Maryland: IAAM Championship Game Star Players

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sunday 11/1 was the championship day for the IAAM conference in the Baltimore Area. The conference is split into three tiers and all three play back to back games for the Championship in each on one day. This year the C conference game was the Key School vs The Park School. The B title game was St. Mary's vs Gerstell after Gerstell upset favorite and defending champion Glenelg Country Day School in the Semifinals. The A title game is the one people most often tune in for, last year was dominant AACS vs defending champ Maryvale, with AACS coming out on top. This year was a rematch as Maryvale upset St. Pauls in the Semis to set up AACS V Maryvale II this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Key School pulled out the solid in in the A title game. St. Mary's pulled off a crazy come from behind win to win in 5 sets against Gerstell in the B Tier, and the big matchup was AACS v Maryvale, in which AACS won in three sets, but Maryvale made it competitive in two of them with some back and forth lead changes. Here are the players that caught attention in the big game:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["764659"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6ae8eb1783255"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">She has been a focal point of the offense at Maryvale for years, and that was no different this weekend. Constantly being fed the ball and firing shots that dropped a good bit of the time, she played the textbook offensive OH and did her job raining ball after ball down on AACS. One of the top unsigned 2027s left on the board, she's in the tweener category being a tiny bit shorter, which just means less margin of error, she doesn't make a ton of those, which makes that point moot. Pins are still in demand, and she's in the upper tier of offensive hitters, so I feel like it's just amount time to jump in and say hi if you're looking for some offense at the Pin. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["1001234"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6ae8eb1783302"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Maryvale's story is all about the Senior class that made it to the championship game all four years they were there, but Ellen is a part of the changing of the guard. She was easily one of the best players on the court all day, defensively especially. She fed a steady diet of balls to the OH to give them an offensive shot at the game, but her defense playing balls hit by superstars [player_tooltip player_id='748513' first='Scarlett' last='Netherton'] and [player_tooltip player_id='753070' first='Avery' last='Lettinga'] is what really made the first and third sets so close. Ellen is a bright spot for the future, and was a key player on the [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] 14s team that won at Nationals. She's a player you can build around, and next year it'll be her team to lead. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["547072"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6ae8eb17833ba"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">This was Victoria's last game in HS, and she made it one to remember. For her and this senior class, she went to the championship game all four years at Maryvale, winning half of them. It's hard to ask more from a HS experience, but she finished hers out as tough as one can, fighting for every point against a killer AACS lineup. She's been the heart and soul of this team for four years, and still manages to be underappreciated. Next year Maryvale is going to have some major shoes to fill, and will see just how good they had it for the past four years, while Victoria starts a new streak at Bridgewater. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["896390"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6ae8eb1783446"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Harper had a fantastic game against Maryvale in the finals, fending off quite a few hard hit balls and making dig after dig keeping rallies going when it looked like they were done. She's one of the top DS in the grade, so it's not a surprise to see her turn up in a game, but the hitters get so much attention for AACS that it's nice to remember there are some spectacular DS out there getting the passes in to start the offense. Next year, they lose senior setter [player_tooltip player_id='749757' first='Dakota' last='Pentorn'], so they may switch to a 5-1 system that holdover [player_tooltip player_id='762823' first='Brie' last='Mouton'] has run before, but keeping consistency in the passing game will be that much more important. This is a big year for Harper with her being up for June 15th this summer, so club run this year will be her advertising year and setting up who is in her inbox in June. I wish DS got more love than they do, I'm a big defensive guy, but everyone knows you aren't winning if you don't have a couple and that will put her in demand this summer. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["545725"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6ae8eb17834c4"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Abii should get more attention than she does. I know a ton of schools hunting middles right now, you just can't find enough of them, and here's a quality one right here, who is signable now, that people are dropping the ball on. There's a lot of height judgement in VB, when there is SO much more to the game it's not even funny. Plenty of girls can be 6'4 but have no agility, no IQ, no blocking skill, can't run a 3, and end up just being a big body who gets in the way. None of those are a problem for Abii, even though she may be just short of 6 foot, and she runs into territory that is a major cause of debate, when they are so agile and athletic that they develop quite an offensive game, especially laterally, should they stay at MB, or move to RS? Abii has the offensive upside she could hold her own at the pin, but she can also play the middle for you and being able to run to your middle offensively as well as your pins just gives you too many options for the other team to play. If someone is smart, they'd lock her up now before club season gets underway, as I think she's going to be a hot commodity out there when people realize there are never enough middles. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another great championship Sunday in the IAAM, and now we move on to the Maryland State Championships. This week, the regional games will be played, moving into states next week. I'll have more about these brackets soon. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>If you haven't yet, sign up for the Prep Dig Exposure Tour on December 5th. You may just see me or some of the players featured in this article. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><a href="https://events.prepdig.com/e/2496/register/exposure-tour-dmv">https://events.prepdig.com/e/2496/register/exposure-tour-dmv</a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here's a code for 25% off: ET26Strain25OFF</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->