Who shined at the St. John's Varsity Pre-season Tournament?

Tryouts are over. Rosters are set...for the most part. It's time for the annual pre-season tournaments and time to start getting a look at teams working out rotations, trying out freshmen, and taking a peek at how much girls developed playing in last club season. With HS aged players, that can be a huge jump year to year, so this time of year is pretty exciting for scouts. There's an air of the unknown everywhere, and surprises are always fun. There was a lot of talent here, so I wasn't going to cover them all, but here are a few of the players that stood out:   St. John's:   [player_tooltip player_id='238356' first='Morgan' last='Reeves'] - OH - [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last='']. All-Met honorable mention last year, and a standout power hitter. Stood out from warm-ups on, and was the featured attacker (well as much as you can tell in a pre-season tournament when teams are mixing and matching lineups). Committed to Hampton, and it was pretty obvious why. She's going to be a problem for the rest of the WCAC this season.   [player_tooltip player_id='828185' first='Cairo' last='Turner'] - MH - Metro. She was a fun one to watch. On a loaded Metro 15 Travel team, she showed some serious power and blocking ability and caught my interest in the first couple of minutes. Defensively, she was putting on a show, and the athleticism showed, but when paired with the right setter, she exploded offensively as well. Only a Soph, the scary part is she's going to get even better. Fun fact, she also plays beach and is part of the National Development Program for that.      This is one of my favorites. She wasn't on my radar before, and plays for a smaller club, but for me was one of the top two setters and best overall players in the entire scrimmage. She is about 5'8 and when I saw her was running a 5-1, although St. Johns also ran a 6-2 with different setters and a 5-1 with another setter at other points in the night. Gabrielle was absolutely stellar; she had a beautiful touch in her setting and did a great job getting her feet and hips set, all over the court, as well as with her jump sets. She showed creative touch in some dumps, played good defense at the net, and her serving was very solid as well. Hopefully, she gets more recognition this year, and the rest of the country will get to enjoy watching her play as much as I did this week.    Archbishop Spalding:    I've seen Maddie a ton this year with Maryland Juniors, but after a few weeks off and watching her play with her HS team, even I was surprised a little. She was hitting with so much power and authority it was startling fans. She played all around and showed improved defense on the serve receive. She was easily Spalding's best player in the time I watched them play and looks like she's ready to make some noise in the IAAM conference this season.    Ashlee Overley - MB - 2026. A 6'1 middle that plays for SRVC, she showed spectacular ability on the defensive end, with multiple solo blocks against some of Metro's best players in a scrimmage match. Offensively, I didn't catch a lot of opportunities just the way the schedule broke out, but I did see some solid potential in warm ups, and a couple of chances in the one game. She's a player that should garner some more interest this season and could be a sneaky good pick up for a college in her senior year if she chooses to follow that route.   Maryvale Prep:   [player_tooltip player_id='547072' first='Victoria' last='Small'] - L - 2027. Victoria is one of the best in the region. I see her so much I'd say I almost don't appreciate it, but if you ask the people I was watching the game with, they would disagree, as I told one parent, "Watch number 4, that is what you want your daughter to play like as she develops." She really makes it look easy out there sometimes, and any team with her on it is going to be in the hunt, if you give them a chance they will capitalize.    This was another one that was fun to find. I've heard that she was a good player from her teammate before, but this is the first time I've gotten to see her and she didn't disappoint. Another one of the top players from the tournament overall, she was playing all around and looked solid in all areas, serve receive, defense, and especially hitting. She plays on a very solid Baltimore Elite team, which I kept running into their other age groups and their second team this season, but I missed out on seeing her team play. Definitely will be a player I keep an eye on and she will be climbing the rankings when they are re-done in the winter. She makes a great 1-2 punch with [player_tooltip player_id='547072' first='Victoria' last='Small'], and they will keep Maryvale in the hunt in the IAAM.    Northern:   Naomi Kolo - RS - 2027. A Left handed RS with some loud pop and a big vertical is always fun to see. I've known Naomi since her first year playing club, so it's fun to see her a few years later and to see how much she's grown and improved. She plays for SRVC and plays up an age group, you can see where that added challenge has made her a better player as she really showed some flash and thump. She took advantage of being a lefty and went line on a few plays, but on a big majority of her shots she put them on the ten foot line with an exclamation point.   Brooke Courtney - S/RS - 2027. Brooke has been a solid setter for years. Seemed like she was splitting time setting and hitting in this one, and I've seen a few other times, clinics/camps/tryouts where she's hit and done an admiral job there. I almost want to call her a utility player because she's so versatile and can play different spots well, but that doesn't feel like it does her enough justice. She plays for SRVC in club season and looks like she's ready to carry whatever team she plays for this year.   Crofton:   [player_tooltip player_id='836207' first='Miley' last='Keyes'] - OH - 2028. Miley played a ton in this one. She was playing all around all night, and had some spot duties setting. Her hitting was fabulous as always, her pushes and tips are getting more dangerous every game as she picks up more strategy and court awareness. She was the primary weapon for Crofton all night, and she continues to work hard and improve on defense every game.   [player_tooltip player_id='800356' first='Ella' last='Strain'] - S - 2027. Ella was one of the top two setters in the tournament for me. Her serve was excellent all night, her sets were well distributed and had great touch all night in multiple tempo and spots, and she would tell you she's most proud of her defense, digging a few extremely hard hit balls and keeping balls in play that other setters weren't getting to.   Overall it was a good start to the season. Matches were made up of 20 minute sets, running clock, so there were a lot of alternate lineups used, experiments made, and a wide variety of looks that may or may not make it to the regular season. A great way to start the year and prep for the real season to start, and it was fun to see teams explore different lineups, run a 6-2 one game, a 5-1 with different players in other games. For me the death of youth sports is stagnation. Adapting, changing, throwing different looks and counters are the keys to out playing teams that are smart enough to game plan and watch video, and this generation is full of that and ready made information with social media as ingrained as it is. An hour or two browsing Instagram is enough to get a full scouting report on a team these days, as girls are taught to video everything, club and high school, and post it for coaches and scouts to come see. This season is shaping up to be a fun one in the DMV, glad I'll be along for the ride.

Tryouts are over. Rosters are set...for the most part. It's time for the annual pre-season tournaments and time to start getting a look at teams working out rotations, trying out freshmen, and taking a peek at how much girls developed playing in last club season. With HS aged players, that can be a huge jump year to year, so this time of year is pretty exciting for scouts. There's an air of the unknown everywhere, and surprises are always fun. There was a lot of talent here, so I wasn't going to cover them all, but here are a few of the players that stood out: