Fast Warm Up: The Middle Blockers – 15 Open
Another weekend, another tournament. That’s how club volleyball goes in the state of Texas and us, at Prep Dig, strive to be in as many events as we can and watch every possible prospect in the Lone Star State. On…
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Continue ReadingAnother weekend, another tournament. That’s how club volleyball goes in the state of Texas and us, at Prep Dig, strive to be in as many events as we can and watch every possible prospect in the Lone Star State.
On December 11, our destination was the FAST Warm Up, one of the most traditional and prestigious season-opening events in the Houston Arena. The FAST Warm Up is a Mammoth of a tournament, reuniting 500 teams from 13 different divisions in five different venues in the region.
For this event, we targeted the 15 Open Division and spent the day at the Texas Tornados Club, where six of the ten teams competing in the division were playing. Over the next few days, we’ll feature some of the most interesting prospects we spotted and the first on the list are the middle blockers.
Kennedy Jones – HJV 15 Premier – 2025
A 5’10” middle blocker with a perfect body for the position and tremendous athleticism, Kennedy Jones has an absurdly high ceiling as a player. She’s still very young and there’s a lot to be improved, but the foundations of the game an elite middle blocker should have are already there as Jones makes contact with the ball at a very high point and is a great blocker thanks to her combination of aggressiveness at the net and great timing. Although she’s already very effective on the slide hit, her offensive game seems to still be coming together and she’ll only get better as the season progresses.
Jaeda Rawls-Fletcher – Texas Tornados 15 Adidas – HS: Cypress Creek – 2025
Texas Tornados ‘ Jaeda Rawls-Fletcher is another 5’10” middle blocker whose athletic skills make her play a lot taller than her size. Also a track and field athlete, she’s already gotten a very noticeable presence at the net as she manages to impact the game on both sides of the ball. On offense, Rawls-Fletcher reaches the ball very high, making it nearly impossible for opposing blockers to get on her way, and has a very quick arm to hammer it down. Her blocking game might be even better as she uses her quick feet, outstanding leaping ability and long arms really well – she rarely allows any gaps between herself and the pin blocker and is very aggressive with her hands positioning.
Sanaa Donaie – AVA TX 15 Adidas – HS: Baytown Christian Academy – 2025
Sanaa Donaie stands taller than the other two players in this list at 6’2”, but her attributes as an emerging middle blocker are not very different. She does a great job in using her massive frame to impact the game, especially when blocking, as she moves really well for someone of her size and is very aggressive when placing her arms across the net. Her offensive game is still a work in progress and right now she gets away just because of her tremendous reach, but it’s exciting to imagine how dominant of a player she can become when she cleans up some parts of her game and adds more athleticism to it.