District 2A Greater St. Helens – The Stars

<p>Over the last few months, we’ve provided you a lot of information about who are the players you won’t want to miss when the high school volleyball season starts in Washington next March. First we broke the players down by division and then we switched gears to analyze who are expected to be the most outstanding athletes in the top teams of each of those divisions.</p> <p>For the next several weeks, we’ll dive even deeper, taking a closer look at each of the 46 district leagues in the state of Washington and pointing out the players we believe will be worth your attention in the near future.</p> <p>The Greater St. Helens District is easily one of the strongest in the entire class 2A, being home to nine high schools, including reigning State Championship winners Ridgefield, and their three best players are:</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="96981" first="Allie" last="Andrew"] – Middle-Blocker – Senior – Ridgefield</strong></p> <p>Not many teams in the country have the luxury of having a 6’4” middle-blocker to captain their efforts at the net and Ridgefield is fortunate to have [player_tooltip player_id="96981" first="Allie" last="Andrew"]. The towering prospect was at her best for the Sppuders during their victorious State Championship run in 2019 and registered 12 kills in the final against Ellensburg in a clear demonstration of how much of an impact she can have in a game. Her sky-high potential was noticed both inside the high school volleyball scene, with her receiving nominations for the All-State second team and the All-League first team, and outside it, with Baylor getting a commitment from Andrew, who sits at the second-place at prepdig.com’s class of 2021 ranking.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="96982" first="Emma" last="Swett"] – Middle-Blocker – Senior – Woodland</strong></p> <p>Right after Andrew in that list, occupying the third spot, is another promising middle-blocker from the district, [player_tooltip player_id="96982" first="Emma" last="Swett"]. The 6’1” Woodland prospect had a dominant showing for the Beavers in 2019, being essential for her team in basically every aspect of the game with 269 kills, 58 aces, 41 blocks and 196 digs. She was awarded as an All-State team honorable mention nominee and made it to the All-League team for a second-straight year, this time as a first-team selection.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="96988" first="Emilea" last="Stepaniuk"] – Libero/Defensive Specialist – Senior – Ridgefield</strong></p> <p>Defensive players rarely have prominent roles on their teams, but it’s different with [player_tooltip player_id="96988" first="Emilea" last="Stepaniuk"]. The 5’7” libero is very quick and technical and established herself as a key piece in Ridgefield’s State Championship-winning squad. She was on fire during last year’s final, when she registered 27 digs against Ellensburg and that performance cemented her second-straight All-State second-team appearance. Stepaniuk, who’s also a two-time All-League first-team member, ranks ninth at prepdig.com’s class of 2021 ranking.</p>