Park Hill South Senior Night Celebration

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With the risk of potential COVID shutdowns, some schools elected to host Senior Night earlier in the season to ensure that the Seniors have the opportunity to be recognized in front of their school mates, friends and families. I was invited to Park Hill South's Senior Night on Monday evening to celebrate such occasion. After introducing and celebrating each Seniors with their families, we are ready for our volleyball match of the day.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Panthers hosted the Platte County Pirates in a non-conference match in hopes to securing a victory on Senior Night. The Pirates came off a tough weekend schedule in Nebraska after seeing their 11-game winning streak came to a halt. Park Hill South is trying to bounce back after a slow start to the season. Both teams were hungry to be victorious. In the end, the Pirates spoiled Senior Night and won the contest in four sets with scores of 21-25, 25-16, 25-16, 25-14.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At Prep Dig, we love to highlight and talk about the players. Here are some notable players from Monday's matchup.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Park Hill South</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='102555' first='Isabel' last='Day'] - Libero - 2023 (UAB beach volleyball commit)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Day was passing dimes throughout the match, with 35 receiving attempts and passed a 2.54. She took charge to set the ball when the Panthers were out-of-system. We saw her beach volleyball skill as she snuck in a bump kill that caught the Pirates off-guard in the first set of the match. She led the team with 28 digs and converted to an outside hitter in the fourth set to provide a much needed offense for the Panthers. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='222075' first='Sydni' last='Lafasciano'] - OH - 2026</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lafasciano is the new face of the Panthers as the only starting freshman on the squad. "Syd" was the top-hitter for the Panthers, amassing 14 kills and hitting a 0.286. Playing as a 6-rotation outside, Lafasciano's 24 digs is second behind Day's libero numbers. Syd is a dynamic outside and I love her versatility on running different offensive options for Park Hill South. If you have not seen her play, then I suggest to catch one of PHS's games this season!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Peyton Fleming - OH - 2025</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fleming is the Panthers' other outside and had some flashes of brilliance during the match. Playing as a 3-rotation front row players, we did not see many defensive plays from her but that does not deter her to be on this list. The sophomore outside hitter reached double-digit kills in the match and was the second kill leader for the team. She is patient and smart with her shots and able to see the holes in the defense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tatum Kells - MB - 2023</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kells is a force to reckon with in the middle of Park Hill South's offense and defense. She has an aggressive block and her offensive presence freezes the middle blockers to open for the pins in Lafasciano and Fleming. Kells was quietly efficient for the Panthers as she had 4 kills and 4 blocks in the match. Her 0.364 hitting percentage through the middle may not look like much but her 0 hitting errors on 11 swings kept the plays alive for the Panthers. Her 4 blocks is a team-high and protected the middle with non-recorded block touches for Day and Lafasciano to have an easier read on the ball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Platte County</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Madison Hoyt - MB - 2023</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hoyt was on fire offensively and defensively. The 6'0" middle recorded 9 kills while hitting 0.500 in the match. Hoyt's presence on the net created havoc for the Panther's offense as she had 5 blocks in the match with many other block touches that are not recorded on the stats sheets. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Emma Harned - S - 2024</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Harned was wheeling and dealing all day for the Pirates as she dished out 43 assists during the match. Even though her position is a setter, Harned did it all running the 5-1 offense. Statistically, she was the second best server, second dig-getter behind the libero's, hit 0.308, and had 2 blocks herself! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"align":"left","id":231179,"sizeSlug":"medium","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-medium"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/09/E05C09FF-378C-46E2-97F0-116C8928ED9A-214x300.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-231179"/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jenna Wheeler - DS - 2024</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You need to be specific when you mention the name Wheeler with Platte County as there's two of them on the roster. In this match, Jenna was a difference maker for the Pirates as her serves kept the opposition on their toes. Her float serves did not get as many aces as we loved in a stats book but what you don't see is that her 22 serves kept the opposing team out-of-system the majority of the time. Wheeler added 9 digs coming in as a defensive specialist.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Avery Walter - L - 2024</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Walter dons the libero for the first time since I saw Platte County played last at the Lansing Invitational Tournament. Walter led the team with 24 digs. What impressed me the most was her movement to the ball. She was able to read the ball and positioned herself in the right vicinity on where the ball was going to be hit. She was aggressive to chase down any balls that were shanked and was not afraid to lay it out all on the floor.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Editorial</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"align":"left","id":231176,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-large"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/09/3A1B86DD-EF99-4C9E-9D31-949649D10A8E-768x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-231176"/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I known the Day's family since before I moved to Kansas City and I'm honored to have been invited to share Senior Night with [player_tooltip player_id='102555' first='Isabel' last='Day']. The first time I saw Izzy was at Park Hill South's recruiting combine back in 2019 when she was still in 8th grade. I knew that she was going to be a special player from that day on and I'm glad to know her and her family throughout the past 4 years. Congratulations to [player_tooltip player_id='102555' first='Isabel' last='Day'] on her commitment to UAB to play beach volleyball</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Did we miss someone we should be aware of? Please email PrepDigMarshall@gmail.com or Twitter&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.x.com/prepdigmarshall" target="_blank">@PrepDigMarshall&nbsp;</a>with your inquiries!</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->