Panhandle Middles and Defensive Specialists to Scope Out
These Panhandle middle blockers are tall and ready to take care of the middle for the Western Conference this fall. The liberos and defensive specialists have a lot of experience returning as well. Many of these Panhandle area players I…
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Continue ReadingThese Panhandle middle blockers are tall and ready to take care of the middle for the Western Conference this fall. The liberos and defensive specialists have a lot of experience returning as well. Many of these Panhandle area players I have been showcasing this week are multisport athletes and are very athletic.
When I visited with Chadron Coach Blaklee Hoffman she commented on her upcoming season, “We have some very big shoes to fill with the loss of four key starters, Senior outsides Shea Bailey and Allie Ferguson, setter Tyleigh Strotheide, and middle Olivia Reed (who was a sophomore, but moved). While the girls who have to replace them may lack experience, they are very athletic and will be able to step into their respective roles with ease. I am hoping the time we have this summer will allow our younger girls to gain the confidence and continuity with the rest of the starters.”
“Our freshmen class has a lot of talent and will be challenging their older teammates for positions. One who stands out as a potential varsity player is Demi Ferguson (younger sister of Allie Ferguson); a 5’11” outside hitter. Demi has been looking great so far this summer and could honestly play just about anywhere on the court. The freshmen team also adds some diverse roles to the team with three lefties!”
There is one returning senior middle who will have heads turning for the Chadron Cardinals and that is 6’3″ MH Anika Burke who played club ball for Panhandle Jr.’s team this past winter. Burke is a two time All Western Conference First Team Pick. Last season for the Cardinals she registered 206 kills as a junior. One stat that stood out to me was that she was low error and hit .272 as a hitting percentage for the season. She chipped in 17 ace serves and had a total of 103 blocks. Look for her to be a huge force for the Cardinals at the net this season!
Karly Sylvester 6’0″ Senior MH who plays for Panhandle Jr’s Cub this past club season. The Sidney blocker had 202 kills , 47 solo blocks and 23 aces for Raiders this past fall. Head Coach Julie Smith says she sees strong leadership qualities in Sylvester. Look for her to have a breakout senior year!
Kyla Knight 5’10” Senior MH from Gering: Last season Kyla had 43 solo blocks and 100 total blocks, she also chipped in with 61 kills, but look for her senior setter Macey Boggs to distribute that ball all over her front row this year with a ton of tall weapons at the net! Gering will be a tall Class B team this fall!
Here are some defensive specialists and liberos looking to have a breakout season this coming fall. According to their coaches they are all excited to get back into the gym and will continue to work as restrictions are lifted.
Jacey Garrett 5’5″ Junior Libero from Chadron: Garrett was a digging machine last fall for the Cardinals. She had 490 digs and averaged close to 12.6 digs per match as a sophomore. Look for her to improve on that in her junior campaign!
Jalei Marcy 5’4″ Senior DS from Chadron: Marcy had 264 digs for the Cardinals last year. She averaged 6.8 digs per match patrolling the back row with Garrett last year.
Kennie Gable 5’6″ Senior DS/OH from Gering: Gable served 28 aces for the Bulldogs last year and had 225 digs.
There will be some a lot of net battles this fall in the Western Conference and those middle hitters will rely heavily to improve their offense by those defensive specialists and liberos with good passes to get the middles involved.