High School Top Performers: 3A/4A Divisions

<p>The high school volleyball season continues at full pace in the state of Washington. After several months of wait and uncertainty, it has been great to see these student-athletes being able to get on the court again and doing what they love.</p> <p>It is, however, a shortened season and in a little over three weeks it will have come to an end already. Knowing that, we certainly don’t want to waste any time and will continue with our weekly articles highlights the players who have been doing a great job in each of the state’s six divisions.</p> <p>Let’s look at the players who are turning heads in the 3A and 4A Divisions.</p> <p><strong><u>3A</u></strong></p> <p><strong>McKenzie Whyte – Outside Hitter – Snohomish – 2021</strong></p> <p>McKenzie Whyte has been one of the main reasons why Snohomish has won each of their first seven matches in the season dropping only one set along the way. The 6’2” outside hitter has been a scoring machine for Panthers, having tallied the impressive total of 103 kills in their first six matches – her least productive scoring night had her with 13 kills. She’s also produced ten aces and 52 digs for her team already.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Florencia Olivera – Libero – Bainbridge - 2022 </strong></p> <p>Florencia Olivera has been a defensive standout for a Bainbridge team that won seven of their 12 matches. The 5’3” has put up some strong performances for the Spartans and has quickly written her name as the team’s defensive foundation. Olivera leads Bainbridge’s defensive efforts with 197 digs (5.3 per set) and ranks second among the team’s top receivers with 132 passes. She also produced 12 aces.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Riley Clark – Middle-Blocker – Lakes – 2022</strong></p> <p>Riley Clark emerged as a strong force in the division for Lakes this season. The team had a very short calendar and has won only a pair of matches, but Clark was still able to show her potential at the net. The six-foot middle-blocker was outstanding with her blocking abilities as she generated 32 points in the 12 sets in which stats were made available – she had 13 blocks in three of those four matches. Her game was at its best in one of the team’s victories, a 3-2 triumph against Mount Tahoma in which she produced 18 kills and 13 blocks.  </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>4A</u></strong></p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="97260" first="Ivy" last="Vindivich"] – Outside Hitter – Puyallup – 2023</strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="97260" first="Ivy" last="Vindivich"] substantially improved her role with Puyallup from last season as after appearing in only eight sets in 2019 she became a key piece and the top scorer of a team that won all of their 15 matches in the current season. The 5’9” outside hitter has been especially prolific on offense, leading the Vikings with 182 kills. Vindivich came up big in the most important matches of the season, tallying 16, 17 and 15 points in the three meetings with Graham-Kapowsin. She also registered 21 aces and 90 digs for the team. She’s part of prepdig.com’s class of 2023 watchlist.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Madison Brockway – Libero – Graham-Kapowsin - 2021</strong></p> <p>The older sister of offensive star [player_tooltip player_id="97258" first="Hailey" last="Brockway"], Madison is set to end her high school career on a positive after a strong season leading Graham-Kapowsin’s defensive efforts. The 5’3” libero played a lot bigger than her size to provide the Eagles much-needed defensive support with a team-high 253 digs and 192 passes, the second-best mark in the entire roster. Brockway also registered 20 aces, ranking third in the squad in that department.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="97265" first="Kelsey" last="Richards"] – Setter – Curtis – 2023</strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="97265" first="Kelsey" last="Richards"] got a fair amount of playing time in her freshman season in 2019, but her production level improved considerably this season. The 5’6” setter was a high-usage player for Curtis and responded well, helping the team in different aspects of the game. Her main contribution for the Vikings came, of course, in the form of assists as she needed only 38 sets to nearly match her 2019 performance, totaling 314 assists and virtually doubling her average to 8.3 per set. Richards showed similar progress on defense, registering 90 (and improving her average per set from one to 2.4), and from the service line, with her 14 aces accounting for 0.4 per set (versus 0.2 in 2019). She’s been included in prepdig.com’s class of 2023 watch list.</p>