Top Tournaments and Players to Watch: Week 7

<p><strong>Jenks Invitational</strong></p> <p><strong>Teams attending: </strong>6A Jenks, 6A Mustang, 6A Norman North, 6A Booker T. Washington, 6A Bishop Kelley, 6A Bixby, and 6A Bentonville (Arkansas) </p> <p>There are loads of quality competition here. Every team playing in this tournament will be more prepared for the last couple of weeks of the season. This is anyone’s tournament, it will be tough sledding to come out unscathed and win the title.  </p> <p><strong>Players to keep an eye on at this tournament</strong>: 2022 OH <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="144133" first="Sydney" last="Thompson"]</strong> for BTW has passed out of this world in SR. She is a must-avoid type target when serving. She also is a crafty hitter for the Hornets and is giving them 6 rotations worth of production. 2022 setter for Mustang, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="144122" first="Casady" last="McKinney"]</strong>, has been the offensive, left-handed setter they need. She can put up a good ball or attack the ball from the front row. Look for <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="144124" first="Chloe" last="Upthegrove"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="144140" first="Sarah" last="Lindley"]</strong> to play big roles this tournament. Lindley has been slowly recovering from an injury and is looking almost full strength. I think they will both have huge performances this weekend for Norman North. 2022 Libero <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="144134" first="Megan" last="Salyer"]</strong> for Jenks has continued being a master of the passing world. She can serve receive and dig in transition with the best of Oklahoma. They often only pass with 2 players because she can cover that much ground. Can the young gun of Bishop Kelley, [player_tooltip player_id="156860" first="Curry" last="Kendall"], continue being brilliant on the court? I think if her track record tells us anything, it’s heck yes she can! She has a big swing but can also hit an off-speed that is hard to read. </p> <p><strong>Bishop McGuinness Tournament</strong></p> <p><strong>Teams attending:</strong> 6A Edmond Santa Fe, 6A Bishop McGuinness, 5A Carl Albert, 6A Yukon, 6A Deer Creek, 4A Lincoln Christian, 6A Sand Springs, and 6A Choctaw. </p> <p>Santa Fe, Deer Creek, and McGuinness are all looking to bolster their resume right at the end of the season, while Lincoln and Carl Albert will be looking to solidify themselves at the top and get used to playing some stiff competition right before playoffs. Choctaw and Sand Springs are going for upsets and trying to creep into the top 16 to become a 2 seed in their regionals. </p> <p><strong>Players to keep an eye on at this tournament:</strong> 2023 OH <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="145990" first="Grace" last="Smallwood"]</strong> has returned from injury and already making a huge impact for Bishop McGuinness. I had a chance to speak with this young lady and she has everything you could hope for in an athlete; she is skilled, she works hard, and has quality character off of the court. 2023 MB for SS, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="145974" first="Layla" last="Lenex"]</strong>, has been getting better and better each week. She was voted all-tournament by nearly every coach in attendance at the Owasso tournament this past weekend. 2022 MB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="144112" first="Katie" last="Clark"]</strong> for Yukon is being talked about amongst coaches. She is someone that will demand your attention as the opposing team and coach. 2022 OH <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="144090" first="Mazi" last="Watson"]</strong> has been a great support player for Deer Creek and a big reason why they have only have 3 losses. </p> <p><strong>Claremore Tournament</strong></p> <p><strong>Teams attending:</strong> 5A Claremore, 4A Regent Prep, 4A Skiatook, 6A Bartlesville, 6A Muskogee, 4A Victory Christian, 6A Moore, and Homeschool NOAH. </p> <p>This tournament has "tough" written all over it. Each of these teams has played well against some top teams, some have got an upset or two under their belts already. This could be a real barn burner for the title. </p> <p><strong>Players to keep an eye on at this tournament:</strong> 2022 RH Dayton commit, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="144139" first="Mia" last="Otten"]</strong> from Bartlesville has continued to put up big numbers all season long. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="144121" first="Reilly" last="Morrow"]</strong> has been a big part of Moore and the way they play. The 2022 setter does a really good job of keeping them in system. She isn’t only a setter that dishes out assists, she also is a very crafty attacker. Claremore has a skilled and hardworking libero, <strong>Becca Hilmes</strong>. She has great court awareness and covers a lot of ground in transition. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="156874" first="Taylor" last="Motes"]</strong> and <strong>Jessa Gilyard</strong> for Victory have both come on this season as vital role players to the team’s success. </p> <!-- wp:paragraph --><!-- /wp:paragraph -->