First 2022 High School Season Report

The games are still of the scrimmage variety. Coaches do not normally play these games to win. The results are not important, but the play of the girls is, determining whether they become role players or starters. Different lineups are used to see how these girls play together. You even sit your best player to determine what kind of lineup works if she is unable to play.   Obviously, I can't be everywhere, especially when my team is playing about two to three games a week. Coaches who want their games reported and the significant accomplishments mentioned should input those games into Max Preps. I'll review Max Preps every Sunday to try to find the girls who have made significant accomplishments. Coaches or others who wish to identify those accomplishments can email me, which will make it easier to find the games to report.   Because games from this past week are still of the scrimmage variety most game results are not being reported to Max Preps. Below are some of the high school teams I watched and the girls who stood out.   Falls Church   Their opponent was not that strong so it is difficult to assess quality without meaningful blocks at the net. You can usually spot the good players when they are warming up. The two outsides Olivia Pelini and Charlotte Nguyen played a mean game of pepper. When it came time to hit they put the ball to the floor.   Olivia is 5'11" and played club ball for East Coast Power. She was rotated out in the back row but that could have been to assess some defensive players. Charlotte played six rotations in the three games I watched. Both could be more consistent with their serve, but against weaker opponents with big leads in a scrimmage there could have been a lot of experimentation going on. Another trip to watch this team with a quality opponent across the net is needed, but this looks to be a solid, well coached team. The National District is a division that can be stolen.   Madison   They like to run a quick offense with their outside hitters. Senior [player_tooltip player_id='111510' first='Natalie' last='Lauer'] and junior Hannah Banford are tasked with keeping the outside sets quick. The 6'1" junior [player_tooltip player_id='209796' first='Camille' last='Pomeroy'] has some length in the middle to keep opponents honest.   Two of the outsides are senior [player_tooltip player_id='181105' first='Lauren' last='Brown'] and junior Jacklyn Vanvollenhoven. Playing with Jacklyn is her twin sister Samantha Vanvollenhoven. Jacklyn and Samantha played at Vienna Elite 16-L and led that team to a national bid. Lauren played for Paramount and also led her team to a national bid.   Junior [player_tooltip player_id='209800' first='Sydney' last='Pham'] is another Vienna Elite player who played for the 16-F team. She is a solid libero who passes well and plays a scrappy defense. Sydney is the tenth rated libero in the class of 2024.   Overall, this team has solid components to make a run for the Concorde Division title. If they can get frosh AnaSofia Zanellato ready to add some offense on the right side this team will be tough to beat.   Marshall   [player_tooltip player_id='181234' first='Samia' last='Sayd'] was putting balls to the floor with regularity. The 5'11" junior is our third ranked outside hitter for the class of 2024 and 14th ranked in the state. There is some velocity in her swing. Samia played for Virginia Juniors this past season.   Though they share the same last name they are not sisters, but Isabella Tran and Emmie Tran are players to be watched. Izzy is a sophomore and plays both right and left side. Senior Emmie can be used as a defensive specialist or setter.   It will be tough for them in the Liberty District with Langley this year, but when you have a freshman team that has players jump serving, firing bullets across the net, this team could be a force in the future.   Justice   On Monday of last week senior [player_tooltip player_id='181205' first='Helen' last='Frankovich'] had quite the four game match. She finished with 25 kills, five aces and 12 digs. Helen was a right side for Paramount, but with this kind of production she may be playing left side for Justice.   Another player who shined in the game was senior defensive specialist/libero Payton Smith. Payton also had five aces and led her team in digs with 23.   Chesapeake Chirps You probably will not hear the name [player_tooltip player_id='181805' first='Madison' last='Smith'] (pictured above) in my high school posts. That is because she is homeschooled and in Virginia, unlike some other states, they do not allow home schoolers to participate in high school sports. Instead, the 6'1" outside hitter will be spending part of her September in Pheonix participating in the fall U.S. National team training development program. Madison is our fourth ranked outside in the class of 2025 and ninth ranked in the state....The U.S. National team had a summer National Training Development Program in Tulsa during the month of July. Emma Djordjevic and [player_tooltip player_id='181297' first='Lameen' last='Mambu'] were invited to the u15/16 class, the twins [player_tooltip player_id='181232' first='Renee' last='Jones'] and [player_tooltip player_id='180295' first='Ryla' last='Jones'] with [player_tooltip player_id='181185' first='Brielle' last='Kemavor'] were included in the U17/18 and [player_tooltip player_id='181097' first='Safi' last='Hampton'] was invited to the U19 group. Emma is not ranked in our class of 2025 because she plays her high school ball in Maryland in a conference with no teams from Virginia. I've seen her play and she would be a deserving top ten in the class of 2025 if she played in the state of Virginia.....It was good to see a number of high school girls come to the Maryland white and red scrimmage. Maryland has four local players on their roster in Rainelle Jones, Laila Ivey, Milan Gomillion and Zoe Huang. Attendance fell a little short of the Nebraska red, white and blue scrimmage. Their attendance was a sliver short of 8,000.

The games are still of the scrimmage variety. Coaches do not normally play these games to win. The results are not important, but the play of the girls is, determining whether they become role players or starters. Different lineups are used to see how these girls play together. You even sit your best player to determine what kind of lineup works if she is unable to play.