Practice Starts Today: Five Prospects I Expect To See This Week

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>All over Kansas this afternoon prep volleyball players will be taking the court for the first practices of the school year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There is no off-season in high school sports anymore. Athletes play club spots, attend scouting combines, college camps, and summer weight programs, but the first official practice is always special.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prep Dig scouts will be hard at it the rest of the season writing team previews, scouting practices, previewing weekly match-ups, highlighting statistical leaders, watching film, attending week-day matches, Saturday tournaments, and featuring as many Kansas athletes as possible.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I plan on seeing at least two volleyball practices this week and here are five prospects I look forward to catching up with.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='349383' first='Maggie' last='Moulden'],</strong> MB, 5'11”, Seaman, ‘25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The defending state champion Seaman Vikings are the first team I plan on scouting this week. Moulden is a dual sport prospect I look forward to seeing compete. She is currently ranked No. 113 by Prep Dig. I give her a hard time every time I see her in person. She is always hard to keep track of as she has had multiple hair colors and styles over the past couple of years. The Viking middle finished with 107 kills as a junior. This will be an important season for her as she will need to decide if it is volleyball or basketball that she wants to play collegiately.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='219737' first='Bella' last='Reid'],</strong> OH, 5'10”, Hayden, ‘25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hayden is the second of the two teams I expect to scout in person this season. The Wildcats are going to be young with a couple of impact freshmen expected to compete for spots in the starting rotation. Reid is one of just a couple of upperclassmen to provide leadership and experience. She is currently ranked No. 83 overall in the class of 2025 rankings. She finished with 257 kills in 90 sets during her junior campaign.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='357548' first='Reese' last='Huscher']</strong>, OH, 5'8”, Hayden, ‘26</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Huscher is currently ranked No. 28 overall in the Kansas Class of 2026. She is a Hayden prospect who will be fighting for playing time this season and could be used as an outside hitter or as a defensive specialist. She is another multi-sport talent in the Wildcats arsenal.  She finished with 223 kills as a sophomore. Soccer and basketball are the other two sports she could play collegiately.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='474736' first='Kinsley' last='Smith']</strong>, DS/L, 5'4”, Seaman, ‘26</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Smith is a spunk libero who I saw play some club ball this season.  She collected 327 serve receptions and 189 digs for the Vikings as a sophomore. Seaman will be a loaded squad and it will be just the second day of tryouts when I see them, but it could shed light on how big a role Smith will have this season. The Seaman prospect is currently ranked No. 84 overall by Prep Dig Kansas.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='513606' first='Hailey' last='Schmidtlein'],</strong> MB, 6'0”, Hayden, ‘28</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Schmidtlein is the highest-ranked athlete in the Kansas Class of 2028 rankings. I saw her compete in club volleyball and basketball this year. Hayden will be having a scrimmage this Friday that I plan to scout. It will be interesting to see which position she is plays and which squad she competes on during the scrimmage. Hayden has a DI committed middle transferring into the school this season and experienced outside hitters. I do not doubt that Schmidtlein makes the varsity team as a freshman, but questions of how and where they utilize her during a freshman season could be previewed at this early internal scrimmage. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->