FAST Warm Up – 15 Open – The Impressive Outside Hitters

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The club volleyball season is underway in the state of Texas and one of the most popular and exciting season-opening events in the Houston area, the FAST Warm Up, took place last weekend across multiple venues, reuniting as many as 273 teams from H-Town and several other cities.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I was at the FAST Complex on Sunday to watch the top eight teams of the 15 Open division compete in the gold bracket and it was exciting to see some new faces emerge and display excellent playing level and intriguing skills - [program_tooltip program_id='431166' first='Houston' last='Juniors']' HJV 15 Elite ended up as the division winners, with TAV Houston 15 Adidas finishing second.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We'll take the days after the event to highlight some of the individual standouts of the 15 Open division and this time I'll feature some of the top outside hitters who were in action.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":["not_in_db"],"_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"field_62cca28ffa4e7","player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"[player_tooltip player_id='318127' first='Henley' last='Anderson']","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"field_62aba4c9ecf2f","player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"2026","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"field_62aba4ddecf30","player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"6'2u0022","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"field_62aba4e8ecf31","player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"32564","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"field_62aba4f0ecf32","player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"Dripping Springs","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"field_62aba4fdecf33","player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"Austin Performance","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"field_62d20e723441a","player_evaluations_0_player_details":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details":"field_62aba4afecf2e","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"Everyone knows about Anderson after what she did at the State Tournament last month, but I have to say she's even more impressive in person. Very tall and technical, she's an outstanding offensive player who can score from anywhere on the court and her AP 15 Adidas made sure to make the most of it. Anderson can hit the ball hard but is also smart enough to catch the opponents off-guard with her smart tips. She's also an excellent server and I was pleased to see her make very good plays on defense and work hard on the backcourt as well.","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-639785a818d8e"} /--> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["254038"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"One of the standouts of our recent Prep Dig Top 250 Expo in Houston, Koss showed once again she's one of the most exciting pin hitters coming up in the Houston area. She's a very complete player, combining great size and physical tools with a very-well developed game, which made of her one of the centerpieces in the HJV 15 Elite team that won the division. Koss is a talented offensive player, who scores off of difficult sets and is very efficient hitting from the middle back, but is also impressively reliable with her passing and productive on defense.","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-639785a818dfb"} /--> <!-- wp:acf/hudl {"name":"acf/hudl","data":{"embed_code":"u003ciframe src='https://www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/17962076/6396b08eda512e083053103f' width='640' height='360' frameborder='0' allowfullscreenu003eu003c/iframeu003e","_embed_code":"field_62daf7995fd8c"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-639785a818e3d"} /--> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":["not_in_db"],"_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"field_62cca28ffa4e7","player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"[player_tooltip player_id='318205' first='Anna' last='Kelly']","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"field_62aba4c9ecf2f","player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"2026","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"field_62aba4ddecf30","player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"5'11u0022","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"field_62aba4e8ecf31","player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"32564","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"field_62aba4f0ecf32","player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"Bridge City","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"field_62aba4fdecf33","player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"Houston Stellar","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"field_62d20e723441a","player_evaluations_0_player_details":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details":"field_62aba4afecf2e","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"The District's Newcomer of the Year with her high school team Bridge City last season, Kelly has shown she's capable of making an impact at the club level too helping her team Houston Stellar 15 Elite battle some of the best in the area. Her offensive game is really complete as she can do it all from the left and the right. Kelly has good length and power, but often finds unlikely angles to score. She also uses her reach really well to put the ball down when she's set off the net. Kelly also has good reach and timing with her blocking.","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-639785a818ed5"} /--> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/grtorres/status/1601956616215138305?s=20u0026amp;t=QtwPXixzpT2AwRZrpNokWw","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/grtorres/status/1601956616215138305?s=20u0026amp;t=QtwPXixzpT2AwRZrpNokWw </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":["not_in_db"],"_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"field_62cca28ffa4e7","player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"[player_tooltip player_id='318206' first='Katherine' last='Combs']","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"field_62aba4c9ecf2f","player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"2026","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"field_62aba4ddecf30","player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"5'11u0022","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"field_62aba4e8ecf31","player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"32564","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"field_62aba4f0ecf32","player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"Reagan","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"field_62aba4fdecf33","player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"South Texas Volleyball Academy","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"field_62d20e723441a","player_evaluations_0_player_details":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details":"field_62aba4afecf2e","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"Combs was one of the individual standouts of her STVA 15 Mizuno team that made a great impression on the gold bracket. Very long, she was her team's go-to scoring option and displayed all sorts of resources to score points, especially in key moments of matches. She has the power and the skills to find solutions to any play and was very good under pressure. Combs also contributed on the backcourt, helping with passing, defense and tough serves.","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-639785a818f61"} /--> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["235512"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"Lotspeich was one of the most impressive players I've watched all day. When you see a shorter outside hitter start for a team as good as TAV Houston 15 Adidas, you know she has to very good at the backcourt and she certainly disappoint in that area, passing dimes all day and playing great defense. But Lotspeich is also tremendously and explosive at the net. She jumps really well and has more power on her right arm than many would image. She's also very competitive and determined and that shows every time she goes up on offense and swings hard against the block.","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-639785a818fb9"} /--> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/grtorres/status/1601994103230709760?s=20u0026amp;t=QtwPXixzpT2AwRZrpNokWw","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/grtorres/status/1601994103230709760?s=20u0026amp;t=QtwPXixzpT2AwRZrpNokWw </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->