The First Winners for 2023 Chesapeake Open

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Maryland Jrs hosted the first tournament for open teams in the Chesapeake Region last weekend. While some of the top teams did not participate the amount of talent in the gym still impressed. The big winners for gold - Maryland Juniors, Blue Ridge and Columbia Black. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>17 Open </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last week we posted an article naming the top teams in the 17 age group. Missing from that list were Maryland Juniors and Blue Ridge. Consider it noted that these two teams will be a force in 2023.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When the 12 team pool play finished the top four teams did not surprise. Maryland Juniors, Blue Ridge and MVSA Starz won their pool. East Coast Power Marble advanced as the top second place team. Blue Ridge and Maryland Juniors advanced to the finals with easy victories. Maryland Juniors took the gold battling past Blue Ridge 25-22 in both games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Maryland Juniors right side <strong>Payton Swinton</strong> powered her team to a gold with her lefthanded swing from the right side. The 5'10" right side found the floor consistently, even sneaking over to the middle for a cross to hit a 2 set. Defensively she was sharp, playing all six rotations.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lindsay Kelley</strong> ran the offense running quick sets to the outside and middle. The 5'9" setter makes it difficult for blockers to react to a set because she uses all areas of the court. Blue Ridge played more conservative but Lindsay played it fast and free. The middles <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='477413' first='Kiara' last='Harmon'] </strong>and <strong>Maya Ogbogu</strong> fed off her quick sets. Left side <strong>Deviana Walker </strong>loves to paint the line with her powerful hits. She finished off the last point of the deciding match going down the line for the kill off the block </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blue Ridge 17 Blue settled for silver but their talent is rich. The 6'0" left side <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='243771' first='Berkeley' last='Konrady']</strong> shined in the tournament. The sophomore plays up but her spikes go down with the best of the 17's. She uses a quick wrist snap to put velocity on the ball. That number 68 ranking for the class of 2025 will climb after her performance at this tournament.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='233008' first='Greta' last='Barwick']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180286' first='Hannah' last='McCullough'] </strong>share the setting duties. Hannah stands just 5'2" but moves quickly to the ball. She plays only back row. Greta hit left side for her high school last year so her setting was a tad rusty, but she provided big time power on the right side. Her hands are smooth so as the season progresses her setting should gain more consistency in location and spin a lot less. From a hitting standpoint, she put down a number of critical sets during the playoffs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180302' first='Emma' last='White']</strong> seems to have a GPS to the ball. She digs everything. She also brings smooth hands and a tough serve to the libero position. Blue Ridge accumulated a number of points with her serving.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>16 Open </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><img class="wp-image-289329" style="width: 150px" src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/01/Blue-Ridge-16-crop-3077x2021-1673321690-crop-765x502-1673321741.jpg" alt=""> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Again, the top teams appeared to have advanced to the gold bracket in Maryland Juniors, East Coast Power Bluecoats (DE), MVSA Sparks and Blue Ridge Blue. In pool play MVSA may have lost their number one seed when winless American took a set off them. If they had won both it would have been decided by point differential. Ultimately, it became a moot point when MVSA beat first place East Coast Power in the semi-finals and Blue Ridge thumped Maryland Juniors.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The finals resulted in two blow out wins for each team, with MVSA winning the first set 25-15 and Blue Ridge taking the second set 25-16. In game three the Sparks jumped out to a 4-0 lead until an <strong>Ava Dickerson</strong> kill from the middle gave Blue Ridge the serve. After that kill the game never separated by more than two points. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181302' first='Kennedy' last='Spaid'] </strong>hammered a set to the floor to end the deciding set 15-13.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blue Ridge has talent. The top hitter on the team rests in the right arm of left side <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181299' first='Ada' last='McCoy']</strong>. The number eight ranked player in our 2025 class led Musselman High to a West Virginia state championship. She provides the offense in both back row and front row. Opposite her sits our number one ranked player in the class of 2026 <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181302' first='Kennedy' last='Spaid']</strong>. She led James Wood to a Class 4 State Championship in Virginia. They both know how to close, as Kennedy did in the final deciding set with her kill to end the game and give Blue Ridge the 16 open gold medal.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181280' first='Brenna' last='Corbin']</strong> is another class of 2026 playing up. She also hit left side for James Wood High School, finishing second on the team in kills despite her 5'5 height. For Blue Ridge she cleans the floor with her digs and covers half the court in the passing rotation as the libero. Her focus appears mainly on the beach game which allows her to move quickly along the hard floor.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Ava Dickerson </strong>played a solid middle, putting together some key hits and blocks throughout the finals. Her kill in game three after Blue Ridge got behind early 4-0 may have been the key play in the game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The left arm of <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='235748' first='Ema' last='Djordjevic'] </strong>triggers the Sparks offense. Normally, she plays left side, but in the finals it appeared she moved to right side to use her 6'0" frame to neutralize <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181299' first='Ada' last='McCoy']</strong> with a formidable block. I happened to be sitting next to a Blue Ridge mom when the game was played. Every time Ema drilled the ball to the floor she would comment "that girl just kills us." She likes to find the floor with hard driven spikes deep.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I'm assuming uniform number 83 for this tournament was <strong>Corinne Howard.</strong> It looked like her. She just started playing volleyball recently. This girl dominated the middle, getting her 5'11" height high over the net. Lots of monster blocks from this basketball player. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Sparks can dominate with their height. <strong>Claudia Balfour</strong> plays right side. She stands 6 feet. <strong>Caroline Kaye </strong>plays middle with her 6'1" frame. At one point Ema joins them in the front row to give the team three six footers along the net at the same time. Normally, Metro is the only Chesapeake team that can do that. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='235749' first='Kareena' last='Rathnam'] </strong>stands just 5'3" but she ranks as the fourth best libero in our class of 2025. Blue Ridge hit a number of hard driven balls at her, but Kareena was able to reach them just inches before touching the floor. She also brings a hard driven bullet serve to the game, but it does have a tendency to travel out.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>15 Open </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>American and East Coast Power Shock won their pools with Blueridge and Brandywine taking second. I thought East Coast had the most talented team but Brandywine snuck past them 25-23 and 26-24 in the semi-finals. East Coast had a 24-22 lead in game two but could not put it away. Blue Ridge eliminated American and then won the gold by sweeping Brandywine. In pool play Blue Ridge split with East Coast.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Blue Ridge <strong>Skylar Norris </strong>carries a good swing from the left side. Middle <strong>Samantha Stephens</strong> stands 6'3" and forces a lot of tips. Even with the tips she has the reach to return to sender. She plays for Spring Mills High in West Virginia and has just started playing the game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The libero <strong>Alycia Miller </strong>moves her feet well. She also plays in West Virginia for Musselman. <strong>Tenley Mattison </strong>played the other middle and impressed. She plays for James Wood.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The team that had the most talent appeared to be East Coast Power Shock. They may have had the best left side in<strong> [player_tooltip player_id='238356' first='Morgan' last='Reeves']</strong>. She ranks seventh in our class of 2026. Once her back row play improves she will rise up. Setters <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='221032' first='Wynn' last='Eaton']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='238852' first='Casey' last='Yuh']</strong> are strong, both frosh setting for their varsity team last year. At 5'3" Casey rotates out once in the front row. Wynn stayed in to play right side.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At 6'3" middle <strong>Catherine Long</strong> can plug up the middle. Her game remains raw but with more experience she can be a force. Standing a full foot shorter is libero <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='238862' first='Livian' last='Lee']. </strong> She spends her time in the back, playing aggressivly. Her serve can also accumulate a number of points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1<strong>8 Open </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Good Counsel hosted the 18 Open. Columbia Black swept BAVA Lightening in the finals.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Chesapeake Chirps:</strong> Congratulations to Metro 14 and 15 for their results in the JVA Rock N Rumble. The 14 team won gold. The 15 team won the silver bracket. The 16 team will play their this weekend while the 17 team travels to Fort Lauderdale. The 18 team goes to Illinois for the Windy City qualifier....Paramount 18 team will also be at Windy City...Good to see <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181245' first='Anisa' last='Flowers'] </strong>setting for East Coast Power. On their roster they listed her as a "PP", initials for practice player. In high school she runs track so for this year she will be playing part time...I liked the back row combo for MVSA Starz. <strong>Casey Bradley </strong>plays libero and <strong>Marissa Pease</strong> fits in as defensive specialist. The duo will keep a lot of balls from hitting the floor. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->