Rising 14’s at Jingle Bell Jam

[player_tooltip player_id='920502' first='Kennedy' last='Albright']   Kennedy was the driving force behind the offense of the 14s Division Champs:  Virago 14 Elite.  She has all the attributes you want in a setting prospect- tall, strong, athletic, and left handed!  While her current team is running a 6-2 offense, we could see Kennedy being utilized as a setter in a 5-1 for her school team, and in future club seasons.  Her ability to push the ball to both pins from nearly any position on the court set her apart from other setters in this age group.  A strong server as well, Kennedy finished the tournament (6 matches) with zero service errors, including a match her team won 25-4 (starting at 4-4) where she served all 21 points in a row!     Emma Martin   Kennedy's defensive counterpart, Emma Martin, libero for the champion Virago 14 Elite team, also had an excellent debut to her 14s club season.  This team is absolutely loaded full of tough passer and defenders, which allowed them to win the serve and serve receive battle throughout the tournament.  As an avid beach volleyball player, Emma really excels at reading opposing offenses and predicting how and where the ball will be attacked.  She reacts quickly on defense, and moves well once the hitter has made contact- repeatedly cutting across the court to pickup tips, off speed shots, and hits off the block throughout the day.      Isabella Bullen   The only team to really take Virago to the brink was [program_tooltip program_id='776295' first='Tulsa' last='Power']'s 14-2 team lead by setter Isabella Bullen.  [program_tooltip program_id='776295' first='Tulsa' last='Power'] came into the finals with a lot of momentum after a thrilling 3rd set win in the semi finals and nearly handed Virago their first set loss of the day, eventually falling 23-25.  A big driver behind their success was Bullen's ability to deliver some very consistent sets to both her outside and right side hitters.  A consistent right side attack can be very tough to defend as teams often will employ undersized outside hitters- making for a weaker block on that side of the court- and Isabella took full advantage of this all day, consistently reversing the flow of the defense and keeping her right sides involved.  She was also one of only a few setters utilize her middles in an up-tempo pace.     Mya Burton   One player that caught our eye for the first time this weekend was Mya Burton, right side for Wave 14 Tsunami.  After sneaking into the gold bracket on a tie breaker in pool play, Wave nearly pulled off the upset in the semi-finals against [program_tooltip program_id='776295' first='Tulsa' last='Power'].  Mya was a big contributor for Tsunami all day, showing off her elite athleticism.  As a left handed player, she was a natural fit on the right side, and the setters for Wave seemed to always look her way when they needed a big play.  As the season progresses it will be worth watching to see if she can add some consistency in her transitions and approaches, to go along with her strong vertical.     Kamryn Soward   Kamryn and her Dynamite teammates traveled up from Oklahoma City this weekend to kick off their season.  The 5'9” outside hitter showed a lot of potential this weekend as a hitter.  In addition to her height, Kamryn's athletic ability was also on display as a hitter and blocker.  She is able to rise up above the net and hit with pace and consistency both in the angle and down the line- which is not easy at this age level.  The 14U season tends to yield a lot of growth for athletes, as it serves as a sort of diving line between middle school volleyball and high school volleyball.  Kamryn has all the talent and tools to make a big leap this season.

Kennedy Albright Kennedy Albright S Mingo Valley Christi | 2029 OK