USA Jr Nationals Pre-Tourney Showcase Players to Watch Vol 14

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We are a month away from the culmination of the club season…USA Jr Nationals, which will be held in Chicago at the end of June and early July.&nbsp; Prep Dig has once again renewed our partnership with USA Volleyball to run the Pre-Tournament Showcase the day before the tourney starts.&nbsp; It will be held at the McCormick Place Convention Center where the tourney is being held.&nbsp; We are going to be previewing some of the players who have signed up to participate.&nbsp; The one aspect that sets our showcases apart from every other one in the country is how we offer coverage, before, during, and after it is completed.&nbsp; Without further ado, here are a few players who you should be watching at the showcase.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lauren Gonzales [2025] 5-11 Outside (HS: Golden Valley/Club: Rage/Verbal: Uncommitted)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lauren is currently an unranked prospect in the 2025 Class according to our Prep Dig California State Rankings, but she is on my watch list after doing my research on her.&nbsp; She plays volleyball at Golden Valley High School and also plays club for Rage. Miss Gonzales is a superb pin attacker who has power for days.&nbsp; She unleashes that power at will from the left side.&nbsp; I love how she uses every ounce of her body in each attack.&nbsp; You can see this as she crunches her abs right at the point of contact and this adds so much more power to it.&nbsp; Her gifted right arm is locked and loaded and we cannot wait to see it in action at the showcase.&nbsp; As an attacker, her arms are very long and this helps her contact the ball very high at the peak of her jump.&nbsp; Any blocker would have to time it perfectly if they were to try to stop her.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Defensively she plays out of the middle back position and covers so much ground with her long frame.&nbsp; This also adds a lot of offense to her squad as she is ready to swing from the back row.&nbsp; She has the potential to turn heads and I will be watching very closely to see if she can crack the State Rankings list.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='260992' first='Bella' last='Widmer']&nbsp;[2026] 5-6 Libero (HS: Benton Central/Club: The Academy Boiler Juniors/Verbal: Uncommitted)&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"align":"right","id":263650,"width":134,"height":89,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/12/39-Bella-Widmer.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-263650" width="134" height="89" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bella is currently ranked as the 98^th best overall prospect in the 2026 Class according to our Prep Dig Indiana State Rankings. &nbsp;She plays volleyball at Benton Central High School and club for The Academy Boiler Juniors volleyball program. &nbsp;This young lady has a stifling jump float serve that is pinpoint accurate and keeps the opposing receivers guessing as it travels to them.&nbsp; If it doesn't score an ace, it for sure gets them out of system so they can't run any high-powered offense.&nbsp; She is one of the back row weapons her squad uses to stay in the rally with any open level team they play.&nbsp; Primarily playing out of the right back zone this season, she gives her team a shot of adrenaline the moment she steps on the floor.&nbsp; Very little falls anywhere near her zone while she is on the court as she always has her eyes on the prize and reacts very well to deflections.&nbsp; Her ability to react so well and pick up deflections is due to how she keeps her weight on the balls of her feet.&nbsp;&nbsp; We are excited to watch her in action against some top notch competition.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Parker Sutherland&nbsp;[2026] 6-2 Middle (HS: Hedgesville/Verbal: Uncommitted)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parker is currently an unranked prospect in the 2026 class according to our Prep Dig State Rankings.&nbsp; She plays volleyball at Hedgesville High School.&nbsp; We are super excited to see this young lady in action as we think she can show really well during the showcase.&nbsp; Her sheer size and experience at the varsity level as a freshman will make her one of the top players to watch.&nbsp; While every coach in the world knows that you cannot teach height, it is something that everyone covets in a young middle.&nbsp; Miss Sutherland has been able to use her strong frame against older competition all year long as she has started as a freshman on varsity.&nbsp; Not only has she started, but she has been extremely productive being one of the leaders in kills and blocks on her high school varsity team.&nbsp; This year she had 153 kills out of the middle on a .190 hitting percentage.&nbsp; I will be keeping my eyes on her closely at the showcase and think you should also.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Stay tuned for more articles on your favorite athletes that will be attending the showcase.&nbsp; If you have anyone you think we should watch out for, please shoot me an email with some info at <a href="mailto:Michael@prepdig.com">Michael@prepdig.com</a>.&nbsp; Also don't forget to help these kids get more exposure by sharing our stories with your friends.&nbsp; Help us help them by simply retweeting on Twitter or sharing on Facebook.&nbsp; Thanks for following Prep Dig Family!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->