A Glimpse into the Rankings Update

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Class of 2023 had an extremely tough journey to reach the end point of their high school careers, and yes we can call it unprecedented. Covid affected a huge portion of club and school ball for this group as they were headed into their sophomore seasons. I was in Denver, Colorado for week 1 of the Crossroads tournament in March 2020, and arriving home afterward the club season was shut down. In Washington, that resulted in a fall sports season being canceled, and only a shortened, non-championship spring season salvaged any school volleyball at all. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Players and Coaches Made it Work</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Clubs had to think outside the box, and so did players and their families. After the initial shock, clubs found new places (states in some cases) to practice, and players took it upon themselves to work out and stay sharp. Players have committed to schools at all levels, and some are still putting in the work to find their perfect place to play. If anything these past 2-3 years seem to have brought perspective, players are working harder than ever to find the right fit and place for them, regardless of level. For some excellent players in the rankings, that means no further volleyball, it's on to college and a career. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Beach is blowing up in Washington</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here are just a few athletes headed to play beach in college: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='244054' first='Olivia' last='Strandberg']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='246349' first='Nya' last='Crump']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='215906' first='Ava' last='Berard']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='97283' first='Makayla' last='Beckett']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='97274' first='Kate' last='Palelek']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='97296' first='Alyna' last='Brown']</strong>, <strong> [player_tooltip player_id='97266' first='Ella' last='Ensign']</strong>, and more!! Dakine has done some heavy lifting with its excellent program, taking the beach game to the next level. However, that has opened up opportunities across the state for athletes to be seen. Other clubs are diving in with both feet, and KBeach out of Chelan and Kokua in Spokane are moving athletes to the next level as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Almost a New Ranking Altogether</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The last 2023 ranking was posted in June 2020, so the movement is dramatic, and many new players have emerged. The rankings at the time were for a class that had played their freshman and sophomore year of high school ball, and January 2020 to March 2020 club season only. Here are a few players that were not on the radar at the time: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='252411' first='Sophie' last='Broesalme']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='252409' first='Rachel' last='Dunagan'],</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='244051' first='Corrine' last='Westby']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='251782' first='Sophie' last='Worden']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='246279' first='Abby' last='Harrell'],</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='246303' first='Natalie' last='Andrew']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='246278' first='Emery' last='DeJong']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='246267' first='Hollis' last='Downing']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='244055' first='Kennedy' last='Webb']</strong>..... and a lot more. State champions, league MVPs, Division 1 commits, the type of players that were the best all-time at their high school. The rankings for this group will be the last, but going forward 2024, 2025, and 2026 groups will be updated regularly. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Why Have Rankings? </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's a way to build a database of the athletes we track and cover, usable by college coaches and the athletes themselves. If an athlete changes schools, grows, commits/decommits, that can all be changed and tracked. We love to tag an article with an athlete and their ranking, so they can use that on social media or however they would like. The Prospect Index is free to athletes, claim your profile- place the picture and highlights you want everyone to see! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://prepdig.com/prospect-index/","type":"wp-embed","providerNameSlug":"prep-dig"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-prep-dig wp-block-embed-prep-dig"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://prepdig.com/prospect-index/ </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->