Defensive Specialists Who Dug the Dallas Freshman Showcase

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I love watching these young athletes work to show us what they can do and they are freshmen! As crazy as that sounds, they are already very good at their positions on the court and will only get better with time. One of the toughest positions on the court is playing DS/L, in my opinion. It is a position that requires mental toughness more than anything. Those balls come awful fast and are hit from above the net so they have a nasty angle to them too. This position requires the ability to be beaten regularly but still keep going after it. It is dogged determination at its finest. Let's talk about the DS/Ls I saw today that dug the Dallas Freshman Showcase. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Kayla Royal</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Royal is a DS/L from John Horn High School. She has a great platform and is very fast and effective at her job on the court. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Alyssa Dickey</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dickey is from Argyle High School. She has a beautiful platform and great court awareness. She is a very quick and flexible athlete.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Ava Sanborn</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sanborn is from Rockwall High School and [program_tooltip program_id='431200' first='[program_tooltip program_id='431200' first='[program_tooltip program_id='431200' first='Madfrog' last='']' last='']' last=''] volleyball club. She sacrificed her body so many times today and looked amazing doing it. She is very flexible and very fast. She has excellent form while doing so as well.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Tristyn Vineyard</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Vineyard is from McKinney Christian. She was doing everything great today and looked amazing. She has a great platform, knows her spot and responsibilities, and covers everything. Awesome athlete.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Lauren Aguilar</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Aguilar is a DS/L from Walnut Grove High School. She had the quickest reflexes today that I witnessed. She had a ball hit right at her face and she, amazingly, dug it clean and got it to her setter. Very nice!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Kaitlyn Burke</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Burke is from Wakeland High School and Instinct Wild Gold volleyball club. She had the honor of being called out for consistency today. You can count on her to get the ball up and get it to where it needs to go every time. Respect.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Marialy Garcia</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Garcia is from Azle High School. She has explosive speed, a great platform, and is a blast to watch.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Maya Hottinger</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hottinger is a 5' 7" DS/L from Ursuline Academy of Dallas. She is athletic, quick, light on her toes, and sacrifices everything to do her job. She receives the ball and sends it to the setter perfectly if it is in her control. She was a pleasure to watch do her job great. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->