Setters and Left Sides New to the Class of 2028 Rankings

Below are three setters and four left sides new to the 2028 rankings. Normally, I would have more left sides in rankings, but this year the middles took the top spots for the number of players making their debut.    Ryann sets for the [program_tooltip program_id='498495' first='Richmond' last='Volleyball Club'] 16, which carries some impressive offensive weapons on the outside. At 5'10" she has good size with good hands to spread her sets along different areas of the net. She also is not afraid of setting the slide for her middles or having her pins sneak into the middle for a "2" set. It is fun to watch how a talented setter makes use of her offensive weapons.   Ryann sets for Central Virginia Home School. They have some talented players as well, finishing with a 36-4 record. She finished the high school season leading the team in aces with 101 and assists with 550.   Ryann made the highest debut of all the new players ranked in the class of 2028.     The second setter for [program_tooltip program_id='498495' first='Richmond' last='Volleyball Club'] 16. She also runs the offense well but at two inches smaller would probably be the setter to sit out if they run out of substitutions. In the sets I watched both setters rotated out in the front row while running a 6/2.   Mollie sets for The Covenant School, which lost in the semi-finals of the Division II VISAA playoffs to Fredericksburg. She led the team in assists with 768, Based on those numbers she appears to set a 5/1 for the team.   Talented hitters cannot perform as well without the good setters that give them that opportunity. Mollie will make even the worst hitter look talented with her precision sets.     As I stated in a previous evaluation of her, she has the ability to remain calm during the chaos that sometimes circulates around the court. It is good when that calmness exists in your setter. That could be one of the reasons the coach puts the "c" by her number when submitting the lineup. Those are two excellent traits you want in a setter, leadership and remaining calm under pressure.   Zenia stands just 5'7" but brings the athleticism to jump set even when the passes are tight to the net. Her serve acts like a missle taking a downward trajectory as it zips past the net. Even the best passers had difficulty creating the perfect pass when trying to receive her serve.   She sets both a 5/1 and a 6/2. In a 6/2 she is rotated out when she moves to the front row.     Her debut at 86 was the second highest in the class of 2028. My first exposure to her was in the Class 2 Virginia State playoffs. Appomattox County lost in the first round to John Battle however Sawyer led the team in kills with 22. Overall, she finished second on the team in kills and first in service aces.   Unfortunately, I never saw her actually play until at Volley by the James when she buried balls from the outside for HOV. She also provided offense in the back row, although they hid her during serve receive. For her high school team Sawyer was used in serve receive.     With Maliyah you have to really be impressed with the way she plays when she suits up for club ball. She attends high school at Maryland School of the Deaf, so I will assume that she is hearing impaired. I've played and coached players who are hearing impaired and it is not easy when they play with those who are not. They have to work twice as hard to succeed because those that hear sometimes forget that her hearing is impaired.   When watching her play left side for Liberty she put some heat on the ball. Despite her 5'9" height she still puts the ball down hard to the floor. When you are hearing impaired being undersized is the least of your problems.   For the Maryland School of the Deaf she averaged 5.4 kills per set with a hitting percentage of .335. Her 534 kills were tops in the state of Maryland, exceeding that of Caydence Doolan. When I first say that stat my first reaction was that "she plays for Maryland School of the Deaf. What could her competition be." When you watch her play she is legit. A solid six rotation player.   Maliyah debuted at number 148 in our rankings. Now that she is on the radar I can only see that movement going up.     [player_tooltip player_id='944220' first='Sophia' last='Ray'] stood out for her left side play in a Maryland Juniors 17 Open tournament. As a class of 2028 she played up and held her own. She plays for Martinsburg high school in West Virginia where as a sophomore she led her team in kills. At 5'9" she is a bit undersized for the position but that does not appear to faze her. One of her teammates, class of 2029 [player_tooltip player_id='749357' first='Ellie' last='Palmer'], plays for [program_tooltip program_id='494409' first='Blue' last='Ridge']. Ellie made our class of 2029 list as one of the biggest climbers from that class.   Sophia plays six rotations, providing offense in the back row with her three meter attacks. Her serve also accumulates a lot of aces. Just a solid all around player who has the tools to play any position, except possibly middle where her size could be a factor.     Allie debuts in our rankings at 197. Some may not see the significance of that ranking. It may be low but it tells us you are on our radar. Allie played for a surprising Briar Woods team, leading them from the outside. When I watched them play, they almost pulled off an upset against eventual Class 5 state champion Riverside. [player_tooltip player_id='829291' first='Allie' last='Bowen'] was fire for that game, finishing a set off with a kill. As a team they did not get intimidated with the talent that existed on Riverside.   I also saw her play a bit for the Virginia Juniors 16 team. That team fell short of making the Junior National championships but did finish third in the American Division at the Northeast Qualifiers.   Looking forward to good things ahead from her play.    <h2 class="wp-block-heading">18 U Junior National Results</h2>   Six Chesapeake teams played in the 18U Junior Nationals in Reno. The highest finish for a team was Metro, who slotted in 19th place at 3-4 (9-11). No team had a winning record for match play, however Virginia Juniors 4-4 (10-11), Metro North 4-4 (10-9 and Columbia 4-4 (10-10) all finished at .500.   [program_tooltip program_id='476729' first='Paramount' last=''] Cozad played with a roster filled with players from their 16-17 U team. They played well when you consider how young the team was. They finished in 29th place at 2-5 (6-11). For whatever reason Virginia Elite struggled at 0-7 (0-14). They carried too much talent on that roster to not win a set.   Now the season is over for the 18 U's. It is off to college for many of these players. Good luck. I was hoping to put a finalized ranking for the class of 2026 but Prep Dig has already moved the class to the archives.

Below are three setters and four left sides new to the 2028 rankings. Normally, I would have more left sides in rankings, but this year the middles took the top spots for the number of players making their debut.