Five Players Who May Have Previewed A Breakout Season

Early in the season, just with overlap and multiple events, there are a few tournaments I'd love to get to that I can't. Richmond. Minnesota. It usually takes me until February to really get into the swing of club season. Multiple kids. Multiple sports. Only so many drivers. This year is similar. To get to some of the bigger tournaments later in the year, I had to give up some of the early ones, but that meant that making it out to Maryland Juniors for the first one was that much more important.   I usually don't worry about this first month too much, because it's filled with adaptations, getting used to new teams, combinations, and lineups. Club rarely looks the same in March as it does in January. So writing too much right now is kind of pointless since it'll be outdated in 30 days or so as teams figure out what works and doesn't, and the new teams with all the movement figure out more of the rotations. You could see this everywhere at Juniors, since a bunch of the new Metro National teams were there. Teams with a lot of movement were there such as Metro 18T, [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] 18s, MDJRS 17s. There was a lot of new in the building on most all of the courts. As Bob already got a little bit out on, it's no shock that the established Metro T teams did some damage. That's expected from some of those teams; they are just so good. Metro 17s finished 2nd last year, and then added Superstar [player_tooltip player_id='265167' first='Laila' last='Chadwick']. That's just silly. It's almost to the point that the only thing that's going to stop some of these top teams are Team USA selections, early college admissions, or injuries.   Among the newness around the facility for the day, I didn't judge too harshly. Most of these teams are still getting to know each other. This was a good tournament to get some reps, get one of your required CHRVA tournaments in to qualify for Regionals, and to work out some lineup questions, maybe see if there are some problems you hadn't seen in practice yet. I won't cover a lot of the players you know already, you know they are good, but I just took some notes on standout individual play more than team play, since it's just too early to get all judgey on that, but here are a coupleof players I noticed having great days or moments:    Here's a player that needs to move up the rankings in a bad way. Natalie was one of the players that stood out to me the most all day. I spent a lot of time in the 17s bracket for the day, and [program_tooltip program_id='494409' first='Blue' last='Ridge'] happened to draw Metro Travel 17 in theirs, so I watched some while I was in the area. First thing I notice is this quick, scrappy DS show good speed and positioning. She looked like she was prowling the court, before the serve or the attack she was reading the court and putting herself right where the ball was going to be. That kind of skill is next level and really needed at the college level where coaches will tell you there are looking for proactive, not reactive defense. Then I watched her get a ball up from [player_tooltip player_id='437441' first='Hunter' last='Ross'], the incoming UCLA recruit, who if you haven't seen her before, yikes, she's a monster, and Natalie got a hard shot from her up like she does this every day. This is a kid I want to know more about, I may have to catch up with her and chat soon, being a 2026. The kid has the tools to be a star.     Noya is kind of an undersized middle these days, as the average height just seems to keep climbing, but she's got good hops which lets her play out of the middle pretty well, although from what I saw this weekend, she may be able to handle a more athletic RS position as well. She brings great blocking to the table, and was trouble for everyone in multiple games I saw her, but in the big one I watched of hers, she was an offensive nightmare as well. She's playing for the new Metro National team at 17, and when looking at the Roster, [player_tooltip player_id='438098' first='Kennedy' last='Williams'] is the hitter that stands out that you are watching for, but Noya all day was getting big kills and blocks everywhere you looked. This extra National level team looks like it can be a great platform for girls exactly like this, who may have not been able to crack the very top teams rosters and giving them a chance to shine.     One of the new additions for 18T, Kadey looked great in the game I got to see her play. Not afraid to take on hits from major challenges, she was getting balls in the air for her talented teammates to deliver, and contributing her consistent, speedy defense across the court. They added quite a few talented players in this back court, so there may be differences in who gets the Lib jersey from game to game, they are deep enough they could rotate at the spot, but Kadey belongs in that mix, even though she's playing up to do it.     Dylann moved up into the 18 group since she is a senior this year, and she's already committed, and she was right back at her usual big play self when I saw her. Big blocks defensively, and a few quick smashing points on offense. The most you can hope for out of a middle, and she had her hands full a couple times during the day with some other athletic middles. Dylann is on the move to college next year to play D1, and I know many of us will be following along in her success.     Eva is a fantastic young setter who I don't know that she gets enough love. Stuck behind [player_tooltip player_id='529251' first='Jessica' last='Li'] for HS, I was looking for her to make a large name for herself with club season. Coming to Metro this year will set her up for some attention. She had some flashes this weekend of the star she will be, and despite getting used to a new unit of girls and hitters mostly, showed some of those great traits during the day. Although new club, there were some timing issues, people need to remember what time it is, and expect there to be a learning curve. All new crew of hitters, have to feel out who needs the ball where, and you could see a little bit of that, the timing just never seemed to consistently hit. Eva though still showed her skills and why she's one of the area's top prospects.

Early in the season, just with overlap and multiple events, there are a few tournaments I'd love to get to that I can't. Richmond. Minnesota. It usually takes me until February to really get into the swing of club season. Multiple kids. Multiple sports. Only so many drivers. This year is similar. To get to some of the bigger tournaments later in the year, I had to give up some of the early ones, but that meant that making it out to Maryland Juniors for the first one was that much more important.