Midwest Pre-National “Tournament” Lawrence

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Teams from across the region traveled to Lawrence, Kansas last weekend for some high-level competition to prepare themselves for different national tournaments on their schedules. I air quote tournament because there is no winner, it's team's engaged in battle against other teams trying to get better for the coming weeks. The format does include the attempt to match teams based on where they qualified or close, so open teams with open teams with some sprinkle of national, etc. I was on-site in a different capacity but watched quite a bit of action over the two days. Here are some players who stood out. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["222099"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-666b7b067e876"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Stowell is on the other side of the state line of who I now cover but having covered Kansas for years and her [program_tooltip program_id='430200' first='KC' last='[program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last='']'] team being the first I got to see on Saturday, she keeps getting better and better. She plays up an age group and you wouldn't know it with how she commands the court. She can score on either pin and the bic, but what stood out the most was her back-row defense, which has come a long way. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["222072"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-666b7b067e8ef"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">I saw Brown play Saturday afternoon and liked what I saw from the defensive specialist. She enters the match and does her job passing effectively and playing solid defense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["496502"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-666b7b067e932"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">I enjoyed watching how active Zinn was at the net on Saturday afternoon. She was quick off the ground defensively in block attempts. Offensively, she was able to find success numerous times on an effective slide. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["542173"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-666b7b067e986"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Bahr, who I'll talk about next gets a lot of attention but Spengler showed me this weekend she is just as valuable on the court in a six-rotation roll for this Invasion squad. She has an array of shots to her credit and showed she can score in many zones. She also held her own in the back row defensively. Expect her to make a big jump in the next ranking update. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["357615"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-666b7b067e9e6"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Bahr impresses me each time I see her live. This weekend it was her ability to come up big in tight moments when her team needed a score. She has a lively arm and can go on a nice scoring run at any time. Her play in the back row is continuing to make strides. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block -->