Show Me Lives Up To It's Name - 5 Players KC Showed Me Day 1

Kansas City lived up to the hype. The BBQ was great. The competition was better. Big time teams were all over, major national prospects all over the place. Coaches were up and down the alleys. As one of the last big qualifiers and chances to get a bid to USAV, the vibe was tense and the play was even better.   In the 15s, the local club Dynasty took the Open win, beating out Madfrog in the finals. Skyline, OTVA and other local club KC Power rounded out the top 5. As far as local teams, [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] Nick finished 7th, Metro National 19th and MDJRS 25th in USA and Liberty Elite finished 40th in USA.   In 16s, powerhouse TAV with star Maya Ogbogu won, with Dynasty taking 2nd, Kairos, Metro Travel and Academy rounding out the top 5. Local wise you also had [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] Maureen finished 15th, and LVA U16 39th in open, with Metro National 33rd in USA.   In 17s Houston Juniors captured their first bid winning Open, with Northern Lights 2nd. [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] Nick scored another open bid in 3rd with VC Nebraska and OK Charge rounding out the top 5. Additional local teams Empire Volleyball Academy and Go Volley finished 45th and LVA U17 47th in open, and MDJRS 15th and Metro National 27th in USA.   Some players that stood out to me on Day 1:    Kyla is one of the highest rated middles in Iowa, but the funny thing is she didn't even stand out to me for that at first, that came later. What jumped out at me was in warm ups, while serving she had a serve that was consistently slicing down and away towards the left corner. It got me thinking, what's the next evolution in VB? What's the next evolution in serving? The float is so tough to play, it's probably the most prevalent in the game. Top spin is tough to master, but has so much sharp movement, it's nasty. This though reminded me of ping pong, where they spin the ball and it just barely catches the corner of the table. Moving away from the lib, and handcuffing any DS in that corner, it would be incredibly tough to play if it was done intentionally. I hope that she keeps working at it and masters how she was doing it, because she could literally change the game with it. And that's not to speak of her fantastic ability at middle. Strong, adjusts well in the air on offense and defense, this kid is trouble for other teams.     Zoe is a rangy Lib who does a great job anticipating the play and getting to where she needs to be. She did a solid job getting balls up and playable, making good passes, but where she really stood out to me was her serving. Liberos that can serve well are excellent weapons, and she had a very nice hard float serve that she used up the middle to really cause trouble for the other team.     Whoo. Her high ranking in the state of TN is well deserved. I don't know that I've seen another player with the pound for pound strength that Camille has. She is extremely athletic and plays very well all around the court. In the back row is where she first caught my attention, playing several very hard hit balls into great passes, she played back row better than many DS I know. Then she switched to front row, and her raw power on shots was just terrifying. She hit the ball like it made her angry and just buried balls in the court, overpowering defenders. On defense her blocking was on an elite level, that strength showed itself here with the ability to solo block some of the hardest hitting players around. She might not be 6 foot plus, but she is an outstanding all around 6 and is going to be a big performer in college.     Another stand out middle, playing for High Performance STL Orange, Sydney amazed me with her agility and speed left to right. She was an absolute problem all day because she could get side to side so fast, there was always a double on the block. Even when the ball was switched to a quick tempo ball to try to get there before her she would still make it in time. As I was telling someone how impressed I was by it, she then runs a slide from antenna to antenna and gets the kill after getting the block. On offense she was a power, with a good shot playing the quick tempo ball, and buried any overpass mistakes she found. I was amazed that she was uncommitted, and I think some coaches need to reach out and remedy that situation as soon as possible, this kid is a game changer in the middle.     A trend I saw all weekend were so called "undersized" hitters standing out. This was one of the best I saw all weekend. She may only be 5'7, but she was getting up to 10 foot range easily with her incredible vert, and not only that, but was generating so much power with her technique and arm whip that it was fascinating. She's got a slight, almost track star build, but with almost perfect mechanics and a great whip and snap, she was hitting a very heavy ball with great velocity. She was playing all around when I saw her, and the only drawback there is that late in tourneys all those reps catch up to you, and when you have so much of your downward plane tied to your vertical, getting tired and losing an inch or two can be the difference between hitting 12 foot or hitting out. She played the position exceptional, and a coach that isn't hung up on height and takes talent is going to have a major difference maker in their lineup.    Those were some of the first real game breakers I saw. I like to follow the second and third brackets at tournaments and look for those girls that could use some extra press, or are just diamonds in the rough, so I end up seeing a lot of D3 looking talent. Some of these girls would be conference player of the year type athletes. Sometimes it just comes down to where they want to play and where they view themselves as players. The never ending debate of is it better to barely make a team and be a bench player/backup or to drop down a level and be a starter and game changing contributor.

Kansas City lived up to the hype. The BBQ was great. The competition was better. Big time teams were all over, major national prospects all over the place. Coaches were up and down the alleys. As one of the last big qualifiers and chances to get a bid to USAV, the vibe was tense and the play was even better.