Prospect Spotlight – Izzy Denton – 2022 Libero

Every now and then we will do some special articles on those that are very deserving of an individual highlight to showcase their abilities. This week we will give special recognition to Miss [player_tooltip player_id="99527" first="Izzy" last="Denton"] from Katy High School and Katy United volleyball club. We asked for nominations from our readers a few weeks ago for players that deserve special recognition for their leadership on and off the court. We have gotten tons of readers reaching out nominating some amazing athletes for amazing reasons. We have picked some players to write about and Izzy is our first article dedicated to leadership. We are proud to introduce our readers to Miss Denton:   [player_tooltip player_id="99527" first="Izzy" last="Denton"] [2022] 5-3 Libero (HS: Katy/Club: Katy United/ Verbal: Southeastern Louisiana University) Izzy is currently ranked as our 101st best overall prospect and the 8th best libero in the state in the 2022 class according to our Prep Dig State Rankings. We have written about her a few times and here is a little refresher of what we wrote, “Izzy plays at a powerhouse volleyball school, Katy. She is constantly moving herself in serve receive prior to the contact to put herself in the best position to pass the serve. Reading the server prior to contact is a skill that not very many young players possess. It is very refreshing to watch a player do this on a consistent basis. This shows that Izzy has a very high volleyball IQ at a young age. I like the way she holds her platform out away from her body. This is going to translate very well to the college and higher level game as it will allow her to cushion the contact well. She shows a lot of promise with her defensive ability by having a strong solid base. She shows a relentless pursuit of the ball when her team is out of system. At only five foot three she covers so much ground. I love watching small players exceed expectations like this. Players like Izzy are why I love to coach. They never give up and they have a heart of a champion. We fully believe that Izzy will move up the rankings due to her great footwork and tenacious defensive ability. She helped Katy to an overall record of 19-4 and a district record of 10-2. She really stepped up her game from her sophomore season to her junior season as she was more productive and tallied 276 service receptions and 216 digs to go along with 23 assists and 20 aces. We think she will be an integral aspect of Katy’s continued dominance in the Houston Area volleyball scene this coming year as she looks to finish out her high school career. We will be watching closely.”   We weren’t wrong when we stated that she will continue to move up the rankings as we have moved her over twenty spots in the rankings by watching her closely. She makes the craziest defensive plays look easy with her speed on the court and disregard for her safety as she dives all over the place for the ball. Some players were just born to play their positions and Izzy is one of those players. There is not a spectator on either team that wouldn’t marvel at her drive to keep the ball alive for her team.   Even though we could go on and on about her physical play on the court, this article is dedicated to another aspect that has gotten noticed over the course of her four-year career at Katy HS. We have gotten a couple of nominations for this phenom that were about her leadership, heart, and mind, so we chose her for a special article to speak about it. When others speak about you without you knowing about it, it truly means a lot.   We had one nomination from a staff member at Katy HS for Izzy that stated, “She does an amazing job of encouraging her teammates and truly wants the best for them. She has a “team above self” attitude and is more worried about the success of her team than her individual success. She leads through her example and hard work. She is also a vocal leader. She is the loudest and most excited player on the court. She is always talking and pumping her teammates up.”   A different teacher from Katy HS stated a nomination for Izzy that stated, “Izzy is an amazing athlete and student. She’s persistent in all of her efforts in the classroom and on the court. I can honestly say in my last few years as a teacher, she is one in a million. She is a dedicated, strong willed young woman that does anything she sets her mind to. She just signed with Southeastern Louisiana University & I couldn’t be more proud. Would love to have her recognized for all of her efforts!!   It is safe to say that this kid is something special. We see her heart in everything that she does and are proud to highlight her for her efforts with her teammates. She is a great leader by example and we think all young players should get to know her and use her as a role model. She just recently chose to commit to play volleyball at Southeastern Louisiana University. We know that they saw something great in her like everyone else has also. We are proud of her and hope that everyone congratulates her on the achievement as a lot of hard work over the course of many years goes into it and it is not guaranteed at all. She has earned everything that comes her way and it’s all due to her heart.   We will be publishing more articles weekly to give recognition to those athletes who are playing great and deserve a highlight. Stay tuned for more articles on your favorite athletes. If you have anyone that you think deserves to be recognized as a player of the week, feel free to send me a message with their information. Or if you have anyone that you think have what it takes to be added to our database, please shoot me an email with some info at nov8vb@yahoo.com. As always, thanks for following our publication.