Class of 2023 1st Team All-State – Setters

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We are proud to announce our Prep Dig All-State Teams.&nbsp; Our All-State players are considered to have played the best at their respective position THIS YEAR.&nbsp; Some of the athletes listed may have played multiple positions on the court, but we have chosen them for the positions that we think they excelled at the most.&nbsp; We watched tons of matches this year and covered a lot of athletes in order to determine who was the best of the best.&nbsp; All of the wonderful players made it very difficult to decide both nominees and who eventually won due to their performances.&nbsp; Please help us congratulate these winners of our prestigious All-State Awards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>1^st Team All State Selection:&nbsp; Setter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='122899' first='Ellie' last='Mattox'] [2023] 5-11 Setter (HS: Vandergrift/Club: Austin Juniors/Verbal: Dartmouth)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ellie is currently ranked as the 59^th best overall prospect in the 2023 class in the entire state of Texas.&nbsp; She plays at Vandergrift High School and also club for the nationally recognized Austin Juniors program.&nbsp; Miss Mattox is tied for the most assists amongst seniors this year, which sits at 1,341.&nbsp; There is a reason she was named captain of her squad.&nbsp; She is an extension of her coach on the court and her teammates follow her lead.&nbsp; Ellie is a legit threat to score with her left hand when she is in the front row and she moves the ball all around the court with it.&nbsp; She is super aggressive as a setter and excels at pushing the tempo to all locations.&nbsp; I love her fire and determination when she plays the game and think all younger setters can learn from her if they are lucky enough to watch.&nbsp; The Dartmouth commit is fun to watch and we are proud of her.&nbsp; She also added 58 aces, 301 digs, and 102 kills on the year.&nbsp; Her production on the court was a huge reason why we chose her as a recipient of our award.&nbsp; She has proven herself to be one of the best setters in her class this year.&nbsp; Please congratulate her on being named 1^st Team All-State for our publication.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>1^st Team All State Selection:&nbsp; Setter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='87577' first='Taylor' last='Polivka']&nbsp;[2023] 5-11 Setter (HS: Keller/Club: Excel/Verbal: Miami)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"align":"right","id":222262,"width":183,"height":249,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/08/Taylor-Polivka-scaled-e1661912699765.jpg?w=751" alt="" class="wp-image-222262" width="183" height="249" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Taylor is currently ranked as the 43^rd&nbsp;best overall prospect in the 2023 class in the according to our Prep Dig Texas State Rankings.&nbsp; She plays at Keller High School and also the Excel club volleyball program.&nbsp; I profiled her a while back and here is a little from that article, <em>“The word leadership gets thrown around a lot when talking about players and sports.&nbsp; Taylor is the absolute personification of that word and her picture should be included in the dictionary right next to it.&nbsp; In addition to her awesome technique in the setting position, she was a beast all over the court as a blocker in the front row and scoring with timely dumps.&nbsp; No one would have thought that Keller could be back in the “team to beat” seat after losing two starting middles to injuries, but anyone who counted them out forgot that they had the ultimate leader in Miss Polivka.&nbsp; She is not going to let them down and will help lead them to compete against anyone.”</em>&nbsp; That is one of the biggest reasons why we chose her for this award.&nbsp; Even when her team lost a few starters, they were never out of the race because of the true leader they had on the court in Taylor.&nbsp; She willed her team to the top and wouldn't let them be defeated as she took them to another long run in the state playoffs.&nbsp; This year she tallied 1,302 assists, 63 aces, 290 digs, and added an astonishing 101 kills.&nbsp; This kind of production is exactly who Miss Polivka is and why she is revered as one of the best setters in Texas high school volleyball.&nbsp; Please help us congratulate her on winning 1^st Team All-State for our publication.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As always stay tuned for more articles on your favorite athletes.  If you have anyone you think we should watch out for, please shoot me an email with some info at <a href="mailto:nov8vb@yahoo.com">nov8vb@yahoo.com</a>.  Also don't forget to help these kids get more exposure by sharing our stories with your friends.  Help us help them by simply retweeting on Twitter or sharing on Facebook.  Thanks for following us, Prep Dig Family!  Don't be afraid to interact with us.  We love the likes, shares, and quotes/comments.  Keep them coming!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->