Club Previews: VCN 18 Elite

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Let's preview VCN's 18 Elite's roster, which is loaded and should make some noise this club season. Lots of athletes on this team took away hardware at the Nebraska State Volleyball Tournament in November and will be playing at the next level next fall. This roster will be deep at all positions. Let's take a closer look at this talented group:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Starting off with the setters, [player_tooltip player_id='173537' first='Audrey' last='Waido'] who led the Wahoo Warriors to the State Championship game, but just fell short 3-1 to a very talented Minden team. Waido had 3,105 career set assists and 162 ace serves for the Warriors. She has great court sense and does a great job of sneaking in a setter dump at the right time. She was not afraid to dump it deep or a nice two handed dump to zone two. She totaled 305 kills in her career. Waido has a strong jump set when setting to the pin and squares up to her hitters so well.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another setter is Skutt Catholic's [player_tooltip player_id='173517' first='Meghan' last='Anderson'] who eclipsed 1573 set assists for her career this past season. She is a really smart setter and has fantastic hands. She sets the slide so efficiently and throws blockers off by how smooth she is when setting it. Anderson distributes the ball so efficiently and can from anywhere on the floor. She will have plenty of firepower at the net to get the ball to. Setter Brooke Larsen is a great setter, who has smooth hands and is so strong. She will add some more athleticism to the roster as well. Larsen is not afraid to take a big swing as well.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>6 '1 " Outside [player_tooltip player_id='189362' first='Faith' last='Venable'] really improved her stock over the course of the years. She went from 270 kills at Lincoln Pius X her sophomore year to hitting the 500 kill mark with 526 kills her senior year. She is so athletic and can swing from anywhere on the floor. Venable can hit the pin with a big swing or run a quick in the middle. She is very explosive and just continues to get stronger!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The other pin hitter is 5'11” [player_tooltip player_id='173527' first='Abbie' last='Hagedorn'] who hammered 325 kills this past season for State Runner-Up Skutt Catholic. She also had 55 aces on the season. She has a great short serve and has a powerful swing. Hagedorn is a great six rotation player and has a great platform on serve receive. She also had 359 digs this past fall for the Skyhawks. Look for her to play a big role for Elite this club season.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Middle Hitter [player_tooltip player_id='269932' first='Gretchen' last='Seagren'] out of Wahoo should have no problems connecting again with her high school setter in [player_tooltip player_id='173537' first='Audrey' last='Waido']. Seagren hammered 331 kills this past fall and had a total of 74 blocks for the Warriors this past fall in their State Runner-Up Season. She has a powerful swing and is versatile in running the slide or hitting anything behind the setter. Her versatility is a huge weapon for Elite!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Skutt Catholic's 6'1” [player_tooltip player_id='155052' first='Kiera' last='Link'] will be a strong Middle Blocker for Elite this year as well. She has great timing and good court awareness. Link has a good high contact point so she can tool high hands or sneak in a tip over the block. Her length allows her to cover a lot of the net.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wisconsin commit [player_tooltip player_id='189320' first='Natalie' last='Wardlow'] joins VCN after competing with NE One Synergy the past few years. The 6'5” Wardlow is strong and powerful. She has the ability to hit over and through the block. She too can be versatile hitting at the pin or in the middle. Her length is a huge upswing as well. Osceola's [player_tooltip player_id='395108' first='Eastyn' last='Kropatsch'] hammered 646 kills and had 130 for her career for the Bulldogs. The 6 '0 Morningside commit has a quick and powerful swing. She also has good floor vision and is able to tip or use shots when needed.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There are three Libero/Defensive Specialists on this year's team. Lincoln Pius X's [player_tooltip player_id='495064' first='Macy' last='Abel'] is smooth, quick. She reads well and can pick up a lot of balls. Abel also has nice hands for out of system balls. Another ball control dandy is Norris' [player_tooltip player_id='189328' first='Rya' last='Borer']. She took her game to a whole new level this year and was an absolute digging machine, helping the Titans hoist the State Championship Trophy! She is quick and can get a hand on anything. Her ability to frustrate opposing offenses makes her so tough! Nikki Scott is also another highly skilled Libero/Defensive Specialist. She too is quick and reads well. Ball control will be a huge upside for Elite.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It will be a fun season for 18 Elite as they start off the season in Kansas City at the MLK Qualifier January 18-20th. They are coached by Omaha Skutt Catholic's Renee Saunders.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->