Olathe East vs Blue Valley Southwest – Top Performers
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As the high school volleyball regular season is wrapping up this week in the state of Kansas and teams are gearing to postseason mode, we try to include some last minute matches to give you the best coverage of the…
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Continue ReadingAs the high school volleyball regular season is wrapping up this week in the state of Kansas and teams are gearing to postseason mode, we try to include some last minute matches to give you the best coverage of the sport. As I’m learning and growing to cover the area’s volleyball scene, I added a new “Game Changers” series I posted in a weekly schedule. However, that does not cover the majority of the players who are deserving to be noticed to become Prep Dig’s motto of “where players become prospects”.
I’ll be adding a little more coverage and will post a quick analysis of the match I attended to highlight the players that stood out the most and caught my attention. I attended the Blue Valley Southwest Senior Night match against Olathe East on Tuesday, October 18th. It was the perfect opportunity to see what pieces are in place for these two teams competing in Substate this weekend.
Olathe East came in and spoiled Senior Night festivities for Blue Valley Southwest in a 5-set thriller. Both teams had lineup changes with injuries and Senior Night lineups. Though this particular match will not change their seeding for Substate, it does have an impact on momentum going to postseason play.
Top Performers / Game Changers
The junior outside hitter remains the bread and butter for the Hawks against the Timberwolves. Tyrrell was utilized in any way, shape, and form on Tuesday evening. She came in as one of the kill leaders in the Kansas 6A classification based on MaxPreps and we can see why. Tyrrell used her size and power to force the ball down for kills on the outside and as a pipe option. She’s improved this season to manage her power on off-ball and displayed great decision-making to locate balls in the court to keep the play alive. She gets her team fired up with emphatic kills and huge blocks to keep the momentum on the Hawk’s side.
Wahoff has been consistent through the middle for the Hawks. Officially rostered as an “MB”, Wahoff has been dependable as a pin and middle. Not many middles are utilized in serve receive but she was in formation, especially in rotation 3 where she’s pulled back to act as a primary passer on a pass-to-attack option. Wahoff is a threat to run slides in the front and her blocking technique kept Blue Valley Southwest’s offense at bay to take a more precautionary route to get kills. She’s good on the serving line and had some decent touches in the back row before being replaced by the Hawk’s libero.
Wills played a unique role in Tuesday’s matchup against BVSW. She comes in on rotation 3 to replace the right-side hitter to play for one serve-receive rotation before staying for the whole back row session. That was not the highlight of why she’s one of our top performers. Wills had good “flean” serves that kept the Timberwolves out-of-system during the night. Running as one of the setters in the funky 6-2 lineup, Wills had good court awareness to be quick off base defense to be balanced to set in the front row. Her agility and quickness were on display with the lower-quality passes that East was giving her. Wills was able to hand-set those balls and have much better control than doing a bump set.
Baumfaulk is a perfect compliment to Tyrrell in a Batman and Robin scenario. She likes to hit those backcourts with more precision than power, which led her to get more kills. She’s not afraid to whip some down the line to tool the block. She’s primarily a 3-rotation outside and her offensive output is good enough for East to keep her that way. Baumfaulk likes to run an offense in transition instead of serve-receive which helps the Hawks when they were struggling in getting a good serve-receive ball.
Highlights
Bates was a serving machine and served bullets at Olathe East’s receiving core. Her (unofficial) 32% ace percentage is superb in the back-and-forth best-of-five series. I previously mentioned Bates’ versatility as an athlete and it shows with her continuing to run the 6-2 offense. She has great touch on the ball and fed her hot hitters. Bates was good at finding open hitters and creating a one-on-one matchup to give them better opportunities to score.
The sophomore “All-Around” player did it all for Blue Valley Southwest and is holding the team together in the back row since they are missing Hadley Porter Hadley Porter 5’6″ | DS/L Blue Valley Southwest | 2025 State KS in the libero position. Tingey’s great on defense and getting those tipped balls inside the ten-foot line. She’s good at transitioning to the left pin when she can hit a 4 ball or can audible to a 2 or 3 ball when she’s short on time. In off-set plays, Tingey is not afraid to hand-set the ball to the right-side hitter as she played as a setter earlier in the season. Often, we saw Tingey receives the ball to attack in the back-row as she has the most consistent swings on the team! She showed her libero/passing skills in both serve-receive and in the left-back defense since BVSW plays Malori Purmort Malori Purmort 5’5″ | DS/L Blue Valley Southwest | 2025 State KS in middle back.
Weninger got hot hitting the ball on Tuesday evening and her setter Reese Bates Reese Bates 5’10” | DS/L Blue Valley SW | 2023 State KS found the connection early in the match. Weninger isn’t afraid to swing aggressively when given the opportunity. Weninger size and frame were troublesome for Olathe East’s offensive unit, collecting a few blocks on the night. She likes to hit the crosscourt corner on the right side of the court and is smart to tool the block when she’s on the serve-receive option on rotation 1. We’re sure we’ll be seeing her more and more to fill in the stats sheet in the very near future.
Highlights
On our Radar:
Taylor Dick – 2024 – OPP – Olathe East
Addison Frigon – 2025 – DS/Libero – Olathe East
Frigon stepped in to replace
Kate Wright
Kate
Wright
5'8" | DS/L
Olathe East | 2025
State
KS
at the libero spot after Wright sustained an injury from receiving a serve. It took a few points to get adjusted to play and she had some great receptions for the Hawks.
Jessica Heise – 2023 – S – Blue Valley Southwest
Taylor Stanley Taylor Stanley 6'1" | OH Blue Valley Southwest | 2026 State KS – 2026 – OPP – Blue Valley Southwest
Hailie Vaughn Hailie Vaughn 6'0" | OH Blue Valley Southwest | 2026 State KS – 2026 – OH – Blue Valley Southwest
Malori Purmort
Malori
Purmort
5'5" | DS/L
Blue Valley Southwest | 2025
State
KS
– 2025 – Libero – Blue Valley Southwest
Purmort played as the libero as
Hadley Porter
Hadley
Porter
5'6" | DS/L
Blue Valley Southwest | 2025
State
KS
is still out of the lineup for the Timberwolves.
Did we miss someone we should be aware of? Please email PrepDigMarshall@gmail.com or Twitter @PrepDigMarshall with your inquiries!