One of the best defenders in my opinion through all 4 showcases was Ella. I had the chance to see over 80ish liberos throughout the two days and can tell you that Ella has a claim to be the best one out of all of them. Her game is just at another level and she was one of the best passers in every drill. She moves very easily on the floor, and use her athletic ability to get to a spot very early to make the passes even easier in defense. She also moves well enough to take up a lot of space in serve receive or when she undercuts in defense as she is always reading the hitters and anticipating where the ball is going.

Her form and technique is some of the best out there as well. She repeats her amazing form each and every time she contacts the ball and is able to always get touches on balls that most players wouldn’t even dream of touching. She is all about hustle and effort as well and made some really impressive plays and digs during game play. It wasn’t just myself, but a lot of coaches were impressed with her ability as a back row player. Ella is someone who can serve receive, defend, and serve with the best of them and is someone that should see her stock rise in the coming months. It was an easy choice to pick her as a standout and someone you all need to get to see over the course of the fall season!

Ella was one of my favorite players to watch at the event! Every coach loves a loud and energetic libero and Ella was that for all the drills, game play, and throughout the whole day. To stand out communication wise at one of these events is hard to do but Ella was able to stand out with her ability to communicate and be loud.

However, she was also very skillful throughout game play and during drills. She has a solid platform that made it easy to not only pass in serve receive but also to pass in defense. She has so much control with the ball it didn’t matter where she was on the floor, as long as she got a touch on it the ball always seemed to be on target.

Her range was second to none and she stood apart from her peers with how much ground she was able to cover and her ability to read the hitters and get to balls early enough to make the easy pass. From the service line she was also consistent to her location without losing any power. She continually could hit her spot with ease and power each time she went back to the service line.

Ella is a high level libero due to her leadership, reliability, and advanced understanding of the game. She has a high ceiling based on how well she plays the game and we look forward to seeing her continued development throughout her high school career.