Players to Watch as September Slips Away

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Below are five athletes to watch from a recent CIF Southern Section match:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='463619' first='Sydney' last='Valentine']</strong> | 5'10" | 2024 | OH/OPP | Canyon High School<br>With an ability to find the open court regardless of how hard the ball is it, [player_tooltip player_id='463619' first='Sydney' last='Valentine'] has the vision of an elite hitter. This smart hitter will land a tip, land a 70% swing, and land an all out swing. Not only does she find court, but also she will provide a challenge to defender. She has a great approach that enables her to hit even if the set gets her off balance. Valentine stays composed after point scoring plays that keeps her team focused on getting to 25.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rowan Dillard</strong> | 5'10" | 2024 | OH/OPP | Canyon High School <br>Rowan DIllard brings some heat and precision with her circular saw like swing. The incredible arm action of DIllard really gets the ball on opponents faster than they likely expect. Additionally, she has quick feet. This gets her outside the court and off the net for an approach in both phases of offense. Additionally, she reads the game well. Her adjustments on the block are sometimes to the slightest detail. She does adjust well to a set too. Bringing high energy is becoming an expectation from her to keep the motivation and team morale up.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nikki Monfared</strong> | 2025 | MB | Canyon High School<br>When a middle block trusts like Nikki Monfared does she can really have a lot of plays come to her. Being in a position where a player is often ahead of the game and chasing the game can be very difficult to trust teammates. For example, being a block for her backcourt and getting out to close the block. Her footwork and ambition of movement really shows that she believes her teammates set her up well. Specifically, that can be an outside blocker or a setter. Monfared often takes what the set gives her and makes a play. She can also strategically place an attack if she is late to the set. She touches a height of the second white on the antenna.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='536135' first='Makayla' last='Gates'] </strong>| 6'0" | 2024 | OH | Yorba Linda High School<br>An athletic player, like [player_tooltip player_id='536135' first='Makayla' last='Gates'], can keep her eyes on the court at all times. Specifically, as she readies to hit her backpaddle keeps her back to any inactivity and her eyes to the ball. Her eyes likely get very wide open as she creates a big hitting window to crush a ball. Most of her hard driven attacks go to the cross court or middle back. Additionally, she has a crafty line shot that creates shot diversity many will find challenging to defend. As a teammate, Gates reliably does what she is supposed to, </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kylie Vaughn </strong>| 5'9" | 2025 | S/DS/L | Yorba Linda High School<br>Being confident enough to give time for any ball coming at someone to be passed closer to her body, like Kylie Vaughn does, is a great sign of her belief in her internal strength. When passing away from the body, any player relies on external muscular strength. However, this is a great foundation for Vaughn. Additionally, she is regularly in the right spot on the simple plays. This makes for another strong foundation but this time for being a great teammate. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->