Preview of Local 17U Teams for Junior Nationals

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Below is a preview of the six Chesapeake and Old Dominion teams who will compete in Junior National 17s.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["180300"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-647cc00b88d46"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Metro </strong>(Open)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>General</strong> <strong>Info</strong> - The loss of Macaria Spears to Texas and TAV put a dent in what would have been one of the top five teams in the country. Without Spears they fall within the top 20. It will be an interesting matchup if the two get to play each other. Metro has finished in the top twenty in three qualifiers and won a number of multi-day tournaments, such as Capitol Hill Classic and Charm City Challenge. They recently finished second in the JVA Summerfest this weekend in Columbus.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>How They Qualified</strong> - They won the Northeast Qualifier</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Players to Watch</strong> - With Spears gone this team now belongs to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180288' first='Emerson' last='Sellman'].</strong> The Ohio State commit is one of the top five outside hitters in the country in the class of 2024. At 6'4" her height does not prevent her from playing a good back row, fulfilling any libero's role for defense and passing.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another class of 2025 <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181297' first='Lameen' last='Mambu']</strong> was brought in to replace Spears as the other outside. No question she can hit with the best of them. Her challenge has been passing consistency. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='233010' first='Mickhaila' last='Murray']</strong> also plays some left side. Her passing in the back row is more consistent but at 5'11" she struggles against the taller blocks. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Colorado State commit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180281' first='Erin' last='Debiec']</strong> and Georgetown commit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180283' first='Natalie' last='Nguyen']</strong> share the setting duties. At 6'1" Erin could play right side. She puts up a strong block and can hit the ball hard when set. But Metro has 6'5" <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181232' first='Renee' last='Jones']</strong> to fill that position and Navy commit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180289' first='Lilah' last='Stevens'] </strong>to fill the other right side. Lilah stands just 5'9" but she brings some hop to her jump. Natalie stands only 5'5" but could be one of the more accurate setters in the region. She also plays good defense and brings a good serve that can keep teams out of system. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>6'5" Pittsburgh commit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180295' first='Ryla' last='Jones']</strong> is one of the constants at the middle position. She is the twin sister to right side Renee. Vanderbilt commit<strong> [player_tooltip player_id='180296' first='Madison' last='Bowser']</strong> and Norfolk State commit and class of 2023 <strong>Grace Smith </strong>rotate through the middle. Another option for the middle is the 6'3" [player_tooltip player_id='180297' first='Rori' last='Gray']. Madison brings the athleticism, Rori the length and Grace the knowledge of the position. They all can play.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Libero and Duke commit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180300' first='Mailinh' last='Godschall']</strong> and recent Colorado transfer and Air Force commit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='338991' first='Eve' last='McLaury'] </strong>share the defensive and passing responsibilities. Eve stands 5'11" and brings length in the back row. Mailinh ranks as the top libero in the class of 2024. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A solid team with no real weakness. They hope to make a statement in Chicago.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["180286"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-647cc00b88df7"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Blue Ridge</strong> (National)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>General Info</strong> - Usually when March turns to April and the temperatures hits 70 these girls go from hard court to sand. Their last tournament listed in AES is the Northeast Qualifier in April where they finished ninth out of 57 teams. They are ranked ahead of Metro in the Chesapeake regional rankings in AES as the number one team. In the national rankings they drop to 148. This is their first trip to U.S. Junior Nationals so they could be a surprise. They have played in AAU in Orlando.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>How They Qualified </strong>- They won the Chesapeake Regional Qualifiers, finishing undefeated. Metro did not compete in this event since they already qualified for Open.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Players to Watch</strong> - <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='243771' first='Berkeley' last='Konrady']</strong> stands 6'0", plays left side and belongs to the Class of 2025. She plays all six rotations and puts a lot of velocity on the ball when she connects. She ranks seventh in our class of 2025 but could be higher since she plays up and two of the other three outsides play at the 16 level.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='233008' first='Greta' last='Barvick']</strong> sets but her biggest weapon could be her right arm that she uses from the right side to send missiles to the other side of the court. She set a 5/1 for Vienna Elite last year, changed to hitting left side in high school. She led her team in kills, stands 5'10 and fills the court with her athleticism. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180286' first='Hannah' last='McCullough']</strong> sets opposite Greta. She stands just 5'2" but moves quickly to the ball. You always get good hustle with her game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One of the top liberos in the class of 2025 is <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180302' first='Emma' last='White']</strong>. Another player from Blue Ridge playing up. She has personality on the court, passes nails and plays exceptional defense. Her game derives from the beach where she ranks as one of the top players. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The big test for Blue Ridge lies with their smaller middles and whether they can hang with some of the taller hitters in national play. <strong> [player_tooltip player_id='242037' first='Ashlynn' last='Spence']</strong> at 5'8" and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='239321' first='Lexi' last='Taylor']</strong> at 5'6" are the main middles. They tend to hit the higher sets, consistently putting balls away. At Junior Nationals they will be going against taller blocks. In addition, except for a few times in the Chesapeake area they do not defend against the faster pace of play in the middle with the quicks. How they respond will determine the overall success of Blue Ridge.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Welcome to the big time girls.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>East Coast Volleyball Club</strong> (National)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>General</strong> <strong>Info</strong> - They played in the Triple Crown and finished 112 out of 120. They also played in the Northeast Qualifier USA Division and finished 27th out of 57 teams. Unfortunately, we have not seen them play so we have little information on the players. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>How They Qualified</strong> - They won the Old Dominion Regional Qualifiers. Many of the Old Dominion Clubs prefer to play in the AAUs in Florida. Only a small number of teams participate in Junior Nationals. The Old Dominion Region reallocated both the American and Freedom Divisions.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["309026"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-647cc00b88e85"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Maryland Juniors </strong>(American) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>General Info</strong> - A solid team that finished fifth out of 65 teams in the Liberty Division of the Northeast Qualifiers. In their most recent tournament they had a healthy fifth place finish in the East Coast championship.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>How They Qualified</strong> - A reallocated bid from the Old Dominion Region after a third place finish in the Chesapeake Regional Qualifiers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Players to Watch</strong> - The success of their team rallies around their 5'9" setter <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='309026' first='Lindsay' last='Kelley']</strong>, who runs a 5/1. She strings together a fast offense which results in a number of timing plays to the outside and middle hitters. If they are having success defenses are off balance. If not, then points are given away. She ranks as the eighth best setter in the area for the class of 2024. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She has some powerful pins in right side <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='309025' first='Payton' last='Swinton']</strong> and left side <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='361569' first='Malani' last='Martin']</strong>. The 5'10 Payton has a powerful lefthanded swing with a good vertical that allows her to hit high off the block. She also plays back row and is a regular outlet for Lindsay. At 5'7" Malani is a smaller outside, but her approach jump reaches 9'7". She plays all six rotations. The 5'11" <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='319715' first='Deviana' last='Walker']</strong> is another left side that can do some damage.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The middles alternate between the 5'10" <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='319714' first='Maya' last='Ogbogu']</strong>, 6'0" <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='314736' first='Kiara' last='Harmon'] </strong>and <strong>Mya Durham</strong>. How successful they are in running the quicks will make it difficult for defenses to target the pins.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["192239"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-647cc00b88ef3"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Paramount (</strong>American) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>General Info </strong>- They lost <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181297' first='Lameen' last='Mambu']</strong> to Metro. Paramount relied on her for offense on the left side last year. Now, they have to seek other alternatives. As for tournaments Paramount played a couple Open Qualifiers and finished 30th out of 41 teams in Windy City and 15th out of 23 teams in Northeast. To warmup for the Junior Nationals they played in the JVA Summerfest tournament this weekend and finished 23rd out of 36 teams.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>How they Qualified</strong> - They finished second in the Chesapeake Regionals.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Players to Watch</strong> - Virginia commit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180294' first='Kiylah' last='Presley']</strong> moved from middle to outside this year to replace the loss of Mambu. She can dominate hitting in the front row or back. Paramount also uses her in a two person serve receive. A couple months ago Kiylah assisted the 18 team to a fifth place finish in the Open category, perhaps the highest finish ever by a Chesapeake team. As the main cog on the 17 team she hopes to duplicate her effort. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='180292' first='Riley' last='Buddie']</strong> also remains a threat from the left side. If her hitting is on point this team can be a threat.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another addition to the 18 team was Fairfield commit middle <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='209795' first='Harlan' last='Wyche']</strong>. At 5'11" she does not tower over other middles, but she has great extension and a good vertical that allows her to approach 10'1". She can also shift over to the right side and become a force on offense. Other middles include Rhode Island commit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181236' first='Erika' last='Bracey']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='244160' first='Nia' last='Gibson'] </strong>and class of 2025 <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='248712' first='Kyla' last='Harris'] </strong> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The setting duties are shared by Columbia commit [player_tooltip player_id='180285' first='Clara' last='Yu'] and [player_tooltip player_id='180282' first='Paige' last='Ahakuelo']. Clara came from Metro and Paige last year set a 5/1. The two now combine to run a 6/2.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Paramount always seems to find high quality back row players. They have that in [player_tooltip player_id='207594' first='Paula' last='Sigurani'] and [player_tooltip player_id='181240' first='Natalie' last='Carlin']. Paula started the season as the libero but Natalie has been playing it since the Northeast Qualifiers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["209790"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-647cc00b88f5c"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Virginia Juniors </strong>(Freedom)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>General Info</strong> - Virginia Juniors finished 29th out of 57 teams in the USA Division in the Northeast Qualifiers and 49th out of 96 teams in the USA Division of the Nike Mideast Qualifier. They fell just short qualifying in the Chesapeake Regional Qualifier, finishing in fifth place. This team appears overloaded in pin hitters so getting playing time for all the players remains the biggest challenge.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>How They Qualified</strong> - They finished fifth in the Chesapeake Regionals and got their bid when Maryland Juniors received a bump up to American.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Players to Watch</strong> - Both setters for this team can hit and set. UMBC commit [player_tooltip player_id='182753' first='Isabel' last='Ostvig'] just loves to jump set and could be a terror in a 5/1. She also is a strong hitter allowing Juniors to run a 6/2 and leave Isabel in to hit right side. Even at 5'9" [player_tooltip player_id='244159' first='Jaylyn' last='Simon'] can also put the ball down while playing right side. She sets opposite Isabel. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Juniors brings a plethora of outsides to the court. The top two are <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181234' first='Samia' last='Sayd']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='209790' first='Aubrey' last='Hatch']</strong>. Samia plays all six rotations with precision passing enhanced by her play at the beach. She stands 5'11 and provides solid offense with a back row attack. Aubrey is perhaps the harder hitter and at 6'1" can hit the ball high off the block. Other players they can use outside are <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181230' first='Lydia' last='Darville']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='243772' first='Charizma' last='Lofton']</strong>. Lots of talented depth for Juniors at this position.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At 6'2" <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='182776' first='Brianna' last='Clay'] </strong>plays a solid middle. She ranks as the number five middle in our class of 2024. Others who play the position include <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181235' first='Sydney' last='Mayfield']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='294589' first='Maya' last='Tillman']</strong>, both who belong to the class of 2025 and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='237668' first='Shannon' last='Callaghan']</strong>. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='181239' first='Lanie' last='Goff']</strong> is a libero who can cover a lot of territory in the back row. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='235278' first='Aava' last='Shingler']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='209798' first='Emily' last='Kearney']</strong> can also come in for defensive purposes. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->