Cross Court Classic – 15 & 16 Open – The Exceptional Setters

<p>Some of the best club volleyball teams in the state of Texas were elsewhere this past weekend, with several of them earning bids to the Nationals at either the Salt Lake City Showdown or the Northeast Qualifier in Philadelphia.</p> <p>The Lone Star State, however, has hosted an important tournament too with the George Brown Convention Center in Houston staging the 2022 Nike Cross Court Classic, a mammoth of an event with 645 teams, 88 courts and 19 divisions.</p> <p>We were there on Saturday and focused our efforts on the 15 Open and 16 Open divisions, paying close attention to the 20 teams that competed across them. As usual, we’ll be featuring the most impressive prospects in their positions across the week, starting now with the setters.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Leah Hoss – Katy United 16 Adidas – HS: Katy Taylor – 2024</strong></p> <p>Leah Hoss stood out by checking a lot of boxes in what one would want on a setter. She has good size to play the position at 5’8” and, most importantly, is very clean on her touch on the ball. Hoss ran a good offensive system with Katy United 16 Adidas and was very smart with her ball distribution. She’s also a very good defensive player and can be dangerous with her crafty setter dumps. Hoss is also a talented beach volleyball player from the Katy area and because of that has an excellent all-around game.</p> <p><iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/15006297/60ea79e332e7430d1472f547" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Mikayla Gray – Roots 15 UA Green – HS: Early College – 2025</strong></p> <p>Mikayla Gray has tremendous potential as a setter who can also hit when at the net. A lefty, she stands at 5’8” and will continue to grow as her high school and club careers move forward. Gray is really skilled on the ball, runs a fast-paced offense with her Roots 15 UA Green team and is not afraid of taking risks. She’s also a very good server and can play great defense. When at the net, Gray can not only hit but also pass, offering some nice flexibility to her coaches.</p> <p><a href="https://www.ncsasports.org/womens-volleyball-recruiting/texas/laredo/early-college-high-school2/mikayla-gray2">Highlights</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Morgan Korinek – Texstar 16 – HS: St. Joseph – 2024</strong></p> <p>When evaluating setters of this age, we’re typically looking at the trifecta of technique, location and ball distribution. It’s different with Morgan Korinek as, besides passing the eye test on each of these three areas, she also stands out in a couple more points. The easiest to see is size as she stands at 5’11”, but perhaps the most interesting is her ability to elude opposing blockers. Korinek is very elusive with her sets and is a real nightmare for middle blockers across the net. On several occasions, she’d leave her formidable Texstar 16 pin hitters with a single blocker in front of them, significantly increasing their chances of scoring.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="179895" first="Bailey" last="Smith"] – Houston Stellar 15 Elite – HS: Friendswood – 2025</strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="179895" first="Bailey" last="Smith"] showed great potential with her Houston Stellar 15 Elite teammates. Her size might hurt her a bit at 5’5” but when it comes to ball-handling skills and ball distribution, she was as good as any other setter in the tournament. Smith is very fast on the court and does a great job in getting in position to set. She plays fast, keeps all her hitters involved, is a very good server and can score on setter dumps too. On top of all that, she also seems to be an excellent teammate, always communicating and encouraging the other players on the team.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Madeline Stuesser – Roots 16 UA Green – HS: Anderson – 2024</strong></p> <p>Madeline Stuesser’s impressive skillset starts with her excellent size and net presence at 5’10”. She does a very good job with the ball at her hands, running a somewhat simple offensive system, but distributing the ball intelligently and efficiently. Stuesser is also well above average when it comes to tracking bad passes and turning them into hittable sets. Because of her size, she can also play as a right side when at the net. Stuesser produced 486 assists and 164 digs in the last high school season with Anderson.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="124137" first="Laney" last="Blake"] – SA Magic 16 Elite – HS: O’Connor - 2024</strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="124137" first="Laney" last="Blake"] is one of those setters who are challenged the most as she’s part of a team with not many tall hitters. With the challenge, comes opportunity and Blake took hers, displaying a very intelligent and efficient game that kept her SA Magic 16 Elite team in the game on some occasions. The 5’5" setter was instrumental with her ability to work with less-than-ideal passes and set against the flow of play and give her hitters a chance. Blake is also a very good defender and occasionally took the responsibility of scoring points to herself, using her setter dumps to do so.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CMyDj5oDmCW/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CMyDj5oDmCW/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Blake girls (@blake2andblake3)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p><script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p>