Rankings Breakdown: 2021
While PrepDig hasn’t yet put rankings to our Class of 2021 watch list, scroll down alphabetically to take a look at Eagan setter Kennedi Orr, who undoubtedly would be at No. 1. Orr is not only considered the best 2021 in the state, she’s among the elite in the entire country.
Nicknamed “Peanut,” Orr is already playing up two JO levels from many of her classmates as a key member of the Northern Lights 16-1 team, and helped lead Eagan to its third Class AAA state championship in four years last fall as an eighth-grade starter at setter.
Kennedi is a lanky 5-foot-10 who can both set and hit, like her older sister Bri Orr. The sisters, separated by four years, hadn’t played on the same together until winning a state title two years ago with Eagan. They repeated the feat last fall.
Bri will graduate from Eagan this spring but has already finished her classes and is at the University of Iowa. She was a multi-year starter for the Wildcats and was a finalist for the Miss Volleyball award as a senior. It wouldn’t be stretch to expect the same high school career for Kennedi — or even better.
Other highlights from the initial Class of 2021 watch list:
Can’t teach size
It may be cliché, but one thing that can’t be taught is size — and two of the Class of 2021 watch list are a towering 6-foot-3 as rising freshmen. Breck’s middle blocker Carter Booth and Lakeville South’s middle Ava Moes both block out the sun in the front row for their high schools and for their JO programs at M1 14-1 and Northern Lights 14-1, respectively.
Booth, who is athletic and moves well for her size, has some great bloodlines. Her father Calvin was a second round NBA draft pick of the Washington Wizards in 1999 and played 10 years in the league for seven different teams. He won a pair of Goodwill Games gold medals for the United States men’s basketball team (1998 and 2001), which Carter joked she used to use as coasters when she was younger. Calvin is currently the Timberwolves’ director of pro personnel.
Moes also has basketball in her blood, as she played center for the top traveling teams at South and in the offseason for the Minnesota Fury program until focusing strictly on volleyball this past fall. That’s clearly helped her ups, as Moes has a massive 116” approach jump and 105” block jump.
Teammates rising
Four schools have a pair of players on the Class of 2021 watch list — Breck, Cambridge-Isanti, Concordia Academy, and Lakeville South. It’s an interesting mix of programs with recent success as well as ones on the rise.
Joining Booth from Breck is outside hitter Riley Walsh, who plays for the Northern Lights 14-1 team, and teaming with Moes from Lakeville South is setter Jasmine Weidemann, who is on the Northern Lights 14-2 team. Cambridge-Isanti is represented by libero Abbie Higley and setter Paige Sheehan, the younger sister of All-American hitter Claire Sheehan. Concordia Academy has its own younger sister of a past star in Kira Fallert, who is paired with setter Brooke Weichbrodt. Keep an eye on these four programs in the coming years.