Legends Classic #3 – Liberos Who Covered a Lot of Ground
The club volleyball season resumed in the state of Texas this past weekend after a two-week break for the holidays and there were several tournaments going on simultaneously around the Lone Star State. Most of the top teams in the…
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Continue ReadingThe club volleyball season resumed in the state of Texas this past weekend after a two-week break for the holidays and there were several tournaments going on simultaneously around the Lone Star State.
Most of the top teams in the state headed to the traditional Countdown City Classic in San Antonio, but I went to the Legends Classic #3, which was hosted by the Open Court Sports Complex in Katy, on Saturday, instead.
The event was a 16s tournament attended by 20 teams from Houston and surrounding areas, which provided me with a great opportunity to take a look at some under-the-radar prospects from the region. I’m sharing my findings during the week, going over every position, and the liberos who did some fantastic work on the backcourt are up next.
Lane Binkley
Lane Binkley
Binkley’s technical skills are the first thing that stands out in her game as HJV 16 National’s libero is always very clean on the ball. Her passing is consistently precise and efficient and Binkley also makes a great impact on defense. Very quick, she moves really well on the backcourt and gets a lot of touches, some of which with only one of her hands. She can also create problems with her tough floaters.
Kyla Gilbert
Kyla Gilbert
Gilbert was a key player in her KW Revolution 16 Trefoil team and one of the best liberos in the entire tournament. She was very consistent with her passing and made very few errors when receiving. Defensively, she was always in great positions to make plays and displayed great understanding in terms of focusing on putting the ball high in the center of the court when she was dealing with hard-driven swings. Gilbert also showed good proficiency when setting in transition, quickly moving towards the ball and having good accuracy.
Vivian Coleman
Vivian Coleman
Although Coleman’s Houston Outlaws 16 team won only one of their four matches in the event, she did well enough to earn some recognition for her play. Also a soccer student-athlete, she was impressively accurate with her passing and displayed good control of the backcourt, stepping up to make the first contact in free balls. Coleman is also very strong, covering the middle back position and keeping her eyes on the hitter the entire time as she moves. He does a good job of setting in transition as well.
Molly Mauldwin
Molly Mauldwin
Mauldwin did a very good job at the heart of the defense of her HJV 16 Adidas team. Very mobile, she seemed to be in multiple spots at the same time and was very active with it. She reads the game very well and is incredibly quick in moving toward the ball. Mauldwin also displayed good accuracy when setting in transition, often putting the hitters in a good condition to score off her sets.
Kaylin Parish
Kaylin Parish
Parrish was another defensive player to display a solid game despite the 1-3 win record of her TX Pride VB – 162 team. She displayed a good level of consistency with her passing and was also very active on defense, getting a lot of touches and keep difficult balls in play. Another thing that stood out in Parrish’s game was her mental strength as she was able to immediately shake off mistakes and focus on the next play.