Five Players From a Top 20 Matchup

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Below are five athletes from a recent CIF playoff match:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='160999' first='Isabelle' last='Marco'] </strong>| 5'10" | 2024 | S/OH | Sacred Heart Prep<br>One can expect that the stat sheet line for [player_tooltip player_id='160999' first='Isabelle' last='Marco'] will be nearly filled in each night. As both a setter and a hitter, she touches the ball a lot. When hitting, her approach sets her up to broad jump through the air. This floating through the air often leads to a driving attack that goes deep to the opponent's corners. Additionally, she contacts the ball slightly outside her body that allows her to make a cross court shot with ease.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='447604' first='Naomi' last='Watson']</strong> | 6'2" | 2024 | MB | Sacred Heart Prep <br>[player_tooltip player_id='447604' first='Naomi' last='Watson'] gets to many sets. Both her dedication and awareness are mostly to appreciate for that. Another example of those two descriptive phrases is her transition hitting. Specifically, she gets off the net and back in for an approach very well at this current speed of the game. Her end result of an attack is typically straight ahead or rotating back to her left. When blocking, she reaches a height of the second red on the antenna. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='538061' first='Isabella' last='Romero'] </strong>| 5'10" | 2025 | OH | Archbishop Mitty High School<br>The 20 foot approach of [player_tooltip player_id='538061' first='Isabella' last='Romero'] is smooth and follows the general instructions of an approach to continually make bigger steps. Specifically, her last two steps really close in on a set well. This gives her time when in the air to adjust to a blocker's defense. She reaches back but then that delay in the air really gives her options of where to place the attack. Romero is a hitter that hits with pace and records quite a few clean kills.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nicole Macalintal</strong> | 5'5" | 2024 | L | Archbishop Mitty High School<br>The active feet of a defender, like Nicole Macalintal has, balanced with stopped feet upon opponent contact make for opportunities to see spectacular defensive plays. Macalintal does great positioning herself to make those plays. Specifically, she often stops in an intersection of where the longest part of the court for the opponent hitter is. Additionally, she gets fairly close to the endline for an opponent line shot. Her celebration of a point is not to excited and not to calm keeping her team moving onward. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Annabella Rando</strong> | 5'4" | 2024 | L/DS | Archbishop Mitty High School<br>The Monarchs defense has another anchor in Annabella Rando. When the ball is contacted at or above her shoulders she often holds her platform just a little bit longer than any other attack location. When the ball is hit into a seam, Rando dives in with zero hesitation. That mentality has likely created her versatility in the backcourt. Specifically, keep watching to see her play in multiple positions in the backcourt. She displays awareness on the court of playing a ball then making room for her teammates to play the next ball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->