FAST Pre Nationals – 17s – Right Sides
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Teams from the Houston, San Antonio and Austin areas had a great warm-up for the upcoming 2023 USAV Girls Junior National Championship, which will take place in Chicago, from June 28-July 6, this past weekend. Home of the popular Houston…
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Continue ReadingTeams from the Houston, San Antonio and Austin areas had a great warm-up for the upcoming 2023 USAV Girls Junior National Championship, which will take place in Chicago, from June 28-July 6, this past weekend.
Home of the popular Houston Juniors Volleyball Club, the FAST Complex hosted the traditional FAST Pre Nationals tournament, which typically serves as the last step of preparation for teams that will make the trip to compete for the national title in just a few weeks.
Prep Dig was following the action on Saturday, paying close attention to the 13 teams that competed in the power pools of 17s divisions and will now bring reports on the players that stood out and seem to be peaking in the most important moment of the season. These right side hitters added a lot to their teams’ offenses:
Originally an outside hitter Johnson, found great success playing on the right for Texas Tornados 17 Adidas, and displayed a strong offensive game. Her team got two wins in three matches on Saturday and Johnson played a big role in them, consistently putting the ball down during the day. She was at her best hitting quick sets behind the setter, which she did very well to avoid the blockers and defenders, but had no trouble turning to her physical tools to score when out of system. A good jumper, Johnson also had great success with her blocking, getting up at the right time and using her arms to put pressure on opposing hitters.
Mia Rojas-Avila
Mia Rojas-Avila
Rojas-Avila played only three rotations, but made a significant impact for Roots 171 Green and helped her team win one of three matches on Saturday. She was very efficient offensively and got on the ball in key moments of matches. Rojas-Avila is tall, long and athletic and she used those skills very well when she needed to face big blocks that stood in her way. Although her high contact point and power were the main aspects of her offense, she also used finesse to put the ball down, hitting sharp angle and turning to tips when she had to. Rojas-Avila also displayed some good variation, hitting quicker or higher sets very efficiently.
HJV 17 Elite were cruising on Saturday, winning all their three matches without dropping a set, and they used Buchanan very well to bring an offensive spark off the bench. A lethal hitter, she always entered the court with a lot of energy and didn’t hold anything back when at the net. Buchanan was very explosive in each of her offensive approaches and had tremendous success with her actions at the net. She would use take advantage of her contact point and try to hit around the block when she had a chance, but had no issues with tooling it when that was necessary.
Gracie Williams Gracie Williams 5'7" | S Atascocita | 2026 TX
Gracie Williams Gracie Williams 5'7" | S Atascocita | 2026 TX
Texas United 17 Red dropped all their three matches on Saturday, but Williams was still able to show some very positive things in her game. A versatile player, she can be used anywhere at the net, but was deployed on the right. Despite having a good size at 5’10”, she scored a fair amount of her points using finesse to find good angles and beat the block. Williams also provided great offensive versatility to her team, scoring at a good rate from the right, left and even the middle. She also made some good impact with her blocking, getting stops and handling overpasses very well.
Rhyan Miciotto
Rhyan Miciotto
Louisiana’s Cajun Elite 16 Waylon made the trip to compete in the division and left Saturday with a 1-2 win record, showing some good things. Miciotto was one of them as the setter/right side hitter was of great importance to the team during the day. She split her time between setting and hitting duties and did well at the net, jumping well and using her vision to hit around the block and avoid errors. Miciotto also displayed good agility and technical skills when setting and had some good moments with her serving.