2023 Phenoms - Updates Vol 3

We have written about all athletes on our ranking list at least once from the 2023 class and up. We are going back and giving more updates on each of the athletes on our list from the past high school season and current club season. This next installment of our series on the 2023 class has a little of everything. I tried to balance it out across the entire state. So without further ado, here are the updates of a few of the standouts from the 2023 class.     [player_tooltip player_id="99491" first="ChiChi" last="Ozigbo"] [2023] 5-10 Middle/Outside (HS: Reagan/Club: Alamo/Verbal: Uncommitted) Miss [player_tooltip player_id="99491" first="ChiChi" last="Ozigbo"] is currently ranked as the 14th top prospect in the State of Texas according to our Prep Dig Rankings. We recently wrote an article where we said the following about this young lady, “Somebody call the cops because this young lady has a weapon on the court. She should have to obtain a license to carry with her arm swing. Its very fun to watch her swing. Her approach is a normal one and then she unleashes a bomb to her opponents. At the peak of her approach, it is so refreshing to watch her contact the ball so high. Her opponents don’t stand a chance. What makes her dangerous is her hang time in the air. Don’t make the mistake of jumping at the same time as her at the net, because if you do, she will be contacting while you are on your way down. She is a deadly weapon for this her 15 Premier team who can hit the ball at all three tempos in every position at the net. Her high school coach says that she is a natural leader and wows the crowd every time she takes the court. She plays for a very talented Reagan team in the San Antonio area and for one of the best club teams in the nation in Alamo. She is battled tested and ready to show what she can do on the Varsity level. Get ready to hear her name for a long time.” We saw in person just how explosive she is on the court. She was a big reason why Reagan had a deep run in the UIL State Playoffs. They went 21-4 overall and a very impressive 1-2 in one of the toughest districts in the state. Miss Ozigbo was able to be a top performer on a great team in which she accumulated 93 kills, hit .229, and had 17 digs and 22 blocks. We are looking forward to seeing her progress in the sport.     [player_tooltip player_id="99494" first="Miller" last="McDonald"] [2023] 5-8 Setter (HS: Lake Highlands/Club: Drive Nation/Verbal: Uncommitted) [player_tooltip player_id="99494" first="Miller" last="McDonald"] is currently ranked as the 27thtop prospect in the 2023 class according to our State Rankings and her star is on the rise. We wrote an article in the summer of last year about her that stated, “This young lady excites me. She plays for a newer club out of the Dallas area, Drive Nation. They were formed by former NBA great Jermaine O’Neal. Their state of the art facility allows them to train at a very high level. Miller is a setter who loves her craft. She can be seen in a gym by herself setting to a target often. Her work ethic at such a young age is inspiring to watch. The ball comes off of her hands so smoothly that you can tell she was born to set. The fluidity of her arms during her follow through is a sight to see. She possesses great footwork to track the ball down and has excellent posture throughout her set. The set that truly raises my eyebrows is when she goes against flow behind her to a right side hitter. It usually takes years to master that set as it is one of the most difficult to perfect. Miller is pretty close to getting it perfect. When I see her do that at this young Freshman age group, I just shake my head and know that volleyball is in great hands with young players of this caliber already. It is safe to say that this young lady is one of the next great Dallas area setters. I suggest you college coaches take note NOW. I am more excited to cover this young lady because she has a drive that is not seen in many players. Everyone on this State Rankings list has something about them that stands out. The drive to be the best is alive and well inside of Miller. And it is this that will keep her on our radar for the next few years. We are excited to cover her and can’t wait to see what she does on the court.” She has every tool in her toolbox that will allow her to move up the rankings. We have been watching very closely and she is ready to take the Lake Highlands volleyball program over for the next few years. Meanwhile her and her Drive Nation squad have been on a mission this club season. They are one of the top teams in the nation in their age group and have already punched their Open Division ticket to USA Junior Nationals with a huge 3rdplace finish in the Open Division of the Mid East Qualifier. They went 9-1 and showed the nation who they are. We are extremely proud to cover Miller. Be on the lookout for our updated State Rankings List next month to see where she falls.     [player_tooltip player_id="99496" first="Karynn" last="Garrow"] [2023] 6-0 Right Side (HS: Geneva School of Boerne/Club: Alamo) Miss Garrow is currently ranked as the 36th top prospect in the State of Texas in the 2023 class according to Prep Dig. We wrote an article about her last summer that stated the following about Karynn, “This kid scores at an alarming rate on each pin by hitting line. If her opponent decides to try to take away the hard cross shot, they better have a division one libero covering the line, because she will paint it with the ball with authority. She is an all around player who regularly plays in the back row also. Her length is a bonus when it comes to her defensive range. She isn’t scared of anything. She does whatever it takes for her team to win. Her ceiling for growth in the game is so high. We can’t wait to watch what comes next for her. Keep you eye on this young lady as she is definitely one to watch. Karynn has a passion for the sport of volleyball and does not stop training. This will keep her at the peak of her game for the foreseeable future. We could not be more proud of a player like this to be on our State Rankings and we expect a lot of great things coming from Karynn. She also plays for one of the best teams in her age group with her Alamo squad.” This past season she was nothing short of spectacular for her varsity team again. In two years she has been all over the stat book for them amassing 704 kills, to go along with a .301 hitting percentage, 24 blocks, 432 digs and a very impressive 79 aces. She is their workhorse and we expect her to be the best player to ever come out of Geneva by the time her career is over at the school. She earned second team All State for TAPPS and also 1st team all district from her play this past year. She is still killing it on the beach scene also as she is a very accomplished sand player. Coaches should definitely take notice as she is one to watch for sure.     There are many more amazing 2023 players that we need to update our readers on. 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!