25 Athletes, 10 States From USAV 15 National

I was able to watch two solid days of 15 National play and saw a lot of amazing athletes.  Some familiar faces I've seen play and others who were new on my radar.  Overall, the biggest takeaway is how much these players improve over the course of a season - some even in the past month.  Take note, tag these athletes on your UA accounts, they are going to be ones to watch come club season 2025.    <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/stingvb1988/status/1675348012032221184?s=20 </div></figure>   MKE Sting 15 Gold    Champions of the 15 National Division, it is really tough to talk about one or two players on this team.  Actually its pretty tough to even talk about a handful because I saw each athlete do something positive for the team throughout the whole weekend.  Marlee Sivak was playing at an elite level, especially from the backcourt.  She was scoring points and coming up with some big digs out of middle back.  It got to the point where every time a set was going her way, you knew it was going to be a kill.  She was named MVP of the All Tournament Team.  Ella Koehnen and Cassidy Bruns were also named to the All Tournament Team.  This is another group who has greatly improved since January and caught fire at just the right time where they won the Prep Dig Gauntlet over Memorial Day defeating 1st Alliance, Northern Lights, and Circle City and going 11-0 to win the 15 National Division Championship.    <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/1675218730039623681?s=20 </div></figure>   1st Alliance 15 Silver   This is another team who kept improving throughout the season.  Even seeing them from the Prep Dig Gauntlet a month ago to now there was great improvement.  Their defense was so organized, the ball control was extremely clean, the execution was at a high level.  Nikolija Bulatovic, Lynney Tarnow, and Sophia Chinetti were named to the 15 National All Tournament team. Bulatovic really is the commander of the offense as a setter and brings such athleticism and physicality to the position.  Tarnow has made some really scary improvements where she is crushing the slide and nailing the quick tempos.  She will be a high priority middle out of the 2026 class.    <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/07/DSC03406.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-411984"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Reed</figcaption></figure>   Chalei Reed and Kealohalani Cox - Mauloa 15 Green   Reed is just different among the others in the 15 National field. She can take over a match and do it from the front and back row. She has the athleticism, physicality, and live arm to do some special things. She is coached by Hawaii Head Coach and USA Volleyball legend Robyn Ah Mow. She will be a high priority to keep close to home where there were plenty of top coaches already on her court. Another athlete on this team to keep tabs on would be Kealohalani Cox. She's a little undersized for her position, but she packs a punch with her swing and has all the shots to score points.  Both of these athletes were named to the 15 National All Tournament Team and finished 3rd overall.    <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/07/DSC03417.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-411983"/></figure>   Ryea Jackson, Coco Natarajan, Brooke Lacewell - Drive Nation 15 Red    Drive Nation was looking scary good this week. A team who was just on the outside of qualifying open is definitely flexing in Chicago. Jackson has incredible speed and athleticism where her opposing blockers can't keep up with her tempo. Setter Coco Natarajan is a six rotation athlete who kicked off the week at our Prep Dig Showcase being one of the top setters in the gym. Brooke Lacewell on the outside is textbook from her approach to her swing where she finds a way to make great hand contact and score points anywhere.   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/07/DSC03418-e1688323142383.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-411982"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Crowe</figcaption></figure>   Madison Crowe, Alaina Douglas, Sydney Vogel - Colorado Juniors 15 Sherri   Colorado Juniors is always going to be in the mix come day three of these national tournaments. They have athletes who find a way to get it done. Madison Crowe is a really dynamic pin who can run multiple tempos on the outside. I saw her compete at the Colorado High School State tournaments where she was one of the top freshmen in the field. Sydney Vogel is a right side who can do a little bit of everything for this team. Alaina Douglas was out of the middle and had a few slides where she absolutely thumped the ball.    <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/07/DSC03421.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-411981"/></figure>   Brylee Moore - Arete 15 Telos   This Arete squad just kept on winning. They play a really clean style where they control the ball and let their hitters be efficient. Moore was on the right side where she has plenty of length that led to point scoring opportunities with her swing and blocking. I saw them take down Northern Lights who is a really well balanced team and historical program.    <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/07/DSC03428.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-411980"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Partee</figcaption></figure>   Navia Partee and Ava Beasley - Memphis Juniors 15 Elite   Memphis Juniors was a really fun team to watch where they knew how to compete. They went blast for blast with some of the top teams in this field. Partee was a tough mismatch on the right side. She had some big hops which allowed her to use some different shots to score points in and out of system. Beasley not only packed a punch on the outside, but I was really impressed with her backrow defense. She had some really positive touches and could handle plenty of serve receive reps.    [player_tooltip player_id='254038' first='Gwenyth' last='Koss'] - Houston Juniors 15 Elite   This Houston Juniors team was one of the most physical teams in the field. Koss is a lengthy pin who was tough to contain where she could swing at any position on the court. She can throw off the block or hammer to the open spot. She will be a fun athlete to track in the Class of 2026 who can do a little bit of everything.    Ciara Cunningham, Abigail Schoene, and Addyson Wiese - Rockwood Thunder 15 Elite   Schoene and Cunningham made for a great setter, middle combination where Cunningham brought so much speed an athleticism to the middle position. With a fast arm she was able to find the deep corner to score points. Schoene was so consistent where she could deliver in and out of system. The Libero Addyson Wiese definitely had a presence. She communicated and connected well with teammates while also making the tough plays look routine.    <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/07/DSC03437.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-411979"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Johnson</figcaption></figure>   Jada Johnson and Jaquelyn Godard - OJVA 15-1 Gold   This Oregon Juniors team was fun to follow the past couple of days. The setter Lily Mae Buerkle was a standout on day two and was swinging from the pin and setting on day three. Johnson was very explosive from the pin. She wasn't afraid to swing hard and go for it.  Godard out of the middle showed how dynamic she was being a force defensively while still transitioning being available to attack,   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/07/DSC03444.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-411978"/></figure>   Bennett Raterman - HPSTL 15 Royal    I saw this HPSTL team at the Windy City Qualifier and they really improved since April.  They have a lot of pieces where this core group will be a dangerous team in 2024.  One athlete who has a major upside is Bennett Raterman.  She has the length, a whip of an armswing and causes a lot of havoc at the front line.  I saw her play out of the the middle, but I think with her athletic ability she can play anywhere on the front row.    <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/07/DSC03449.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-411976"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Lunski</figcaption></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/07/DSC03445.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-411977"/></figure>   Bryn Luski and Eva Swenson - MN Select 15-1   MN Select took home the Silver Division, putting them in 9th place overall.  This team improved so much since I saw them at the Northern Lights Qualifier in March.  They always had the competitive fire, but their overall skill has greatly improved in only a few months.  Luski is an outside hitter that is a high flyer.  She was able to do a lot of advanced skills going cross body down the line and tooling the block to score points.  Setter Eva Swenson was really owning the court as a setter.  In April, I could see the size and athleticism of what could potentially be and seeing her this past week it was very different in a great way.  She was confident, she was on point, and she was at another level than even a few short months ago.  Her ceiling is extremely high and exciting for this 2026 prospect.

I was able to watch two solid days of 15 National play and saw a lot of amazing athletes. Some familiar faces I've seen play and others who were new on my radar. Overall, the biggest takeaway is how much these players improve over the course of a season - some even in the past month. Take note, tag these athletes on your UA accounts, they are going to be ones to watch come club season 2025.