Small Town Texas Players Who Play with Big Time Texas Skills

Michael DeLeon March 31, 2020 @ 10:40 AM

You know what they say…Everything’s Bigger in Texas! A state of this size has tons of talent across its 268,000 square miles. Most of the players who get the notoriety are the ones from the big Metropolitan cities like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. However like the song says “Deep in the Heart of Texas” (I know some of you sang that like I did), there are many great players who come from smaller towns. Some of these players travel an hour or so to play for a big name club and some of them stay closer to home and play for a smaller program. Whatever the case may be, they definitely stand out. Here is the first installment of five small town Texas players who play with big time Texas skill.   [player_tooltip player_id="87392" first="Ellie" last="Echter"] [2021] 6-0 Outside (HS: Fulshear/Club: Houston Skyline/Verbal LSU) Fulshear Population: 10,044 Ellie reaches very high when contacting and has a very smooth arm swing. She is an outside who can easily control her attack to score in a variety of ways. This young lady loves to find the hands of blockers and tool them to score. She has a verbal commitment to LSU and should do great things in the SEC. Her club team also runs her out of the backrow and she can score there also. Her offensive skill-set is vast and she shows she belongs on such a great club team.   [player_tooltip player_id="87492" first="Ava" last="Underwood"] [2022] 5-6 Libero (HS: Fulshear/Club: Houston Skyline/Verbal: Texas A&M) Fulshear Population: 10,044 Ava is also from Fulshear and also travels over an hour with Houston traffic to play for Houston Skyline. She is verbally committed to Texas A&M and this shows you that even small town players can fulfill their big time dreams. Ava constantly keeps her feet moving before the hitter contacts the ball putting herself in the best position to react to the attack. She covers a lot of ground when the hitter goes away from her. She extends her range very well. On a hard driven ball, she collapses so well to keep a soft contact. She will do great things for A&M.   [player_tooltip player_id="87553" first="Daniella" last="Saenz"] [2023] 6-0 Middle (HS: Cuero/Club: Corpus Christi Force) Cuero Population: 6,841 Daniella is a “Force” at the net for her high school and club teams. She has a good size as a freshman and is very skilled at the net. Her long arms help her close out the block well. She has burst onto the scene as a freshman that starts on her high school varsity volleyball team. We are expecting some great things from her in the future. She has also helped her team compete very well in the Texas Championship Series this year finishing in the top 10 overall.   [player_tooltip player_id="87503" first="Breanna" last="Brandes"] [2022] 5-9 Setter/Outside (HS: Sealy/Club: Texstar) Sealy Population: 6,488 Breanna is a bit undersized but plays like a woman “possessed” with winning. She plays with absolutely zero fear and welcomes all challengers. In school she doubles as a pin hitter and one of the primary setters in a 6-2 offense. It almost seems as if she is involved in every play. That is how active she is on the court. Her relentless pursuit of the ball and ability to score can be seen when she scored 5 kills versus the defending 4A state champion Fulshear varsity team. Although it wasn’t enough to seal a victory, it was enough in my opinion to say that she is scared of no one. She scored in a variety of ways as a setter and a hitter against a formidable opponent. Club Owner/Director Milton Kroller is a great trainer and I know he will pull another level of talent out of her soon.   These are just four players for the first edition of the Small Town list of players to watch for. There are many players that are on my list to cover. If you know of any that you think I am leaving out, please feel free to email me at nov8vb@yahoo.com.