2021 Liberos To Watch

Michael DeLeon June 21, 2020 @ 03:07 PM

It is time for a little Libero love. In this article we profile three liberos who are masters at their craft. While it is not the position that most pay to see, it is one of the most important positions when it comes to championships. Every coach knows this is true. The following young ladies deserve a lot of credit for all of their hard work in this extremely difficult position.   [player_tooltip player_id="87415" first="Callie" last="Cogdill"] [2021] 5-6 Libero (HS: Cy Woods/Club: Houston Skyline/ Verbal: Oklahoma) Miss Cogdill comes in ranked 27th overall on our Prep Dig Rankings for the 2021 class. Callie is blessed with the speed that is necessary to play the libero position. She is extremely fast on the court and not a lot falls in her zone. For club she plays a lot out of the right back spot and is extremely active. Her reaction time is second to none and she truly keeps her eyes on the prize as the hitter is attacking. What I like the most about her game has to be her footwork. She consistently stays balanced with her feet. This translates very well to solid passing and digging. Callie can dig a hard driven ball with ease and she can also fly to touch the off-speed shot from her opponent. For high school, she primarily is a left back defender. She is a very versatile libero/DS who knows all three backrow positions very well. She will definitely be a good asset to the Oklahoma program she is committed to.   [player_tooltip player_id="87418" first="Sydney" last="Gholson"] [2021] 5-6 Libero (HS: Keller/Club: Texas Advantage/Verbal: Ole Miss) Sydney comes in ranked 30th overall on our Prep Dig Rankings for the 2021 class. She is verbally committed to Ole Miss and she will be a star for them. This youngster is extremely fundamentally sound. You can tell by the way she plays that she has been taught very well by some great TAV coaches.. Kudos to her for being coachable and absorbing all of the knowledge from amazing coaches and being able to apply it in fast paced situations. There is not one part of her game that I do not like. She has the speed, court vision, upper body control, soft touch, and picturesque passing technique necessary to play the libero position. Her serve receive passing is what will make her stand out at Ole Miss. Her understanding of angles shows through her play. I love how she holds her form after contact. We will definitely keep our eyes on Miss Gholson as she continues her senior season.   [player_tooltip player_id="87457" first="Margaret" last="Newton"] [2021] 5-4 Libero (HS: Westlake/Club: Austin Skyline/Verbal: Denver) Margaret comes in ranked 68th overall on our Prep Dig Rankings for the 2021 class. I love to see players who are not afraid to get dirty and be on the floor. Margaret is one of those kids. They are the most fun to watch play the position. She is extremely active on the court. The one aspect that stands out to me the most when I watch her play is her ability to change direction so well. She reads hitters well but every now and then the ball will be deflected off of the block and she stops on a dime and pushes off with her outside foot to lunge and keep the ball in play for her teammates. It is very exciting to see. She would be the player I would pick for a hustle drill demo at a camp/clinic. The type of love she has to not let the ball hit the floor is infectious. She is committed to play college volleyball at Denver and they will love her there. I am expecting big things from her this coming season at Westlake high school in Austin.   There are many more amazing 2021 players to be aware of. Stay tuned for more articles on your favorite athletes. If you have anyone you think we should watch out for, please shoot me an email with some info at nov8vb@yahoo.com. Also don’t forget to help these kids get more exposure by sharing our stories with your friends. Help us help them by simply retweeting on Twitter or sharing on Facebook. Thanks for following Texas Family!