<p>With club season winding down, school season is ramping up. Open gyms and summer leagues have started and teams are reworking their lineups after losing seniors and gaining incoming freshman. I had a chance to attend a summer league in Steubenville, Ohio where Steubenville Big Red faced off against the Wellsville Tigers.</p>
<p>Wellsville had a different look from last season where they made it one game away from a state appearance. Graduating both setters, the Tigers may struggle a bit with bringing in a new setter. They are returning last years JV setter <strong>Mackenzie Nixon</strong> (Junior) who may be an option. They tried several different players during the match and its clear that they will have some work to do before the season starts. </p>
<p>On the plus side, Tigers will return several key players from last season with OVAC Player of the Year standout <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="152041" first="Presley" last="Stokes"]</strong> (Sophmore) who led their team and the league in most areas. Along with her are incoming seniors middle hitter, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="169494" first="Alana" last="Amato"]</strong> and Libero, <strong>Aubrey Ramsey</strong> who were go to players this past season for the Tigers. </p>
<p>I look for Wellsville to have some surprise game changers this season in some of the returning underclassmen. <strong>Myleigh Jackson</strong> (sophmore) and <strong>Bella Poppelriter</strong> (sophmore) started to really come into their own last year and will be two players that I expect will step up and make an impact this season. I think with the returning play makers and the younger players stepping up, Wellsville has a great shot at making a run for states again this season.</p>
<p>When it was all said and done, the Tigers came out on top of the match. I think it simply came down to experience. However, don’t count Steubenville Big Red out, they showed potential and I am excited to see the growth from this team as the pre-season continues.</p>
