High School Spotlight: Cypress Woods Wildcats

<p>The high school volleyball season is underway in Texas and talented young players have been showcasing their skills in every corner of the Lone Star state.</p> <p>One of our missions at Prep Dig is to highlight as many teams and prospects as possible around the state, from State Championship contenders and household names to underdogs and special talents who might be flying under-the-radar.</p> <p>We spend a lot of time at the gyms gathering information and watching matches and will use this space to highlight some of the teams and players we got to watch in person. Our topic today is the Cypress Woods Wildcats.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Cypress Woods Wildcats</strong></p> <p>One of a handful of intriguing high school volleyball teams from the Cypress area, the CyWoods Wildcats 6A Class, Region III – District 16. The talented group of players led by head coach Ashley Caballero is up to a good start to their season, having won 25 of the 31 matches they played at so far, including their opening district game.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">C-DUUUUUB!! YOU KNOWWW! Way to show off that <a href="https://x.com/hashtag/212Spirit?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#212Spirit</a> all of Tournament season—let’s keep bringing the heat for district play🏐🐾🔥 <a href="https://t.co/l43kHxYFmC">pic.x.com/l43kHxYFmC</a></p> — CyWoods Volleyball (@CyWoodsVB) <a href="https://x.com/CyWoodsVB/status/1435595577358700548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <p><script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Players to Watch:</strong></p> <p><strong>D’nari Mills – Outside Hitter – Club: Texas Legacy – 2022</strong></p> <p>D’nari Mills is really a force of nature with her physical, powerful game. The Wildcats’ outside hitter is not extremely tall at 5’8”, but can high as jump as anyone and has a cannon of a right arm. Mills also has impressive body control when she’s up in the air, which allows her to change plans and adjust accordingly after she reads the opposing block and defense. She has a really tough jump top spin serve, which is not typically seen at this level, and is working on getting more consistent with it. CyWood’s leading scorer this season with 353 kills, Mills has committed to play for the Southeastern Oklahoma State University.</p> <p><iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/11357301/613f7039d4690a02345f3f64" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="99525" first="Jackie" last="Velzis"] – Opposite – Club: TAV Houston - 2022</strong></p> <p>A long, athletic and still very technical hitter, [player_tooltip player_id="99525" first="Jackie" last="Velzis"] has all the traits of a high-performing opposite. She has a lot of firepower and physicality on her 6’1” frame, but mixes it up extremely well with finesse plays. Extremely calm and focused, she’s also really effective on the backcourt, where she digs and passes at a high level. Another interesting thing about her is that she communicates with her coach the entire time, showing a strong desire to learn. Velzis has already produced 251 kills and 33 blocks for the Wildcats this season and has committed her future to the University of Texas at Tyler.</p> <p><iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/13013079/613f7038041d6b0b64f60344" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Elaine Gregersen – Libero - 2022</strong></p> <p>Elaine Gregersen plays an important role in keeping thing under control in CyWoods’ backcourt. The 5’5” libero has tremendous ball control and uses it to frustrate opposing hitters time and time again. Extremely communicative, she also leads the team’s passing efforts and frees up the team’s hitters at the net. An All-District team member last season, Gregersen is a solid server too and has already registered 358 passes, 290 digs and 36 passes so far this season.</p> <p><iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/15100878/612ea91023479b082ca6da88" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>