Sneaky Good 17s-Jingle Bell Jam Pt.1

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We were at the Jingle Bell Jam in Tulsa this past weekend. The oldest age was the 17s. Let's take a look at how they finished and some of the players who may not catch your eye immediately but will definitely be key to their teams success this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gold Bracket Finish: TPV 17-2, Charge South 17-1, Virago 16-1 and Ignite 17-1</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>TPV 17-2 Setter #1, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='742721' first='Caroline' last='Bergeret']</strong>. She is an absolute workhorse. I have seen her develop the last few years into a solid setter. She flys around and does the best she can with every touch. Her quickness allows her to have a huge range to track down passes. When her team is in system, she is great at distributing the ball to all her hitters. She connects well with her middles on up tempo sets. This team won the championship this past weekend but my prediction is, this won't be the only time they win a tournament this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ignite 17-1 Outside Hitter #8, <strong>PraSiah Hunt</strong>. This core group of players on this team have played for current college coach, Veronica Austin. One thing that really stood out to me about PraSiah is her out of system attacking. She was able to add plenty of pressure to opposing defenses even on some of the wildest plays. Her athletic abilities were on full display when she would block or would track down a dig. She is definitely someone colleges should keep an eye on as the season progresses.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Charge South 17-1 Libero #7, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='563706' first='Sabrina' last='Kirkpatrick']</strong>. She was a force in the back row. She had a huge range opposing teams had to avoid when serving. Speaking of serving, she was able to get on a multitude of runs herself from the service line. She does a really good job of keeping a steady disciplined platform. She creates a nice soft touch that can be heard when she passes. Hats off to her and her team for making it to the championship match.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Virago 16-1 Libero #1, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='764331' first='Maggie' last='Leach']</strong>. Maggie played a huge role in helping her team make the gold bracket despite being a 16s team. Her footwork really helped set herself up to be in great positions during serve receive and to make big digs in transition. She also was very loud and vocal with her team. None more apparent than when a teammate would get a kill, she would be loud and proud for them.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ignite 17-1 Middle Blocker #17, <strong>Sydney Nolan</strong>. She had some absolute MONSTER blocks. She is able to get above the net and press over the net better than any other player in the tournament. She is much more than just a big body putting up a block. She moves laterally well to close blocks on both pins. She also does a great job of mixing up her routes in transition. I saw her hit at least 4 different speeds/locations throughout the day. She is going to have a ton of growth this season and be ready to make waves next school season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What a great first tournament of the season. Plenty of players/teams in action and lots of great matches. Just in the 17s division alone, there were 8 matches that went the distance and were decided in the 3rd and final set. We look forward to covering a ton more players this club season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->