September’s Week 3 Game Changers (Olathe East Invitational)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As the weather changes from summer to a brisk fall preview, only a handful varsity squads were in competition this past weekend amidst JV tournaments around Kansas and Missouri. We head to Olathe East for their 6-team round-robin style "tournament", where each team plays everyone during the day to determine it's tournament winner.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blue Valley West went 5-0 on the day and earned the tournament championship. I will announce each team's "Game Changer" starting from the Championship squad and continuing to the rest of the field in alphabetical fashion.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='173397' first='Allison' last='Heck'] - <strong>MB - 2025 - Blue Valley West</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's easy to look at the setter whom touches almost every ball and forget a critical piece in the middle position. Heck provided the Jaguars plenty of attacking options and loves to run the slides when paired up with [player_tooltip player_id='173372' first='Lily' last='Wedman'] in the front row for two rotations. The 6-foot sophomore was a nuisance for attackers and had some solid touches and blocks during the day. Don't forget that she has a mean serve in her arsenal before being replaced by the libero in the back row.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":229978,"width":348,"height":231,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/09/5FF49685-C019-448E-9091-95A81FF3B5D8-1024x681.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-229978" width="348" height="231"/><figcaption><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-primary-color">Photo courtesy of Andy Wedman</mark></figcaption></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lillie Gorges - <strong>S/OPP - 2023 - Bishop Carroll</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gorges is one of the setters for the Golden Eagles in a 6-2 offense and plays a 6-rotation right side. She has one of the quickest releases and cleanest sets I've seen this season to create one-on-one or one-on-zero opportunities for her hitters. While in the front row, Gorges puts up a solid block and doesn't shy away to swing aggressively, making her my Game Changer for Bishop Carroll.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='222086' first='Morgan' last='Sears']<strong> - MB - 2026 - Blue Valley Northwest</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The first time I watched Sears play was at the St. James Slam in August. She became the Huskies go-to player at this tournament and was bouncing balls through the middle. One instance was that she hit the ball so hard that it hit the defender on the head without having time to react to it! (attached video). Sears is patient at the net as she recorded a few solo blocks during the tournament.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":149756,"sizeSlug":"full","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2021/07/Profile-2-Prep-Dig.png" alt="" class="wp-image-149756"/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='216455' first='Sophia' last='Saxton'] <strong>- S - 2024 - Notre Dame de Sion (Missouri)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A few things that I noticed from Saxton were her calm demeanor on the court and her overall court awareness. Saxton plays in a 6-2 offense for Sion and sets when she's in the back row. She has quiet and fast footwork, allowing her to get to the spot to hand-set majority of the balls. Defensively, she was able to get tough balls with her positioning and quick reaction speed.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='172451' first='Chloe' last='Tyrrell'] <strong>- OH - 2024 - Olathe East</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's difficult to shy away from Tyrrell when she attracts the ball in the overall aspects of the game. Even Olathe East's opponents were serving Tyrrell throughout the day and had great receiving numbers. Tyrrell was the Hawk's top offensive option, as she hit from anywhere on the court and ran some back-row options when the Hawks were out-of-system.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='214642' first='Emily' last='Loy'] <strong>- OH - 2023 - Shawnee Heights</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Loy was Shawnee Heights go-to player in the matches I watched. She has tremendous power and utilized in various scenarios in serve-receive mode. Loy ran intricate plays to get kills for Shawnee Heights, changing up the offense with a 2- or 3- ball coming off serve receive pattern.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Special congratualtions to Blue Valley West Coach Horstick and family on their newborn daughter delivered the day before the tournament!</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->