Sea of Pink for Olathe Schools' Dig Pink Event

The five Olathe Schools banded together and hosted a Dig Pink event in support of Breast Cancer Research alongside the SideOut Foundation. Olathe South hosted the event while Olathe West was present to be the working team as they hosted the event last year. Teams wore special dig pink jerseys on their respective courts. On the near court, we had Olathe Northwest captured the match in 3 over Olathe East (25-14, 20-25, 25-8). On the far side, Olathe South outlasted Olathe North in 3 (25-16, 25-27, 25-10). Here are each school's game changer for the evening.   [player_tooltip player_id='214671' first='Chloe' last='Weber'] - OH - 2023 - Olathe South   <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-medium"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/10/B457DA6C-A2F9-45AA-90F0-EE27A12EC9DC-214x300.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-234424"/></figure>   When your hitter is hot, you feed your hitter! This was the case as Weber was on fire in tonight's matchup against Olathe North. Every time I watched over to their side of the gym, it seems that Weber is getting the ball. She was hitting the holes in North's defense and had great control on her swings. When in trouble, she's smart to tool the block on out-of-system balls to get the Falcons back on track.   Claire Villasenor - S - 2024 - Olathe East   Villasenor has stepped up this season running a 6-2 setting for the Hawks. She played well under pressure and strategic on who to set, often times going for a back row option to [player_tooltip player_id='172451' first='Chloe' last='Tyrrell']. Villasenor was serving bullets from the baseline and sometimes misjudged her own power as she sailed balls towards the bleachers! Defensively, she's aware on situational plays and read setter dumps well. In some cases, she saw the change in the defense and knew where to put the ball over on two.   Erin Matzke - MB - 2023 - Olathe North   Matzke's huge presence in the middle force Olathe South's offense to go through their pin hitters. She had multiple solo blocks as she penetrated over the net with her 6'0" frame. Matzke likes to go through the middle in more of a floating set/hits that draws defenders to the middle but changes her shots to go to zone 5. In one play, she went through the left pin for a 3.5 ball that separated the blocks and got a thunderous kill.   <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-medium"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/10/F9361130-4BAA-4569-9CD2-91C0BC00F404-214x300.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-234425"/></figure>   [player_tooltip player_id='173393' first='Caroline' last='Clayton'] - OH - 2025 - Olathe Northwest   I noticed Clayton started playing more in the middle of the season starting at the MoKan Challenge in Lee's Summit West. Clayton has a tremendous jump top spin serves that created havoc on Olathe East's serve receive. She was hitting well to earn big points when needed for the Ravens.   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>   <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-medium"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/10/1106D0C6-FDC5-41B2-ACA1-32C234392E67-300x225.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-234678"/></figure>   In between the Varsity and JV matches, the five Olathe High Schools announced the 2022 Olathe Dig Pink Honorees. Each school has a coach or player walk out with their honorees as each individual honoree's name was called out (those present or were in memory of). The crowd gave the honorees a standing ovation at the end of the announcement.   <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-medium"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/10/CA24C90F-53AD-4191-9E23-BAF83B0CB3DB-300x225.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-234677"/><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>   BONUS GAME CHANGERS!   I consider this a treat as this was the first time that JV matches were played after the conclusion of Varsity matches. Sub-varsity stats usually are not posted on Maxpreps so here's what I saw from the night.   Reese McKernon - OH - 2024 - Olathe South   McKernon was solid on the left pin for the Falcons and was getting kills when needed. She is an explosive outside hitter and was able to find holes in the defense.   Ciara Gray - OH - 2026 -Olathe East   What impressed me about Gray is her patience as a hitter. Her high hook shot is troublesome for defenders to block and she was able to find corners to get kills. I loved one of her kills where she went high line on the outside to land the ball perfectly in zone 1 where neither right back or middle back players can defend the ball.   Addison Higgins - MB - 2024 - Olathe North   <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-medium"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2022/10/6DACB309-D7B3-4BAC-8CAC-6870F1FEFFD9-225x300.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-234679"/></figure>   Higgins is a force to reckon with in the middle for Olathe North. She has tremendous power as a hitter and ran some different offensive options from the left pin. She has a big physical presence on the net and an aggressive block to direct opponent's traffic to the pins. Side note, I first met Higgins at a previous tournament and chatted with her and her mother for a bit. I found out that she was offered to be on Varsity but declined for personal reasons.   Brynn Lewis - OH - 2025 - Olathe Northwest   I call Lewis the "float like a butterfly, hit like a Lewis" as she seems to be floating to the ball when she jumps. She has a consistent hits to give the Ravens points. Lewis, a multi-sport athlete, added some blocks against Olathe East and got the Ravens winning in 3 sets.   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>   Dear coaches and administrators, I love the idea of having a special jerseys for special occasions such as the Dig Pink event. It is difficult to keep track of players when players changed jersey numbers when wearing the custom jerseys.   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>   Did we miss someone we should be aware of? Please email PrepDigMarshall@gmail.com or Twitter <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.x.com/prepdigmarshall" target="_blank">@PrepDigMarshall </a>with your inquiries!

The five Olathe Schools banded together and hosted a Dig Pink event in support of Breast Cancer Research alongside the SideOut Foundation. Olathe South hosted the event while Olathe West was present to be the working team as they hosted the event last year. Teams wore special dig pink jerseys on their respective courts. On the near court, we had Olathe Northwest captured the match in 3 over Olathe East (25-14, 20-25, 25-8). On the far side, Olathe South outlasted Olathe North in 3 (25-16, 25-27, 25-10). Here are each school's game changer for the evening.