Five Players With Big Shoes to Fill in 2020

<p>It happens every year in high school volleyball. When star players graduate, they leave a team behind them looking for ways to rebuild and remain competitive after their departures. It’s not easy to replace a player pound-by-pound and normally the best way to do it is by committee, but inevitably some athletes need to step up their games to fill those holes and that’s probably what these five will have to do in 2020.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Gabriella MacKzenzie - Middle-Blocker – Burlington-Edison</strong><br /> No player has hit more balls in 2019 in the state of Washington than Katie King. The senior middle-blocker was set 1,300 times last season and scored at a consistent rate, registering 512 kills. Her departure means Burlington-Edison will need to restructure their offense coming to 2020, especially because the team’s second and fourth main hitting options, outside hitter Lauryn Dykstra (616 spikes) and right sider Bronte Lacey (430) are also gone. The main candidate to lead the Tigers’ offense in 2020 is 5’11” senior middle-blocker Gabriella MacKenzie, who received 496 balls and converted 189 in kills last season.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Aaliyah Caldejon – Outside Hitter – Cleveland</strong><br /> Serving was a big part of Cleveland’s game in 2019 as the team had the state’s highest aces per set average at 7.2. Too bad for them, seniors Wen Eckelberg (66 aces), Annie Nguyen (48), Cia Bell (40) and Sara Tran (32) have all graduated and won’t return for their next campaign. Senior outside hitter Aaliyah Caldejon is expected to step up her game from the service line this coming season if the team wants to remain on top at that category. She showed good promise in 2019, registering 27 aces, but performances like the ones she had against Rainier Beach, when she had seven aces, and Lincoln, when she scored from the service line five times in a single set, will have to repeat more often.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Taylor Albert – Defensive Specialist - Steilacoom</strong><br /> Steilacoom had the best defense in the entire state with 2,216 digs registered in 2019, but the main responsible for that won’t be part of their team in 2020 as libero Saisha Morales, the second player with the most digs (562) in Washington, has graduated. The team saw a fair amount of its digs coming from their outside hitters and setter, but Morales’ backcourt absence will be immensely felt unless junior defensive specialist Taylor Albert steps up to fill her role. Albert had good numbers last season, registering 215 digs (7.7 per match) and will only need to slightly improve them for Steilacoom not to miss a step.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="96980" first="Sadie" last="Bacon"] – Middle-Blocker – Issaquah</strong><br /> [player_tooltip player_id="96980" first="Sadie" last="Bacon"] did enough last season to be picked to top prepdig.com’s ranking of the class of 2021. A strong part of her game was her blocking, the second-most effective in the entire state with 175 points scored at the net. The 6'2" Bacon was part of a trio of outstanding blockers who easily established Issaquah as the best blocking team in Washington alongside middle-blocker Sidney Cottrell (198) and opposite Maya Patton (155), who ranked first and third in blocks in the state. In 2020, Bacon won’t have either of them on the team and will need to remain solid at the net to keep her team among the best in the state.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="97245" first="Katrice" last="Dunn"] – Setter - Mount Si</strong><br /> Mount Si had a Washington top-five setter in 2019 in Dana Dolan, who coordinated their offense effectively and registered 884 assists. She won’t return in 2020 after graduating and the keys of the team will most likely be handed to [player_tooltip player_id="97245" first="Katrice" last="Dunn"]. The 5'7" setter got to play in 30 sets in her freshman year, did fairly well with 63 assists, and, most importantly for a first-year ball-handler, registered only three errors. Dunn is expected to have way more court time in 2020 and the Wildcats will need her to mix well with star outside hitter Bailey Showalter for them to be competitive.</p>