Under the Radar Stars From DMV Stock Up Showcase

This is a tough time of year for Volleyball around the country. There's no real one governing body, so even though Nationals has JUST finished in the past couple weeks, some people are out there in the deep of tryouts before HS season. Some people are out there on the college camp trail working on their recruiting game. Some players are recovering and working on camps getting ready for HS tryouts which should start in the next month. No matter what group you are in, Volleyball is still going on, just different shades and depths depending on where you're at. Here in the DMV, we are in the CHRVA region which does tryouts at the end of HS Season...usually overlapping with State Playoffs and forcing some kids to miss the one tryout day they get in order to play for a State Title. How about that CHRVA, can we clean that up a little bit? Side rant aside, girls here are attending a TON of college camps right now, as well as attending the PrepDig Showcases we have before HS every year.   We had some good turn out, the girls who were there got a chance to stand out and get some recognition with those girls out at some of the bigger college camps this weekend (this past weekend and next always seem to be the ones with the most college camps, probably having to do with timing of teams coming back to campus and starting their own workouts). For me, I love this kinda thing, because I really like getting to find the unseen talent and getting them some press and this year was no different (with a handful of girls I already knew, but were fantastic as well). Here's what I saw this year.    Gianna is far from under the radar, she's one of my normal follows through the year and part of that fantastic AACS team that won their title last year, but sometimes we talk about a player making a jump developmentally, and I think it deserves being put on record that she in fact has done that. She got our MVP award for the Stock Up Showcase, which is very rarely doled out to DS, but she was everywhere, and multiple coaches commented on how different she looked from last year to this year. Confidence and just growing will account for a lot of that, but she was playing fantastic all day, showed good range on her feet, getting her platform sturdy and placing dimes. She also showed that little extra range you want to see from a Lib stretching to make dives and digs to keep the play going. She's in a position sharing a TOUGH back court on her club team with a killer 2030 Lib, and sharing her school back court with another great 2029 Lib, but being the featured DS will get you the same time and play in most cases, so she won't have trouble being seen. I've mentioned it a few times that I think with the Lib changes this year, the new meta is going to include playing two Setter/DS combos in the backcourt who are interchangeable on the first and second ball, and I've heard rumors that she's been working on some setting as well, which would make her well prepared if my theory takes off.     I've been talking about Hannah for a while now, I've been keeping my eye on her for a while, her sister played in the area when she was younger, there's a major opportunity at her position at her school, and she's on a good club team that's been improving and playing together for a while. It's a good formula for a player to grow and develop, and she really has. She's grown a couple inches over the past year or two, and is officially out of tweener range, and has been playing all three spots on the front line, as well as taking over as the all around six when her teammate went down with injury. Her passing was surprisingly good after developing this year, she was getting up enough to get a good angle down on the ball, and did a good job getting balls in play both cross and line. I saw her hit a couple different tempo balls and she adjusted well on each, which is usually the stumbling point for developing pins. Adding all the components needed, it seems like all around 6 is going to be her role for the future, and next up she should have a big role for Severna Park HS this season.     Sara is one of those players that I love to find at tournaments or showcases. She's from WV, which doesn't have a huge rep in this area, but it's got some players here and there if you've played some of their teams. Go Volley is one of the clubs I've seen a good bit from there, and Sara is a "tweener" sized OH for them. If you're just tuning in, I refer to the tweeners as the pins and middles that are under 5'10 and in order to get the height they need to get the ball down at a good angle they need a combination of height and vertical, where some of the taller players don't need as much, but the shorter do. They can both be successful, but at the end of the day Geometry is important and there's a minimum point where you need to reach to clear the net and keep it in bounds. Sara had this covered, she showed enough vertical to get the ball down, and did it with power. She had a pretty good percentage over the course of the day getting balls down in play, including having to adjust to different balls and different setters all day. In these things sometimes you'll see flashes from a player and that's basically what you are scouting based on, but consistency is something you really want to see to know that it's legit, and she showed good consistency all day in an environment that is anything but consistent. I was impressed.     Makena is a player I've known for a few years, being a parent in the area, I've had exposure to some of these girls back in the camp days for different schools and clubs, and it's kind of a small world in the volleyball universe. She's a great DS that I don't think gets the credit she deserves. She's ranked, but she's one of those players that is better than her rankings will tell you. She's a very solid DS, good range, good passing and I think has been just out of the spotlight a little bit on the teams she's been on. HS season is going to change that, she's moving this year to a new school and will be playing with stellar hitters [player_tooltip player_id='748487' first='Sierra' last='Thomas'] and [player_tooltip player_id='956365' first='Ella' last='Jones'] this season, they will make some noise. This team is on my list to dig into more before the season starts, it may make a surprising amount of noise and Makena will be a part of that and give her some of the attention she's deserved for a while already.     Sophia caught quite a few eyes at this showcase, yet ANOTHER DS that played fantastic over the course of the day. Complete honesty, she was in the very small mix for MVP for the day, she drew that kind of attention and rep over the course of the day, including one coach saying that she made one of the best ups she's ever seen from a Lib. She's another of those players with a motor that just doesn't stop, she's got another gear when she needs it, but she also does the basic stuff well. Good reading the play and ball, being in the right spots, solid platform and passing. Generally when I see DS they are either this model, or the all over the place, fast cover insane amount of ground types, but rarely you'll find the girl that is a mix of the two, those are the ones that usually end up at the top of rankings list and going to large schools. Sophia is in that class for me, and I'll be interested to see how her next year goes development wise.     People that know me well know that I've got a soft spot for Loudon Elite. It's one of the clubs that's run so well, has great coaching, and every one of their teams just fights and makes every game tough. I love these kids, and Adelena is just the next in line for me. She was in a group with some high profile and very good setters, and still stood out to me ahead of everyone else. She checked all the boxes I was looking for in a setter, great footwork, the jump set looked good, the hands were smooth, which is the biggest box for me to check, sets were accurate, and she performed well on every court, with every passer, and every hitter she was mixed with. When I saw a hitter standing out, most often she was their setter. When I saw a good soft touch set made that caught my eye, it was her. I think she's going to make large jumps up the list of setters for the year and is going to be a top one to watch the next three years.

This is a tough time of year for Volleyball around the country. There's no real one governing body, so even though Nationals has JUST finished in the past couple weeks, some people are out there in the deep of tryouts before HS season. Some people are out there on the college camp trail working on their recruiting game. Some players are recovering and working on camps getting ready for HS tryouts which should start in the next month. No matter what group you are in, Volleyball is still going on, just different shades and depths depending on where you're at. Here in the DMV, we are in the CHRVA region which does tryouts at the end of HS Season...usually overlapping with State Playoffs and forcing some kids to miss the one tryout day they get in order to play for a State Title. How about that CHRVA, can we clean that up a little bit? Side rant aside, girls here are attending a TON of college camps right now, as well as attending the PrepDig Showcases we have before HS every year.