Players On The Breakout Trail From Volley By The James

I didn't get to make it to Richmond this weekend, grown up life and scheduling getting in the way, but I did watch a lot of it on BallerTv. Surprisingly, I think I may have watched more than I do in person because I had a good chunk of players I wanted to keep tabs on early in the season. Because of that I was on a couple players that look to be having breakout seasons...of course it's a little early for all that, but they stood out in a big way, and it's performances like these after a couple months you say, oh, yeah they've been amazing all year. So here are some players to keep on your radar that I'm watching myself.    It's weird to talk about '27s having breakouts, but you do see it quite a bit actually. The most important recruiting year, they've had some growth, they've settled in on positions and worked on fine tuning their game...and then BAM. They are everywhere. Some people call them late risers, I like to call it, someone finally started paying attention.   Lacey was an absolute monster this weekend. Her Loudon Elite team made some real noise in 17 Open. They've got some good coaching over there in Loudon, I saw them up close and personal 4 or 5 times last season alone, they were always scrappy and a threat. This season it's like Lacey has something to show you. She had HUGE hits all weekend, down line, cross, muscled THROUGH blocks, there wasn't much teams could do to stop her. She's what I call a tweener when I talk about pins. She doesn't have the natural height to just easily bang the ball down at the 10 foot line, but couple that 5'7-5'10 range with some athleticism and good vertical, and you'll get some magic. I've seen a few girls her height touching 10 foot with good vert, and whatever her stats are in that area, they are enough to make her a weapon.   I'll have my eyes on her all season, she's officially become a player you have to game plan for.     It's early in the season for this, I was sitting on this secret for a while, but I guess people are going to start noticing now that they are playing. She's new to the area, which is why she's not all over the radar, and Maryland Juniors landed a steal. She's been a middle, has the height to be one of the very athletic ones at that, and has slid out to the right side this year for Juniors and has been using some of that touches over 10 foot athleticism to be a real problem for teams.   She was very consistent all weekend and was putting away cross shots regularly. Most setters are not equipped to handle her shots. As the season progresses, you're going to see her more and more involved, as this team has a very talented duo at RS and two setters that can both get them the ball. I'm just leaving this here for now so at the end of the season I can say, hey, remember who saw her first.     It's hard to call anything a breakout on that [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] Nick team. They are a team looking to challenge the Metro 17T team for top dog in the DMV, and they may have the pieces to do it.   Izzy is in a tight spot with two extremely talented, D1 committed middles playing ahead of her, but it should speak volumes that she was getting playing time this early in the season. In the two games I got to watch, she was getting significant time, and playing well. She's strong and uses her tall frame to get up on the block consistently. I saw a couple solo blocks of hers, and a couple quick sets that resulted in swiping points to the sides.   She's aiming to make it a trio of D1 committed middles on this team, which is a point of wealth most teams would die for. She's got the ability, it's just about getting the time to show it for her. Some of these larger tournaments are going to give her that platform. When coming to a new team there's always that concern about how someone is going to fit in, but she's a lovely kid, and she seems to be fitting in well with her new teammates.     The player that has been getting most of the attention on this team lately is [player_tooltip player_id='768375' first='Alexis' last='VerMeer'], don't get me wrong, she deserves it, but when I first saw this group it was last year when they were all playing up at NEQ, and Blake stood out to me as a future star.   We don't get to see enough of the Old Dominion region up near us, but this Richmond team got on my radar in a big way. In warm ups it was clear these girls were different, and through the match you could see they had "it" and could slug it out with some of the most talented in the Chesapeake Region.   Blake is a legit pin in her own right, she's at the top of that "tweener" height, but it doesn't show in her game, she's got plenty of vertical to block and hit, and she can hit line or cross with equal precision. She's a weapon teams need to pay attention to, and the other teams in 16 Open learned that the hard way.     Another one of my favorites I've always got an eye on, Sophia is playing up on [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] 18s this season. She's a hard worker, and has a ton of talent. I've talked with a few college coaches about her already this season, she's definitely getting attention. She's been helping [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] make some noise at 18s already this year and not just with her cannon-like shot.   She's also a great kid, seems to get along with everyone whenever I see her play and is a good teammate. I'm looking forward to seeing which school scoops her up, because it's becoming a race at this point, and someone is going to gain a force of nature that other teams will be kicking themselves for for 4 years.    These types of posts are fun for me, it's a little insight into what I'm watching when I go out to tournaments. Half the game is to discover and find some new nuggets that may be getting overlooked, the rest of it is keeping up on your picks and watching them grow up like a proud coach.   There are more that I'm constantly checking in on. The girls I meet at the PrepDig showcases I tend to keep an eye out for, or the girls that email for help with recruiting strategy or to watch their video and offer advice. I can't write about them all, but I do keep tabs on them, pretty easy when you can just swap windows vs walking 3/4 of a mile across a crowded ballroom.

I didn't get to make it to Richmond this weekend, grown up life and scheduling getting in the way, but I did watch a lot of it on BallerTv. Surprisingly, I think I may have watched more than I do in person because I had a good chunk of players I wanted to keep tabs on early in the season. Because of that I was on a couple players that look to be having breakout seasons...of course it's a little early for all that, but they stood out in a big way, and it's performances like these after a couple months you say, oh, yeah they've been amazing all year. So here are some players to keep on your radar that I'm watching myself.