Capitol Hill Classic 20th: My Favorite 18s

It was a tough year for me to get to see 18s; they were in the opposite wave the first two days, so I caught a bit of the tail end both days, and then on day 3, I got to see a little bit of the big action. Fourteens were the same for me this year; the way these schedules work, you can't be everywhere. I'm not jealous of college coaches who have a list of players to see all over the place at times you can never count on, and are constantly running from court to court. That being said, here are some of my favorite 18s from last weekend.    I had already planned on seeing their team at some point, but got a reminder when I saw Kennedy at a game I was watching, catching up and cheering on one of her HS teammates. That's always a good sign for me, seeing girls that care about other players and show up to support them. Kennedy has been sharing the lib job on Metro 18s, where they have 3 quality lib candidates. Kennedy showed good speed in the game I caught her, left to right is incredibly quick, and she did a good job getting a couple big hits back up and playable. There's an art form to playing big blasts, just getting them in the air is tough enough, but doing it and keeping the pass close enough that the setter can make something of it is a higher level, Kennedy had this nailed and won best digger for 18s from the event. For all you coaches shopping for some last minute difference makers, somehow she's still on the market, but act quick, word is out and she won't last long.    There was a host of players to write about from this team, keeping with my trend from the other posts I wanted to keep it to one from each, but it should be mentioned that there were 4 award winners on this team with Gabby Vizek winning MVP, [player_tooltip player_id='238357' first='Claire' last='Mo'] winning best setter, and [player_tooltip player_id='238358' first='Evie' last='Huang'] winning best server as well.    Bailey had a great year in HS, leading Arundel on a good run that came up just a bit short in the playoffs, she's carrying that over into club season for [program_tooltip program_id='484770' first='VA' last='Juniors'] 18s, back playing her natural Lib position, she was all over the place. While she may have missed out on the individual awards, and it would have been close for me, she helped lead Juniors to a 2nd place finish behind Metro with the usual leadership, and solid defense I've come to expect from her.     Imagine will never NOT be one of my favorites, I love watching her play. She is in the same mold as [player_tooltip player_id='746506' first='Carolyn' last='Maria'] for me, the tall, athletic setter with the fantastic work ethic. It's almost unfair to have hands that good with agility and height, but she seems to cope with it. There are a lot of talented players on this CVA team, it will be one that I keep my eye on as the season progresses, they have the players to take a win any given tournament.     I caught Miller last year playing on a star studded team with [player_tooltip player_id='464573' first='Blake' last='Crawford'] and [player_tooltip player_id='768375' first='Alexis' last='VerMeer'] and was bowled over. She's very athletic for a 6 foot plus player, she's got a strong physical block, and she can put the ball down on offense in both quick tempo and on slower plays. Being down in that lower area of VA, there are some players that don't get as much love as they deserve, but Richmond is always on my radar now because of players like her.     Aniah had a big weekend at the classic. She was putting down big shots all weekend. I know I said I wasn't going to write about more than one player per team, but with [program_tooltip program_id='484770' first='VA' last='Juniors'] finishing 2nd and Aniah winning best attacker I figured maybe I'd cheat on my rule this one time. She was up against some big blockers and other college commits (Aniah is committed to NC Central University) and she really stood out the couple times I caught some of her games.    There's still some unsigned talent hanging around in the 2026 group. While most schools are done with these classes, I spent some time talking with a couple Junior College coaches this weekend, and an option for players remaining that is becoming more and more viable is taking a year to play in Junior (Community) college and then transfer. Many transfers on this path go straight to D1, as coaches are far more likely to take a flier on a girl that's showed higher competition and grades already over a more unknown HS product. Hopefully some of those players that have so much potential will consider this among other paths and find a way to get there, college would be a much better place with them playing.

It was a tough year for me to get to see 18s; they were in the opposite wave the first two days, so I caught a bit of the tail end both days, and then on day 3, I got to see a little bit of the big action. Fourteens were the same for me this year; the way these schedules work, you can't be everywhere. I'm not jealous of college coaches who have a list of players to see all over the place at times you can never count on, and are constantly running from court to court. That being said, here are some of my favorite 18s from last weekend.