PD Chi-Town Classic 2025: Go-to Pins!

<p>There were a lot of heavy arms and high jumpers at the Prep Dig Chi-Town Classic this weekend. Let's take a look at some of the go-to arms of the tournament.</p>    <p class="text-gray-700">This right side is very strategic with her attack. You can see her carefully start her approach to keep the ball in front of her. She listens closely to her teammates to know whats open and then executes the attack. I love her thumb down deep line shot or her offspeed cross shot that trips up the defense making them second guess who's going to take the ball.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Arseanult showed off her artistic ability to use the blocker's hands and send the ball out of bounds where defense had no chance of recovering. As a right side she was seeing a lot of tough attackers coming her way but she was strong and intentional with her block and did a great job read the path of the attacker. Arseanult has a really gentle touch with her tip and will dribble the ball just over her blockers hands. When she decides to unload on the ball she can take a hard line swing that is tough to defend or swing across her body and expose a late blocker.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Komarek recently made a move to the right pin, and I'm honestly loving what she brings to that position. She puts up a big block in front of opposing outsides as well as a fun slide approach to keep teams guessing. Komarek moves quickly along the net and defends it like a natural middle blocker.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJfykBcxAC-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== </div></figure>     <p class="text-gray-700">Bagdonaite is a smaller attacker but she is smart and effective. She takes a big aggressive approach and explodes off of the ground. She packs a real punch and if you leave her line she will go after it hard. Bagdonaite is super sneaky at the service line because she can send a ball deep that will drop right at the endline and it is super hard to read ahead of time. </p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Martin got her swings in from both pins this weekend. We usually see her on the right side where she takes a clean approach angle and works the ball into all the corners of the court. She is a bright and positive personality that shines through on and off the court.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJfNIrLRRNW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== </div></figure>     <p class="text-gray-700">Gora brings a very calm and steady presence for her team. Every team needs an anchor and I think Gora may be the one for her team. She watches closely and moves accordingly when she is playing backrow. When she gets to the net she opens up and kicks it into another gear.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJft47RRA6J/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== </div></figure>     <p class="text-gray-700">Maus was rocking her six rotation role on the outside pin. She was solid in serve receive and hitting a number of different shots from the pin. I love how she mixes it up between the high line swing and blasting power alley.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJfYgvUxipk/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== </div></figure>     <p class="text-gray-700">Green just knows where to go with the ball. She can wait for the ball to cross her and then speed up her arm to use the block, or she can accelerate into the ball and expose a split in the block. Green has these long arms and she uses them to reach high and work over the block and expose the middle back.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Moyer turns heads with big aggressive approach and violent armswing. She is another talented athlete that can score at will with a number of different shots. Moyer is springy and explosive with the ability to work a lot of different thumb down shots and terminate from either pin.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Hoel has made some big strides this season and I really like how smooth she is in pass to attack transition. She has definitely embraced the role as a big swing for her team.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Rieck is a powerhouse lefty with a mean swing in the split. What I really loved to see was after getting blocked her response was, set me again and she made an adjustment, ran a new route, and terminated the ball. Rieck is not someone you want to joust with because she will overpower you at the net. She will use a power tip that will make your headspin and she does a great job when the ball is tight on the net .</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Johannesman is a strong server who helped her team take the lead in the championship match. She was a steady force from the left pin and a consistent deep swing that her team could rely on in the tough moments.</p>     <p>When Smith gets cooking, she is hard to stop. She has a heavy arm that is like a pack of dynamite going off. Smith has also really taken to the art of bouncing the ball off the block and sending it out of bounds, where her opponents have no chance to recover. She was locking down her serve receive and finding crafty ways to score in chaotic situations.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Swiderski is a smart and methodical attacker. She works the ball off the block with precision and frustrates her opponent's defense. Swiderski sets and executes a strong block at the net. She isn't afraid to go high line when the set is off the net, and it will catch some teams sleeping. Swiderski will turn around and scorch the line on the very next play to get her point across with an exclamation mark. She also caught me by surprise when she came in to swing out of the middle, and I love an attacker who can execute from anywhere on the net.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Sobolewski has a strong but long frame and has to be touching close to 10ft in her approach. She waits just long enough before taking a fast swing past the block and over the defender's shoulder to pinpoint the deep line corner. Sobolewski can do magical things even when the ball seems to be out of reach. I swear she might have go-go-gadget arms that she deploys to get the ball and tap it back into the court. The best is when she sees an opening and just destroys the ball because she has such a high reach and wraps on top of the ball.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Venturella is a mighty weapon, and I really enjoyed watching her take some pretty mighty swings from both pins. I could see where she could be a solid middle, but I honestly really like her on the pins, especially the right side. She brings a big block to go along with a booming armswing.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Waterman could be the new host of "Tool Time" because she does a great job finding blockers hands and using them, especially out of system or when trapped. She gets the opposing block so flustered that they start over-adjusting, which ends up opening a new opportunity, and then she buries the ball in the split.</p>    <p></p>

There were a lot of heavy arms and high jumpers at the Prep Dig Chi-Town Classic this weekend. Let's take a look at some of the go-to arms of the tournament.