Last year Laila won the Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year award but Madison fell short of the playoffs. Madison lost in five to Colgan in the semifinals. Colgan eventually lost to West Springfield in the finals. It would not surprise me if Laila would trade in the Gatorade Player of the Year award this year for a state championship. Ideally, it would be nice to win both.

In the Westfield match Laila smacked down her 1,000th kill. That is quite impressive when you realize that she plays libero for her club team Metro. Back in 2022 she won the MVP award at the Capitol Hill Classic as an outside hitter. However, the next year she moved to the libero position recognizing it was the best position for her after seeing what giants Metro carried on their roster for outsides. The next year she won the best receiver award.

Laila has committed to Oklahoma where she will play Libero.

It all starts with the Virginia Gatorade player of the year last year Laila Chadwick Laila Chadwick 5'8" | DS/L/OH James Madison | 2027 State #57 Nation VA . She plays libero for Metro but for Madison she bangs balls outside with both velocity and location. At 5’8″ she is undersized for a front row player but a 9’8″ approach jump gets her pretty high above the net. For Madison, she can do it all playing both a premium back row as well as front row. Laila has committed to Oklahoma and ranks number three in the class of 2027.

She has a counterpart that was also a defensive specialist early in her career in Chloe Barth Chloe Barth 5'9" | RS/DS/L James Madison | 2027 State VA . She stands 5’9″ but carries a strong right arm that can fire missiles into the opponent’s side of the court. She has an approach jump of 9’6″. Chloe has committed to Colby to be a Mule.

Those two undersized outsides are driving Madison to the playoffs.

Laila Chadwick understands that in camp environments like UA Next, liberos do not always get dozens of touches to make an impression.

Sometimes it takes one read.

One dig.

One voice that instantly organizes six athletes who have never played together before.

That is exactly why her game feels built for this environment.

Defense and communication are the two areas she is most excited to showcase, and both have become even stronger this season as her eye work and ability to cut balls off early have continued to evolve. That growth is translating directly into more digs, better first contact, and a libero who is reading the game earlier than ever before.

What may serve her most in a roster-selection environment, though, is how well she manages herself between points. Her ability to stay mentally steady, reset quickly, and focus only on what she can control gives her the kind of emotional consistency coaches trust.

Already verbally committed to the University of Oklahoma, Laila is not arriving to prove she belongs.

She is arriving to compete for something bigger.

~ Michelle Bamford @Coachable247