2023 Phenoms Updates Vol 9

We are venturing back to the Dallas area to update on a few players we profiled last summer on our State Rankings List. These D-town athletes have been cooking on the court this club season. We are excited to give just a few updates on them. Without further ado, check them out: [player_tooltip player_id="87558" first="Sydney" last="Johnson"] [2023] 6-1 Middle (HS: Forney/Club: Madfrog/Verbal: Uncommitted) Sydney is currently the 66th ranked overall prospect according to the class of 2023 Prep Dig State Rankings list. We wrote an article about her last summer and here is a little bit from what we wrote, “The middle blocker from the Dallas area is extremely aggressive at the net. She has a lot of power in her upper body and has a great wrist snap in order to help that power out. She is able to run multiple tempos out of the middle and has a high ceiling to improve in those routes. She will learn a lot in the coming years from her great coaches at Madfrog and we look forward to watching her grow. She is a dominant force when it comes to overpasses near her zone due to her great size. She has some great range in her extremities and it definitely shows in her blocking abilities at the net. We can’t wait to watch her in her high school matches this season. Stay tuned for more coverage on Sydney.” This season Sydney was great at Madfrog. She has been solid both offensively and defensively. We like how much she has grown and think she has tons of potential in the middle position. Every coach knows this…you cant teach height. The good part is she has the power to go with it. We are going to enjoy watching her progress throughout the years. [player_tooltip player_id="87559" first="Mikalah" last="Burrow"] [2023] 5-4 Libero (HS: Rockwall Heath/Club: Arete/Verbal: Uncommitted) Mikalah is currently ranked as the 87th best high school prospect in the 2023 class in the State of Texas. Here is a little from the article last summer where we profiled her, “Miss Burrow is a very talented libero from the Dallas area. She is always watching the opposing side of the net while the ball is in play and this helps her be in the best position to play the ball. I like that she can use her hands to dig emergency balls and is not scared of the ball. She possesses great ability to go to the floor when necessary and shows great range to touch balls well outside of her zone. She keeps her feet moving while anticipating where the set is going which keeps her motor running. This allows her to push off and react very quickly to the attack. Mikalah is able to play both middle back and left back defensive base positions. This will keep her very well rounded in the back row. We are excited to watch her grow throughout the coming years.” She played with Arete volleyball club this past season and did well. She showed a lot of promise digging out of middle back. We like that she is able to dig out of system with her hands. Most players her age are not accustomed to digging open-handed but she does it with ease. We are excited to watch her progress and see how she learns new techniques to go along with her current skills. [player_tooltip player_id="87570" first="Hope" last="Briggs"] [2023] 6-0 Right Side/Middle (HS: Desoto/Club: Dallas Skyline/Verbal: Uncommitted) [player_tooltip player_id="87570" first="Hope" last="Briggs"] comes in ranked as the 75th ranked player in the great state of Texas according to our rankings. She plays for a great club program in the Dallas area, Dallas Skyline. She is a very long and athletic lefty right side. She is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years. She possesses a great lightning quick left arm that is able to hit with such raw power. She will move up in my rankings quick due to her ability to play both middle and on the right side. It is very difficult for someone to be able to hit multiple tempos but she makes it look very easily. She is able to absolutely unload on a ball down the line on the right, which will score very well in the junior game. She even plays great opposite side defense, which is a huge plus. I think she will be on college coach radars very soon due to her jumping and attacking abilities. She is definitely one to take note of now.” She truly stepped up for her varsity team this season compared to how she was used as a freshman. She was able to tally 86 kills on 187 attempts for a superb .294 hitting percentage as a sophomore middle/right side for Desoto. We know that this year she will be looked at to contribute even more as she has grown with age and experience after this club season. She has every chance to move up the rankings soon with what we see from her play that she has shared with us.   There are many more amazing 2023 players that we have added to the State Rankings. Stay tuned for more articles on your favorite athletes. If you have anyone you think we should watch out for, please shoot me an email with some info at nov8vb@yahoo.com. Also don’t forget to help these kids get more exposure by sharing our stories with your friends. Help us help them by simply retweeting on Twitter or sharing on Facebook. Thanks for following Texas Family!