Greater Kansas City Suburban Conference Red Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We will round out the month highlighting the Kansas City, Missouri area with the Suburban Conference previews. As shared the other day, the conference consists of four divisions by school size. Today we take a look at the six school Red Division. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Liberty</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On paper, Liberty may be the clubhouse leader to win the division this year. They are coming off a 20-9 season and have just enough pieces to separate themselves from the others. The big piece they return is USC commit and perennial USA Volleyball participant [player_tooltip player_id='153930' first='Abigail' last='Mullen']. She is not the lone returnee on the pins with senior [player_tooltip player_id='219760' first='Megan' last='Bishton'] back to score points. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='261289' first='Ella' last='Anderson'] was among the city leaders in digs last year with 470 and looks to build on a strong sophomore season. Senior [player_tooltip player_id='223105' first='Addison' last='Baker'] is back to run the offense after dishing 919 assists. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>North Kansas City</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Hornets as a whole was a relatively young team in 2023 relying on a trio of freshmen and a couple of seniors. You could see the improvement over the season as they finished 11-15. Those freshmen are now sophomores and will look to have a stronger season this fall. [player_tooltip player_id='485573' first='Camryn' last='Minatee'] is an explosive pin who has tremendous bounce on the outside. She is a tad undersized but does a good job of tooling the blocking and attacking high hands. [player_tooltip player_id='485610' first='Riley' last='Martin'] provides another weapon on the outside after 167 kills in year one. [player_tooltip player_id='485639' first='Nora' last='Ottis'] was the top defender last season. The setting duties will be the primary question mark for North Kansas City after graduating their setter. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Oak Park</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Oak Park went 4-18-1 in 2023. They had difficulty scoring points with only two players tallying over 100 kills. The good news is the kills leader returns in junior [player_tooltip player_id='357574' first='Mahleah' last='Lambright']. She will be relied on to improve on her 144 kills from a year ago. Alia Martinez collected 163 digs in her sophomore season and will lead the back-row defense. Oak Park will look for other players to be key in ball control and passing to get the offense flowing. A new setter will be taking the second contact in 2024. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Park Hill </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Trojans were a young but semi-experienced team last year. They had youth but those players have been contributing since their freshman year. They should improve on the 10-14-2 record this year but first contact will be the difference maker. If the first pass is solid, they have 91% of their kills back from 2023. Juniors [player_tooltip player_id='222074' first='Parker' last='Kimball'], [player_tooltip player_id='357577' first='Addyson' last='Staples'], and [player_tooltip player_id='490206' first='Ava' last='Daneff'] are all capable of leading the offensive attack and had strong club seasons. There will be new faces in the back row and setting, so those are the question marks heading into the upcoming season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Park Hill South</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Park Hill South dealt with some injuries last year and they are hoping for a clean bill of health in 2024. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='222075' first='Sydni' last='Lafasciano'] is one of the top attackers in the class and missed close to half the season. Her time away allowed [player_tooltip player_id='219763' first='Peyton' last='Liming'] to lead the offense and she returns for her final season. [player_tooltip player_id='357573' first='Vada' last='Brattin'] also showed she is more than capable of leading the offense on any given day. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='490201' first='Brynna' last='Fox'] was lights out defensively, totaling 575 digs. She will be key to keeping the offense in sync. The Panthers were 8-24 in 2023. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>St.Joseph Central</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Central were also a young team, evidenced by a 6-20 record last fall. The good thing with a young team is they have to get older and we will see how this fall goes with experience under their belt. Ella Estes is the top returner in kills and will be joined by digs leader Delaney Mense. The team ran a two-setter system last year and will enjoy the benefit of having one of them back in Hayden Root. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->