VISAA Awards for the week ending November 14

<p>As we rapidly approach the close of a historic season for the VISAA, the competition and performances for the <img class=" wp-image-110804 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2020/09/visaa-300x169.jpeg" alt="" width="199" height="112" />awards has never been higher. This week had over 30 athletes who were considered for our various awards and several other outstanding performance that did not have statistics done and made them ineligible for our actual awards but we will give some additional shout outs to those players and teams this week as well. Now, onto the awards:</p> <p><strong><img class=" wp-image-115952 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2020/11/champs-Grace-271x300.jpeg" alt="" width="205" height="227" />Team of the Week: </strong>Grace Christian School (Mechanicsville, VA) is our team of the week. The 2nd seeded team in the VMAC pulled off a 5 set upset of the top seeded Guardian Christian Academy Friday night to win the VMAC Championship (25-10, 25-22, 23-25, 26-25 and 16-14). Senior Outside Hitter Kyla Taylor was the tournament MVP for the Kings from Grace Christian. The team also had standout performances from Senior Setter Allie Beddard, Sophomore Setter Kelsey Boltz, 8th grade Kalei Taylor Outside Hitter and Junior Right side Hitter Emma Dayton. The Kings finish the season with a 12-9 record for the season, marking their third consecutive year of improvement. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Defender of the Week: </strong>We have co-defenders of the week with additional great performances we will also <img class="size-medium wp-image-112992 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2020/10/megan-6-293x300.png" alt="" width="293" height="300" />recognize. <em><strong>Broadwater’s Emily Nordwall</strong></em> had a strong week defensively for the Viking of the Broadwater Academy (Exmore, VA). She tallied 25 digs over two matches for the Vikings. Our other co-defender is <em><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="111467" first="Megan" last="James"]</strong></em> (pictured) from Guardian Christian continues her stellar 2020 season with a 19 kill, 24 dig effort against Grace Christian in the VMAC finals. Broadwater also had great performances from Sophomore Chloe Hall (24 digs) and Senior Hannah Davis (25 digs). Portsmouth Christian’s Senior Outside Hitter Victoria Tucker added 19 digs and 20 kills on the week for her squad. Grove Christian’s Senior Lara Santana asses 13 digs and freshman Kathryn Morgan added 18 digs for Grove in their semifinal loss to Grace Christian. Morgan also had a career high 32 assists. Both players were also named to the VMAC All Conference Team. </p> <p><strong><img class=" wp-image-114686 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2020/11/berkeley-dump-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="163" height="217" />Setter of the Week: </strong>We have co-setters of the week as well this week with multiple stellar performances. Atlantic Shores Senior Setter <strong>Kara Stainback</strong> helped the Seahawks to two match wins while running a strong offense. The 5’5 senior tallied 50 assists in the two matches, adding in 17 digs, 3 kills and 8 aces. Denbigh’s dynamic Sophomore Setter <strong>Berkeley Stenger</strong> (pictured) continued to help rebuild the Minutemen program with 67 assists and 20 digs this week. She added in 6 kills, 6 aces and led the team with 2 blocks. The minutemen continue to improve despite a losing record but are setting a great foundation for the future with experience the underclassmen are getting this season. Stonebridge’s Freshmen duo of Molly Williams and Emily Hinton also had good weeks for the perennial powerhouse with 24 and 22 assists respectively. Portsmouth Christian’s Junior Setter added 31 assist on the week. </p> <p><strong>Attacker of the Week: </strong>Staying with the week’s apparent theme, we also have Co-Attackers of the Week. Senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="111436" first="Grace" last="Bickley"]</strong> of Portsmouth Christian is our Attacker of the Week. The 5’9 Outside Hitter continues her exemplary high school career. Grace notched 26 kills last week, 5 aces and added in 24 digs on the week for the Patriots who split their matches last week. Freshman phenom <strong>Amelia Matson</strong> continues to establish herself as a dominant force in the state early in her high school career with continually outstanding performances. She had 23 kills, 9 aces and 9 digs for the reigning state champions in two wins this week. For the season, Amelia and Grace lead all Virginia Outside Hitters with a .430 hitting percentage and are both in the top 6 in kills. In other string performances, Portsmouth Christian’s Senior Outside Hitter Victoria Tucker dropped in 20 kills in two matches. Grove Christian’s Hitter Elizabeth Lloyd had a career high 14 kills in their play-off loss to Grace Christian. Guardian Christian’s [player_tooltip player_id="111467" first="Megan" last="James"] put down 19 kills in their loss to Grace Christian. Broadwater’s Emily Nordwall had 16 kills. Denbigh Baptist Freshman Payten Gary added 12 kills on the week. </p> <p><strong><img class="size-medium wp-image-115071 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2020/11/hope-parrish-denbigh-1-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" />Player of the Week: </strong>We also have co-Player of the Week as well to round out this week’s awards. Denbigh Baptist’s Sophomore standout <strong>Hope Parrish</strong> (pictured) had another outstanding week. The 5’8 Outside Hitter set the standard for the week with a state leading 53 kills and 31 digs on the week, adding 5 aces for the Minutemen. <strong>Kayleigh Lance</strong>, the senior Outside Hitter from Atlantic Shores, had a great week as well for the Seahawks. Kayleigh killed 34 balls last week, added 13 aces and dug 25 balls. She had a rare Triple-Double in the match against Denbigh Baptist (17 kills, 10 aces and 11 digs).</p>