Presidents Day Challenge 17 Open Standouts
There were a lot of promising talents at the Presidents Day Challenge 17 Open/Premier Division this weekend in Detroit. From around the Great Lakes, we saw some players really stand out and shine on their way to a successful weekend…
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Continue ReadingThere were a lot of promising talents at the Presidents Day Challenge 17 Open/Premier Division this weekend in Detroit.
From around the Great Lakes, we saw some players really stand out and shine on their way to a successful weekend for their teams. Here’s some players that raised their game in Detroit.
Storm Monsoon: The Canadian-based squad didn’t drop a match all weekend and took four of five sets from runner up Athlete HQ 17 Young. In the final, Storm won by scores of 25-19, 27-25. Storm had hitting for days with tremendous length and powerful arms. One that caught my eye was Maddy Lutes. She was an athletic hitter that showed impressive all-around skills at the net and in the back row. Lutes had great footwork and consistently made the big plays during tight sets. The serving of Sonya Bogatchev also stood out, as she finished out the championship with an ace and gave opposing receivers a lot of problems during the weekend.
Athlete HQ 17 Young: The runner-up only lost to the champions this weekend, so it was a pretty strong weekend. The Ohio-based program were able to consistently rely on Kamryn Wolf on the outside. She had a powerful arm that was able to come through often. Wolf was called upon a lot at key times and never shied away from the moment. Setter Morgan Lee also looked steady throughout the tournament. She had a lot of talented arms to work with, but did a great job of mixing up sets and locations to keep opponents guessing.
Keona SalesmanRedline 17 Black: The lone Michigan team to crack the semifinals in this division was Redline, which has a heavy Bronson feel to it, being coached by Jean LaClair while being led by Keona Salesman (Ferris State) and Meagan Lasky. Salesman is actually a Class of 2020 outside, but won’t turn 18 until next November, so she is able to provide a lot of experience and leadership to this largely Class of 2021 squad. Salesman looked like her usual self, finishing a number of points while taking on the lion’s share of the swings. Lasky, her setter at Bronson and Redline, has great chemistry with her and did a great job of putting the ball in the right spots for Salesman to finish, while also being very reliable on defense despite being outsized at the net. A special mention goes to Gabby Oursler, who is a libero that moved to right side this weekend due to injury. Oursler was outsized at the net, but gave her all and really helped Redline by taking on a tough task of being out of position.
NIVA 17 BB4: NIVA took just one loss for the weekend, a 25-12, 16-25, 15-12 loss to Storm in the semifinal. The Indiana-based squad were led by Emma Hickey, an outside hitter that had a really sound swing and was able to make good adjustments to the balls that were out-of-system. Hickey was always finding ways to make balls playable and finishing at a strong rate in those out-of-system swings. I also liked what I saw out of middle Felisha Campanello. Her swings and blocking were on point, and she had the right instincts on her play at the net.
Some other players that caught my eye in the division this weekend from in-state programs:
Anna Schutte, OH AVBC 17 Elite
Olivia Norman, MH AVBC 17 Elite
Shayla Munn, MH Monsters 17 Elite
Angelena Tripi, S Monsters 17 Elite
Riley Kraiza, OH Michigan Elite 17 National East
Jordan Williams, L Michigan Elite 17 National East
Emily Foster, OH Force 17 National Select
Ashley Lesperance, S Michigan Elite 17 National West
Peyton Bolach, OH Unified 17-3
Cassidy Victor, OH Crank It 17u Becca
Kara Sparrow, L AVBC 17 National