Texas Club Highlight: Austin Skyline – Vol 2 – 2022 Class

Austin is full of great athletes, great coaches, and great clubs. This article series is focusing on one of those clubs, Austin Skyline. We are getting some great information on players from their social media accounts and watching them in person. If you are a college coach or even a prospective athlete, we recommend you follow their account @atxskylinejrs as they truly utilize social media well with college exposure for their players. We are going to do a few volumes on them. This next article is to introduce you to some of their athletes. We were lucky enough to do some one on one interviews with a few of their athletes during one of their practices. We loved meeting them and we are sure that you will too. Check out a few of them from their 2022 class:   [player_tooltip player_id="87506" first="Ireland" last="McCauley"] [2022] 5-5 Libero (HS: Vandergrift/Club: Austin Skyline/Verbal: Army (West Point)) Ireland is currently ranked as the 54th best overall prospect in the state of Texas in the 2022 class. She is the 5th best libero in her class, which is littered with phenoms in this position. In our first article on Ireland we wrote this, “Ireland has some of the best reflexes I have seen in a while. They are lightning quick for any age/class. Her hand-eye coordination is second to none. Being a student of the game, I could watch her play the position solely on defense for hours. I’ve seen some attackers absolutely unload on a set and while all eyes are trying to find the ball after its hit, Ireland says, “NOPE! Not today ma’am”. She uses emergency techniques so well like she trains them consistently. I would love to see her training regimen on these skills. I can’t say enough about this kid. Her range is superb, her platform touch on the ball is amazing, and her tenacity to pursue a ball is astounding. We are happy to announce that this young lady just committed to West Virginia University and we couldn’t be more proud. She will do great things for the Mountaineer program. As of right now, she is leading her lady Viper high school team to some great wins. She has been named to a few awesome lists like the AVCA phenoms and the All-Vype 6A pre-season team. We agree with those publications and this is why we have her ranked so high on our list.” She recently changed her plans and now she will play volleyball at the Unites State Military Academy at West Point. We are extremely proud that she is choosing to serve and protect our freedoms all while getting a stellar education and playing volleyball at Army. Please congratulate her on the wonderful decision. Now we will watch as she is one of the best liberos in her district. Her senior year will be one to watch.   [player_tooltip player_id="140414" first="Madison" last="Lund"] [2022] 6-3 Right Side/Middle (HS: Dripping Springs/Club: Austin Skyline/Verbal: West Virginia) [player_tooltip player_id="140414" first="Madison" last="Lund"] is currently listed as the 63rd best overall prospect according to our Prep Dig State Rankings. We introduced her this year and here is a little of what we wrote, “She plays at Dripping Springs High School and club for Austin Skyline out of the Lone Star Region. She helped her Dripping Springs volleyball team have a 23-6 overall and 12-4 in district last season. In two years on varsity, she has been able to accumulate 382 kills on a .434 hitting percentage and 132 blocks. She is another big and versatile force at the net who is able to hit quick tempos out of the middle and high pin sets as well. She is able to use the length in her extremities to put a great seal on the net in order to slow her opponent down by forcing them to hit around her. This is able to help her team play solid defense and be extremely competitive against top competition. She is verbally committed to West Virginia and will join their program in a few years. In the meantime, we will continue to watch her progress on the court. Please congratulate Miss Lund on her achievement of being one of the top players in the state of Texas.” The future Mountaineer will be a force this coming year for Dripping Springs as they continue their dominance in the district. We were watching her practice in person and she showed why we think she has enormous potential. Coach Don has done some great work with her this past season. We will be grabbing our popcorn as she embarks on a great senior season this year. When I interviewed Madi she mentioned how she loved being challenged in the middle position. She mentioned numerous times how she loved both coach Don Flora and the entire Skyline staff. She said she chose West Virginia because she truly loved the coaching staff. They will love her leadership and what she brings to the table.   [player_tooltip player_id="140415" first="Ella" last="Wendel"] [2022] 6-0 Middle/Right Side (HS: Hendrickson/Club: Austin Skyline/ Verbal: Uncommitted) Ella is currently listed as the 97th best overall prospect in the 2022 class according to our State Rankings. We just introduced her last month and here is what we said, “She plays at Hendrickson High School and also club for the awesome Austin Skyline Volleyball club out of the Lone Star Region. She helped Hendrickson go 19-4 overall and to an undefeated 14-0 district during her junior season. In two years, she has tallied 382 kills on a .280 hitting percentage. She also had 113 blocks and added 32 aces. She has been a member of the Lone Star High Performance team and won the silver medal for them at the 2019 HP National Championships. I love the competitive spirit that Ella plays with as you can see how infectious it is on her teammates. She has tons of natural power in her strong frame and it will translate very well to the college game if given the chance. Take a look or two and you won’t be disappointed. Welcome to the Prep Dig Family! Please congratulate her on being listed amongst the best in the Lone Star State!” She plays very big above the net and is a very solid blocker. We know there are tons of colleges that would like her skill set if they give her a look or two. She is able to cut the ball just as well as anyone to either corner and with a lot of power. Her game will easily translate to the next level. Austin Skyline has done a tremendous job training this young lady and she has done a tremendous job being coachable.   These are just a few of the wonderful players. Stay tuned for the rest of the volumes of this wonderful club and their awesome staff and players.   If you feel like you have a school or club that you think we should highlight, feel free to email me at nov8vb@yahoo.com. We would love to come out to your practices/clinics and get more information on your staff/athletes to help with our coverage.