Five Under Six Feet You Need To Know For ’23: Middles

<p>Moving on in our series about kids not quite at six feet, we talk about five middles in the class of ’23 from Indiana that will make waves, if not doing so already.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="99583" first="Mya" last="Ayro"], 5-11, Academy, Greenwood</strong></p> <p>Yes, I know, this is cheating. But, in my defense, she played a lot of middle in high school, so there’s that. Easily one of the best prospects to come out of Greenwood High School in recent memory, Mya can jump touch close to ten feet, play multiple positions, and is terminal with her swings. Since she has been used as a pin attacker for Academy’s 16-1, my assumption is that she’s training to do so for the next level. In that case, there are plenty of schools both locally and regionally that could use a ten-foot-jumping, three-rotation hybrid attacker.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="85911" first="Libby" last="Dippold"], 5-11, Union, Columbus East</strong></p> <p>Moving further south by about 45 minutes is Libby, a long and lean middle that is an exceptional net defender and hits all of the shots off of two feet. One might argue that she’s a better blocker than an attacker. I’ll pass on judgment of that until this fall, where she’ll have yet another solid team around her at the varsity level.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="105228" first="Reagan" last="Kleiman"], 5-11, Munciana, New Palestine</strong></p> <p>Reagan gets up quick, attacks quick, and gets from pin to pin quickly. Did I mention she’s quick? Springy and fast, Miss Kleiman has the fastest transition of the five listed here, and her long arms leads me to believe that she might still be growing. Stay tuned.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="99590" first="JaNyah" last="Henderson"], 5-11, Rev, Fishers</strong></p> <p>If there’s such a thing as a "control middle", it’s JaNyah. She rarely makes errors, is always making a positive contact on the ball, and her volleyball IQ is far ahead of her fellow classmates. In one match this spring, I watched her hit all shots from the middle, bomb jump-float aces, block all three positions, set attackers and dig a few settable balls. She can do it all, and the smooth way she goes about it is impressive.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="104214" first="Grace" last="Schroeder"], 5-11, Evansville United, Mount Vernon (Posey)</strong></p> <p>We now travel to the extreme southwestern portion of the state of Indiana to mention a kid that is a long-time volleyball player. her versatility is obvious; she plays middle in the front and SETS from the back row on her high school team, and she attacks from the pins in club. She’s been on varsity since her freshman year, and is consistently among the team (and conference) leaders in multiple categories. I list Grace as a middle because that’s where I’ve seen the majority of her work. However, with the training she’s receiving at EU, I wouldn’t be surprised if I see her play EVERY position and some time during the fall.</p>