Top Performers from the MAPL Blue Division

Some of the teams and the players who impressed in the Blue Division. For MAPL my focus was more on the Black Division. However, the talent especially at the 14 age group impressed. It will be interesting to see how these player's progress in the future. Below, some of the players and teams that caught my eye at the younger age grouping.   14-16 Blue Division Teams   East Coast 15 Black   East Coast Black finished ninth in the Blue Division. They lost to East Carolina 15 in the seminfals of the silver bracket. After losing their first two matches to Paramount 15 Maureen and [program_tooltip program_id='494409' first='Blue' last='Ridge'] 15 Blue they rattled off three straight wins. The highlight was taking a set off a talented Paramount 15 Maureen team that took second in the tournament.   Last year [player_tooltip player_id='617089' first='India' last='Starr'] impressed at middle. This year she moves to the right side. From the looks of things, she has taken well to the position. At 6'2" she brings some length and power to the right side. Left side [player_tooltip player_id='746323' first='Isabella' last='Decker'] hits with good velocity, but she also knows placement. She brings the skills to play six rotations which allows her to generate offense from the back row. At setter [player_tooltip player_id='746327' first='August' last='Bridges'] takes on the responsibility as the floor captain. She shares the setting duties with Jocelyn Garcia Argueta.   Middle [player_tooltip player_id='617109' first='Margaret' last='Manzer'] continues to contribute with her blocking. Her 6'0" frame flies high over the net. Left side [player_tooltip player_id='746329' first='Emma' last='Piccola'] was limited to three rotations in the match I watched but she made some big kills when she played the front row. Her six point serving run that included four aces put ECVB 15 ahead to stay in their 15-9 third set victory over ECVB 14.   East Coast 14 Black   This team brings some height to the floor, especially for their age. While they finished in 14th place they battled their 15 team to three sets. They also rattled off four wins in their first five matches. An eventual loss to Metro 14 in the bronze medal finals 26-24 and 25-16 finished their tournament.   [player_tooltip player_id='752412' first='Alexa' last='Whitfield'] brings height to the middle while [player_tooltip player_id='752416' first='Mallory' last='Beeson'] does the same from the right side. They did not get a lot of offensive opportunities in the games I watched. Khloe Phillips set a 5/1. She created a nice right turn on one of her floater serves. Despite her soft hands she still needs work on finding a consistent location with her pin sets. That will come with time.   [player_tooltip player_id='745914' first='Avery' last='Alderks'] bangs the ball from the left side as well as behind the three meter line. Her float serves also carried bounce as they crossed over the net for two aces. She buried the game winning spike against ECVC 15 in their first set win. The other left side [player_tooltip player_id='746523' first='Isabella' last='Smith'] belongs to the class of 2028. She also stings the ball well. Libero Preslirose Hanks strung together a four point service run in that first set against ECVB 15 to give them a 21-19 lead in a set they won 25-21.   Metro 14    Her swing still needs some work but at 6'3" she towers over the net to block a number of balls. She also has the ability to tip balls over most blocks, which makes her difficult to defend.   While Metro has a fifth ranked regional ranking they are also ranked 12th nationally. Only Maryland Juniors has a higher national ranking at number 7   Metro took first in a Maryland Open tournament and another first in the City of Oaks Challenge, beating a number of Carolina teams.   While it is still early, the Chesapeake Region has six teams ranked in the top 100 nationally at the 14U level. [program_tooltip program_id='494409' first='Blue' last='Ridge'] has two of those teams.    They had an excellent tournament, losing only one match to SERV 16 Select that took three sets. For a 14 team to win their first four matches against older teams while not allowing any of them to reach 20 points is quite an accomplishment. After their loss to SERV 16 they won their last two matches, including a sweep over East Coast 14 Black in the bronze medal final.   This team will be scary good in the future. [player_tooltip player_id='746506' first='Carolyn' last='Maria'] sets but may also be one of their top offensive players from the right side. She stands oround 6'0" and buries the ball over the net. Every time she touched the ball it was a kill. She also does a good job of communicating on the court. Middles [player_tooltip player_id='750047' first='Caroline' last='Conroy'] and [player_tooltip player_id='746330' first='Hannah' last='Keating'] list at 6'3". Caroline shows a good swing for her age and height while Hannah generated some blocks with her high reach. Hannah belongs to the class of 2028.   [player_tooltip player_id='750053' first='Alexis' last='Luscomb'] is the second setter. Ella Luscomb took some swings from the left side. [player_tooltip player_id='750050' first='Raquel' last='Telly'] also took a few good swings from the left side as well. Her older sister Alexa excels for Metro 16.   [program_tooltip program_id='498498' first='Virginia' last='Wave'] 16   They finished in 16th place, losing to [program_tooltip program_id='494409' first='Blue' last='Ridge'] 15 Orange in the first round of the bronze bracket. Two of their other three losses came against Paramount Cozad 14.   Finally got to see [player_tooltip player_id='705565' first='Senah' last='Drazdowski'] perform. At 6'0" she brings good height to the setting position. Her serve has a good downward trajectory to it, accumulating a number of aces. She still needs some work on the consistency with her setting locations as well as the speed of her arm swing when hitting right side. Excellent potential in her game.   Loved the hustle of their libero Keira Flowers. She shows potential to improve at a quick level. And lastly, [player_tooltip player_id='752426' first='Summer' last='Spencer'] shares the setting duties with Senah and shows some nice hands for the position.   [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] 14 Cozad   This is the second 14 team for Paramount. Despite that, they still leaped over many of the other older teams to finish in eighth place. That was the highest finish of any age 14 team playing in the Blue Division. They lost only two matches in the tournament, the first to [program_tooltip program_id='494409' first='Blue' last='Ridge'] 16 orange and the second to East Carolina 16. They ultimately won the silver bracket by beating East Carolina 15 in two.   Angelie Rose Carrasco played a solid libero. She showed good hands when given an opportunity to set out of system. Braylin Coacher and [player_tooltip player_id='752431' first='Kayla' last='Chang'] were the two setters on the team. Braylin brings the potential for height to the position with the hope that as she grows, she will maintain her quickness. Elliot Dorgan brings a long reach to the left side when she swings. [player_tooltip player_id='746620' first='Sahana' last='Cushman'] put up some good blocks in the middle taking advantage of her early 6'1" height advantage.   East Carolina 16    She no longer resides in Virginia. The family made the move to North Carolina. If they had stayed she would have ranked in the top ten of the class of 2028. The club she plays for now is East Carolina.   Ivy is an athletic player who can play six rotations. You can catch her in action at the Capitol Hill Classic as well as the Sunshine and Big South qualifiers. Definitely a player to watch.    They finished tied for third in the Blue Division. They were led by their left side [player_tooltip player_id='490759' first='Ivy' last='Wirth']. Before moving to North Carolina Ivy would have been ranked in the top ten in the class of 2028 for Virginia. She also would have started for Bishop O'Connell as a pin, along with her sister [player_tooltip player_id='249343' first='Alana' last='Wirth'], who would have competed for a defensive specialist position. Ivy plays a year up for East Carolina. She is an athletic player who stands close to six feet. She started for Croatan high school in North Carolina as a frosh. Alana focuses on beach. She plays as a defensive specialist for Croatan high.

Some of the teams and the players who impressed in the Blue Division. For MAPL my focus was more on the Black Division. However, the talent especially at the 14 age group impressed. It will be interesting to see how these player's progress in the future. Below, some of the players and teams that caught my eye at the younger age grouping.