Windy City: 15 Open New Names, Big Performances

I was able to spend a lot of time with some of the top of the Class of 2026 this morning at the Windy City Qualifier. A little backstory behind the title is that these athletes are new on the scene to me. I have been able to cover some 15s at Central Zone, Triple Crown, Great Lakes Region Qualifier, and Northern Lights Qualifier. I am very familiar with the star studded teams of Legacy and Boiler Juniors. These two squads have punched their tickets to USAV 15 Open and have added to their loaded resume for this age group. However, I haven't seen some of the teams out of the Mideast as well as Texas. Always fun to see Texas teams when they make their way North. Here are some new names to know from Day 1 of the 15 Open field of the Windy City Qualifier.   <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=PrepDig&set=a.1366281340840143" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">15 Open Photo Gallery </a>     <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/04/DSC01883.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-370197" width="344" height="229"/></figure>   [player_tooltip player_id='227802' first='Mallory' last='Matheny'] - Mintonette m.51   She is the maestro. The strength of Mintonette relies in their ball control and balance. Matheny runs a 5-1 where she is the ultimate quarterback for her team. She remains neutral while she receives the ball, leaving the other side of the net guessing. Throughout the morning, her attackers had a lot of one on one opportunities to terminate. She will look to dish first, but if needed she can take it on her own on the second contact. There's not a lot of weakness to her game at the 15s level.   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/04/DSC01884.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-370198" width="346" height="230"/></figure>   [player_tooltip player_id='227636' first='Emma' last='Cugino'] - Mintonette m.51   As previously mentioned, mintonette is a lot of ball control and balance. This all starts with their Libero, name. Before I saw her pass, I saw her move within the play and even in between plays with how she interacted with her teammates I know she was going to be high level. Name has really mature platform control. She plays within herself and will take a difficult serve or hard driven swing and make it look routine. Mintonette already has an open bid, but they want that Windy City title.    [player_tooltip player_id='261337' first='Hayden' last='Rodriguez'] - TVC 15 Black   I saw Rodriguez play back in January when TVC knocked off Legacy at Central Zone. A rather big upset early in the season. Rodriguez is a savvy competitor, she has a great feel for the game where she connects well with all attackers, running multiple tempos. She is also really good in scramble situations. Her composure allows her to turn chaos into control which results in another chance or even a point. She's a flat out gamer.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/PrepDigChris/status/1644355560677023745?s=20 </div></figure>   [player_tooltip player_id='227830' first='Mallory' last='Pike'] - TVC 15 Black   Name makes a difference in every rotation. She is able to terminate on the outside with a hard swing or high IQ shot, she can score on the right side out of service receive and she is someone who can attack out of the backrow. I was extremely impressed with her backrow defense. She can handle a hard driven swing and keep the ball in system. This Toledo squad has some grit, a lot of fun to watch.    Riley Malloy - Austin Skyline 15 Royal   Austin Skyline might be the longest team in the 15 Open field. They have a handful of athletes who are at least six feet tall and have a long wingspan. Malloy is in that category where she is a lethal six rotation pin that could score points when things got tight. Austin Skyline advanced to day two with a 3-0 record but did drop a set to Club North and TVC.   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/04/DSC01973.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-370199" width="486" height="324"/></figure>   [player_tooltip player_id='222069' first='Lauren' last='Ortwerth'] - HPSTL 15 Royal   Ortwerth brings a lot of physicality and athleticism to the court as a six rotation outside. She has an intensity and killer instinct where she's not afraid to go for the big swing. This HP team has the athleticism and physicality to compete with the top teams here. They will continue into gold pool play on Saturday. Another athlete who makes a big impact for this team is setter Elena Ruble.    Jupiter Elite 15E made the trip to Windy City from Florida and brought the heat with them. They will be advancing to Saturday gold pools finishing 2-1. Gabriella Brodner was key for this team with her length and athleticism from the pin where she could score from the outside and the middle back. Two other athletes who showed they could terminate were Amber McClain out of the middle and Ava Castro.   Londyn Stone - AVC 15 Red   What a fun athlete. Stone does is all for AVC as they advanced to day two gold pools. She is electric from the outside where she is textbook in being fast to the ball. With her speed and athleticism she can unleash a violent swing where it is tough to defend. She works well with setter Grace Daniels who can dish to any of her attackers and makes her presence known at the net.   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/04/DSC01897.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-370201" width="406" height="270"/></figure>   Charlee Lauson - Club North 15 Sam   Lauson was extremely dynamic for Club North who comes out of the Kansas City area. She was a weapon everywhere on the court with a nice top spin jump serve as well. She showed she can score points at the open level.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/PrepDigChris/status/1644344198462676992?s=20 </div></figure>   [player_tooltip player_id='243182' first='Isabelle' last='Kremer'] - Iowa Rockets 15R   This was my first time seeing Kremer play club as I had seen her play high school where her Pleasant Valley team was the Iowa Large School runner up. She also was on their state championship basketball team. Kremer has a lot of length on the right side where she is a force attacking and blocking. She can swing out of system and can be utilized in multiple ways to get a one on one opportunity for the kill. Rockets are the Iowa Region Champions where they will play in day two gold pools.    [player_tooltip player_id='254038' first='Gwenyth' last='Koss'] - Houston Juniors 15 Elite   Koss has a lot of length and athleticism where she creates a lot of force on her swing.  She has a whip of an arm.  This HJV squad has a lot of athleticism and the foundation to be a really good team.  Koss is one who can take over a match, she can do it from the outside as well as the back row.  I have been able to see some Texas 15s the past two weeks and the Lone Star state is going to have a special class from 2026.

I was able to spend a lot of time with some of the top of the Class of 2026 this morning at the Windy City Qualifier. A little backstory behind the title is that these athletes are new on the scene to me. I have been able to cover some 15s at Central Zone, Triple Crown, Great Lakes Region Qualifier, and Northern Lights Qualifier. I am very familiar with the star studded teams of Legacy and Boiler Juniors. These two squads have punched their tickets to USAV 15 Open and have added to their loaded resume for this age group. However, I haven't seen some of the teams out of the Mideast as well as Texas. Always fun to see Texas teams when they make their way North. Here are some new names to know from Day 1 of the 15 Open field of the Windy City Qualifier.