An Outsider’s Perspective on Top Oklahoma Prep Talent

For the next week, the center of America’s prep volleyball universe will be in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’m heading out there to get a look at both the USAV All-Star Championships and the U19 Pan American Cup happening under the same roof. With this upcoming trip to Sooner territory, I’m feeling a bit of inspiration. The Oklahoma prep scene has been gaining steam lately, and we saw that materialize at a variety of national qualifiers throughout the 2022 season. It’s a state that has produced standout volleyball players before, like former Stanford All-American Inky Ajanaku and Olympic gold medalist Micha Hancock. So, let’s chat about some of the next future stars coming from Oklahoma. I’m a Nebraska native, so here’s my outsider’s perspective on some highlight moments generated by Oklahoma teams and players. &nbsp; <strong>Power in Tulsa</strong> It only seems fair to start our discussion right in Tulsa. Tulsa Power 15-1 is a team that I’ve brought up a couple of times this year. We got to see this group compete in the Open division at the Show Me Qualifier, where it put up a nice showing against the region’s top 15s talent. Tulsa Power then carried a USA bid into GJNC and represented Oklahoma well with an appearance in the Gold bracket. <strong>Juliana Borchers</strong> and [player_tooltip player_id="156869" first="Kynli" last="Kirkendoll"] formed quite a Tulsa tandem during the 2022 season. Borchers has shown her willingness to swing from just about anywhere. She has experience in the middle but will take a large volume of designed swings on the left side in first-ball situations. When Borchers isn’t the one teeing off for Tulsa Power, you can expect Kirkendoll to produce her share of highlight moments at middle blocker. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Another example of that Oklahoma representation.</p> We’ve mentioned UPVBC, OP2, and here’s Tulsa Power 15-1. [player_tooltip player_id="156869" first="Kynli" last="Kirkendoll"] terminates on the right pin. <a href="https://t.co/NWDh1AbngM">pic.x.com/NWDh1AbngM</a> — Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) <a href="https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1512861887263817732?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> &nbsp; Elsewhere on the roster, <strong>Arriana Brown</strong> had a nice season on the outside for Tulsa Power. Her big passing role allowed the team’s frontcourt talent to flourish, so it’s hard not to give some credit to Brown for the team’s successful season. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Such an intense finish in the third set of this one!</p> Arriana Brown crushes match point to give Tulsa Power 15-1 the victory. A busy day of tiebreakers for the Oklahoma squad! <a href="https://t.co/km8BMYPdAa">pic.x.com/km8BMYPdAa</a> — Austin Kingsley (@KingsleyATK) <a href="https://x.com/KingsleyATK/status/1512874894891134984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> &nbsp; <strong>OKC</strong> Now, let’s venture down to the Oklahoma City area, which has unsurprisingly become a focal point of the state’s recent volleyball success. There are a few different teams that stand out here. On the 17s side, UPVBC 17 Open put together a solid string of results that started all the way back in January with the Northern Lights Qualifier. Physicality is definitely a strength for 17 Open with [player_tooltip player_id="145960" first="Kady" last="Hansen"] and [player_tooltip player_id="145994" first="Ellie" last="Smith"] leading the way in the middle. [player_tooltip player_id="145964" first="Olivia" last="Vance"] has also been an outstanding terminator on either pin throughout the year, so keep tabs on this James Madison commit. I also want to give a nod to OK Charge 17 UA for its strong 2022 campaign. If you want a glimpse at the growing volleyball depth in the OKC metro, this is a good club to follow. 17 UA’s [player_tooltip player_id="176373" first="Ryli" last="Roof"] has perhaps the most fitting name ever for a middle blocker, and she backs that up with her huge blocks at the net. Setter [player_tooltip player_id="176374" first="Abigail" last="Smith"] is another rising talent on the OK Charge roster who showed a lot of leadership late in the season, and [player_tooltip player_id="145969" first="Haylee" last="Harris"] locked down the libero role to solidify 17 UA’s ball control. Let’s bring some 16s into the mix. Oklahoma Peak Performance has been a big headliner in this age group with OP2 16-1 impressing us in a variety of events this year. [player_tooltip player_id="156860" first="Curry" last="Kendall"] is a name we’ve mentioned before, and her quick arm kept elevating her team’s offense at the end of the season. Likewise, middle blocker [player_tooltip player_id="156872" first="Parker" last="Gladhill"] was a constant source of positive energy with her raw athleticism and refined technique in front of the setter. [caption id="attachment_207901" align="alignright" width="400"]<img class="wp-image-207901" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/07/image_6483441-1-300x238.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="318"> Gray attacks for OP2.[/caption] Oklahoma Peak Performance shows up again in our discussion of OKC’s top 15s talent. OP2 15-1 has gotten plenty of pin production from players like <strong>Greer DeLeon</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="156864" first="Victoria" last="Gray"]</strong>, while <strong>Livia Ward</strong> did admirable work taking on a setter-opposite role this year.