Early Returns On The Early Bird Shootout At Circle City

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Yesterday's one-day event drew a ton of talent from around Indiana and the surrounding states. The top division of the 17/18s draw featured so much talent that it was hard to pick just a few things that I liked from the day of play. Here are some things that stood out to me.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong>Union teams representing southern Indiana well:</strong> Wandering the courts yesterday, there's always a bit of disconnect this early in the season. Their first match was a tough matchup against NKYVC's 18-1, and the rust showed. Coming around to knock off D-1 signee-heavy Rev 18-1 in their second match should tell us a ton about their resiliency, starting with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='192099' first='Abby' last='Julius']' ('25, 5-10 OH/MB, Providence)</strong> relentlessness. During my view of her play, she attacked (and terminated) from everywhere, received serve, played solid defense in the right-back and crushed topspin serves. The solid play wasn't just reserved to the 17s at Union, though, as the 18 UA Black squad has plenty of unsigned talent as well. First Team All-State honoree <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='210180' first='Lilly' last='Tappel'] ('24, 5-9 OH, Providence)</strong> is still available for next fall, and is a primary-passing outside that's best suited as an O2. </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong>Circle City still the class of this one-day event: </strong>Seeing all of the Signed D-1 talent from NKYVC and Rev, I kind of assumed that this would be far more competitive than past iterations of the Shootout. Once again, the girls in purple and black proved me wrong. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='173242' first='Keira' last='Lucas'] ('25, 5-11 OH, Northview)</strong> was a hammer from the left side for Early Bird champion 18 Purple, while <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='487338' first='Lauren' last='Wilson'] ('25, 6-0 Pin, New Castle)</strong> was a pleasant surprise, filling the right side role for 17 Purple. </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong>Plenty of talent on other courts, too: </strong>On courts 4-7, there was plenty of young talent to go around, as Rev's 17-2 squad took second in the Green division, losing to Krush 18s (Michigan) in the final. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='498677' first='Zamiah' last='Slack'] ('25, 5-7 OH, Scecina)</strong> was the most consistent of the outsides on this squad, as she terminated at will with her heavy swing. I also liked the setting of <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='498679' first='Lillian' last='Ash'] ('25, 5-6 S/DS, Hamilton Southeastern).</strong> She had to chase down a ton of out-of-system passing to get her squad to the final.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list -->