Brilliant Liberos in the Cross Court Classic 16 Open division

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Volleyball was all over the place at the George R. Brown Convention Center, in downtown Houston, two weekends ago, as the venue hosted the 2025 edition of the Nike Cross Court Classic, one of the most traditional club tournaments of the year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This year's edition featured 710 teams from all over Texas and neighboring states, which competed for two days in one of the 29 divisions of one of the largest tournaments held in Houston in 2025.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li><a href="https://prepdig.com/2025/03/nike-cross-court-classic-16-open-photos/">Nike Cross Court Classic: 16 Open - Photos</a></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prep Dig Texas was in attendance on Saturday and we got to watch all eight teams that competed in the 16 Open division. Let's now review some of the top players in the age group and the liberos come up next:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["744558"],"_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-67d44fca91cef"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Svoboda was one of the liberos of the [program_tooltip program_id='510661' first='Houston' last='Skyline'] 15 Royal team that stepped up against the older competition to finish first in the division with five victories. She was very productive on the backcourt for her team, appearing with great defensive plays for them. Svoboda also took control of their serve-receive efforts, taking a prominent role in that area of the game when used as a defensive specialist too. She also did a good job from the service line, going on some nice runs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["443030"],"_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-67d44fca91d4a"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Gonzales was the libero for the SA Elite 161 Navy team that ended the tournament in second place, with four wins and one loss. She was very active in serve-receive for the team, having the confidence to step up and cover her teammates when they went through difficult moments. The libero also appeared well defensively, displaying excellent ball control to deal with hard-driven swings that went her way. Gonzales was very disciplined in covering her hitters too and got to recover many balls by doing that.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:image {"id":757798,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/03/2J4A0119.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-757798" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["713066"],"_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-67d44fca91d94"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Ngo was with the [program_tooltip program_id='745880' first='Houston' last='Stellar'] 16 Elite side that ranked sixth two weekends ago, with a campaign of one win and four losses. Despite her team's struggles, she was a bright spot for them on the backcourt, using her excellent positioning and ball control to generate many transition plays for them. Ngo also handled well her serve-receive duties, delivering most serves that went her way with great efficiency. The libero was solid when asked to set in transition plays, showing calm to step up and feed her hitters with well-placed balls.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/hudl {"name":"acf/hudl","data":{"embed_code":"u003ciframe src='https://www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/17157520/67d03493fa525cb53424defa' width='640' height='360' frameborder='0' allowfullscreenu003eu003c/iframeu003e","_embed_code":"field_62daf7995fd8c"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-67d44fca91faf"} /--> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["443020"],"_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-67d44fca92013"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Valdez was the libero of the Valley Venom -161 Red team that returned home with an eighth-place finish, earned with a win and four losses. Despite their many upsets, Valley Venom were difficult to score at and that was mostly thanks to her efforts on the backcourt. Even playing behind undersized blockers, Valdez used her excellent ball control to get several digs on the backcourt and keep her team in games. She also did well in serve-receive and was very active when covering her hitters up at the net.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:image {"id":757816,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/03/2J4A0157.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-757816" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image -->