President’s Day Challenge: 5 Super Liberos in the 17 Open

Drew Ellis March 2, 2022 @ 03:59 PM

<p>The last look at the 17 Open of the President’s Day Challenge is for liberos.</p> <p>It’s a position that has produced a lot of talent in Michigan. During the tournament in Detroit, five players displayed a great range of effort, technique and serving prowess.</p> <h5><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="140477" first="Madi" last="Derby"], FaR Out 17 Black</strong></h5> <p>Derby showed the kind of effort you need out of the position. She was sprawling all over the court to make plays for her teammates. Her serve receive was very consistent and allowed FaR Out to stay in-system throughout most of the tournament.</p> <h5><strong>Lainey Lichota, Michigan Elite 17 National East</strong></h5> <p>Lichota’s serving ability was really key for Michigan Elite over the tournament. She came through with a handful of big aces in tight sets to spark her team to a win. Lichota also was a quick-to-react defender in the back row. She covered a lot of ground and showed strong effort.</p> <h5><strong>Lauren Tabbi, Monsters 17 Blue</strong></h5> <p>Tabbie was another player that was all over the floor. She was easy to spot in the libero uniform even though it looked like a blur at times because she was racing to get to spots. Despite the frantic movement, Tabbi remained very composed with her play.</p> <h5><strong>Sumire Katsumata, Michigan Elite 17 National West</strong></h5> <p>Katsumata put together a handful of serving runs that kept National West in key sets. From a libero standpoint, Katsumata did display great positioning. She was able to anticipate opposing attacks well and get herself squared up to the ball.</p> <h5><strong>Carleigh Turek, HPVBA 17-1</strong></h5> <p>Turek was very poised in the back row. She was consistently looking the ball into her arms on digs and serve receives. To do that, she also displayed good footwork to get into proper position to succeed. Turek was also one of the vocal leaders throughout the tournament for her team. She displayed a lot of strong leadership skills.</p>