H-Town Showdown #1 – 18s – Defensive Specialists
Last weekend was a big one for club volleyball in the state of Texas as the season started to get some steam with multiple tournaments popping up all around the state and providing prospects from the Lone Star State with…
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Continue ReadingLast weekend was a big one for club volleyball in the state of Texas as the season started to get some steam with multiple tournaments popping up all around the state and providing prospects from the Lone Star State with a great opportunity to develop and showcase their games.
Although the Tour of Texas Qualifier held in Austin was hands down the highlight of the weekend, the Houston area also had some really good competition at the H-Town Showdown #1, a tournament that reunited 100 teams from three different age groups across three venues in the area.
I was at the Texas Tornados club on Saturday afternoon following the two top brackets of the 18s Division and got to see some familiar faces confirm my thoughts about them and several new ones make a strong impression. I’ve been featuring five players in each position who were in top form on Saturday during the week and in the last positional article, we’ll look to the defensive specialists.
Kennedy Gustafson
Kennedy Gustafson
One of top defensive players in the Houston area in her age group, Gustafson alternated between libero and defensive specialists with bracket winners HJV 18 Elite. Regardless of the color of the shirt she was wearing, she provided great stability to the team, especially in serve-receive. Gustafson is very technical with her passing and rarely makes mistakes. When playing defense, she uses her excellent positioning to make digs. One of the nicest things in Gustafson’s game is that she’s very calm and focuses and is always ready to make a play on the backcourt.
Bella Diaz
Bella Diaz
A solid defensive player, Isabella ‘Bella’ Diaz strengthened Texas Tornados 18 Adidas’ backcourt when she was in the game. Very technical, she’s very clean with her first contact and often delivers perfect passes and digs. Two things that Diaz does really well are moving quickly towards the ball and putting her body in the best possible position to make contact with it. She had great success defending the middle back and made several digs, many of which with only one of her hands.
Cali Carter
Cali Carter
Carter made great impact with her Renegades 18 Adidas team coming off the bench as a defensive specialist. A lefty, she had a big part of her contribution made from the service line, normally getting some aces and getting opponents out of system with her floater. Carter is very good on the ball too and makes good plays on defense and serve-receive. She can defend at a very good rate middle back or on the left.
Sophia Gouge
Sophia Gouge
A setter for her high school team Bremond, Gouge was used as a defensive specialist for Houston Skyline BCS 18 Royal and made a big impact with her defensive skills. She typically replaces one of the team’s outside hitters and adds a lot of stability with her passing, splitting the court with the team’s libero. Gouge is very quick on the backcourt and gets a lot of touches on defense, often getting to balls that were deflected on the block.
Nathalia Castillo
Nathalia Castillo
A new face with the club coming from TAV Houston, Castillo added another interesting option to make Asics Willowbrook 18 Gold’s backcourt stronger. She’s one of those players that quietly get the job done, making great use of her technical skills to deliver perfect passes and important digs on defense. She’s also very smart with her serving and had some good serving runs only by making good choices with her placement.