.
Nonetheless, Arimenta is loving life with her teammates.
“I really enjoy playing with Notre Dame,” she said. “I feel like, since the season has started, we have all helped each other improve and we have become a family. I would do anything for any of those girls and I know they would do the same for me. I wouldn’t want to play my senior year with any other team and I can’t wait to see how our season plays out.”
Whatever happens, rest assured Arimenta will be in the middle of anything good. She is a “six-rotation player,” meaning she never comes off the floor. She will not only play the net, but goes to the back row as well.
“That kind of player is becoming more of a rarity,” Carpenter said. “She passes well and she can hit, which is good. You want a player like that.”
‘She’s very outgoing with a very good personality. People are drawn to her.’
You also want a player who minimizes her mistakes, which is also an Arimenta quality.
“She keeps the ball in play,” Carpenter said. “She knows when to take nice hard swings; she knows when to back off, things like that. Most of her mistakes come when she tries to do too much. When she doesn’t play within herself, when she thinks the team is starting to struggle or we need a key play she’ll maybe try to do something more than she should, or normally would do. That’s when she makes errors but she’s a very consistent player.”
Arimenta is mostly an indoor player, but on occasion, she, Mark and Robert will head to Point Pleasant to play in a beach tournament.
“Indoor to me is a lot more fun than playing in the hot sun all day,” Arimenta said.
When the heat is at its fiercest, it’s probably the only time she plays volleyball that Arimenta may seem a little sluggish.
“She’s a very excitable kid,” Carpenter said. “She’s a definite leader, people follow her. She’s very outgoing with a very good personality. People are drawn to her.”
Just as she is drawn to people. When she is not playing volleyball, Arimenta is hitting the books, going out with friends or selling water ice at Rita’s.
“I am very social,” she said, “so I hate being cooped up in the house.”
When it comes to her success, Arimenta feels it’s a matter of working feverishly every moment she is on the court, whether or not they are keeping score.
“I do work my hardest in practice and in games to be the best that I can be, for not only myself but for my team as well,” she said. “I am very team oriented and I make sure that when we are on the court and off the court we play and treat each other as a team and not as individuals.
“I couldn’t get any of those kills if it weren’t for my setter and one of my closest friends, Juliana Hagen. We have been playing together for the past seven seasons and we have truly created a bond. I think to be successful in these areas you need to set a goal for yourself at every practice or game and make sure you are playing to your full potential.”
Her next goal is to play volleyball in college. While it’s early in the process, she has been in touch with Rowan in hopes of playing there. While Arimenta would love to play Division I or Division II, her lack of size could be a hindrance.
“I do think that my height holds me back from playing at those elite colleges,” she said. “If I had two or three inches added, my volleyball skills would be so much more advanced than they are now, which is sad to say but it is true. I am still looking around but I do feel very confident about going to Rowan in the fall. If I am able to play volleyball in college it would be awesome, but academics are definitely a first for me.”
Carpenter feels it would be a shame if she did not play in college.
“I just think wherever she goes, they’re gonna end up with a solid player,” said the coach, who also has Hamiltonians Kemi Olaleye and Jordyn Whited on his team. “I keep trying to tell the coach at Rowan that. She just doesn’t have the height most colleges are looking for. They want to use her as a defensive specialist or have her come in and pass. Obviously, she wants to hit because she’s been doing it for so long, so she’s trying to find that happy balance.”
More than likely, if Arimenta is on a volleyball court, she will be happy.
Jenna Arimenta leaps during the Notre Dame volleyball team’s 2-0 win against Hopewell Valley Oct. 11, 2017. (Photo by Mike Schwartz/mikeschwartz.photo.),
