Diggers Leading the State in Week 5
Photo: Prep Dig
Andy Cole
In this article:
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<p>Below are a five athletes to watch that are in a leading in defensive stats:</p>
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<p><strong><strong>Jackie Smith </strong></strong>| 5'4" | 2024 | L/DS | St. Francis (Sacramento) High School<br>With quick feet, Jackie Smith covers a lot of ground. Her teammates have trust in her as she will suddenly get to a ball that may appear falling to the ground. Smith starts low and ready throughout the entire rally enchancing her quickness. When she contacts the ball, it stays in the middle of her body. This is impressive because it takes extra effort to get her body positioned to keep that ball in the middle. Additionally, her energy is contagious and fuels her team. </p>
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<p><strong>Camille Solovjev</strong> | 5'6" | 2024 | L/DS | Capistrano Valley Christian High School <br>Camille Solovjev reads well and communicates what she sees. She is very active moving on the court which makes for some amazing plays. Specifically, look for her to jab a one handed punch on a ball over her head. This moves extends the length of a rally and keeps fans on the edge of their seats. This activity also leads to impressive patrolling of the area she is responsible for. Solovjev steps up to make a play and also knows when to back a play up and allow a teammate to make the easier play on the ball.</p>
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<p><strong>Payton Mossbarger</strong> | 5'8" | 2024 | L | JSerra Catholic High School<br>The smooth movement towards the ball from Payton Mossbarger is refreshing to watch. The way she moves to the ball makes defense looks easy and effortless. Additionally, that creates a calm let the game come to us mentality for her and her teammates. She is active too. Before contact, her feet are moving with anticipation and preparedness. When needing to dive after the ball, Mossbarger get low with ease. She makes it fun to watch too because she dives without hesitation.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='161319' first='Devyn' last='Castaneda'] </strong>| 5"6" | 2024 | MB | Redwood High School <br>A defensive player that lets her arms react first like [player_tooltip player_id='161319' first='Devyn' last='Castaneda'] will likely be toward the top of any digging stat category. Almost willing the ball to her, Castaneda has her arms up and out early on during a rally. When a ball comes to her, she opens up to her right and is comfortable passing or digging on her right side. There are some very fast bang-bang plays from hit to dig that make it exciting to watch her. As the play develops, she makes ball hawking slow moves and then continues that with easy, simply movement of her arms to the ball. </p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='161326' first='Lindsey' last='Du']</strong> | 5'3" | 2024 | L/DS | Flintridge Sacred Heart High School <br>A explosive player, [player_tooltip player_id='161326' first='Lindsey' last='Du'], comes up with hold your breath type moments on the court. Her steps and arms to the ball are again explosive and often at the last second. If that is not enough excitment, she has really excellent shuffle steps that close in on a fast attack from an opponent. When the ball contacts her, she manages all that explosiveness with a shoulder shrug. After Du makes her play, she is not done. Specifically, she stays clear of any hitter or gets in ready to pick up a ball that may get blocked. </p>
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Below are a five athletes to watch that are in a leading in defensive stats:
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