This year Sadie Fester Sadie Fester 5'9" | S Georgetown Visitation | 2026 State VA set Georgetown Visitation to a second place finish in the Independent School League (ISL) one game behind Georgetown Day. She and the DC Gatorade Player of the Year have one thing in common. They both earned first team honors in the ISL as setters. Sadie also earned honorable mention on the Washington Post all tournament team. However, most important she earned a spot on the first team of the Prep Dig DC all state team with Caycee Chhum Caycee Chhum 5'7" | S Georgetown Day | 2027 State VA as the two setters.

After setting in obscurity for Academy for a number of years she will upgrade to Maryland Juniors this year. It appears the team will carry three setters in Xinyuan Cui Xinyuan Cui 5'10" | S Sandy Spring Friends | 2026 State VA and Anasofia Zanellato Anasofia Zanellato 6'0" | S Bishop McNamara | 2026 State VA . All three setters have yet to commit. While Sadie has 15 setters ranked ahead of her in the class of 2026 rankings, 13 of those setters have committed.

In a recent Maryland Juniors tournament Academy finished second in their pool to advance to the gold bracket. They lost to a strong Blue Ridge team 25-14, 25-23. Despite the loss Sadie Fester Sadie Fester 5'9" | S Georgetown Visitation | 2026 State VA impressed with her setting and leadership qualities during the tournament.

She set a 5/1, showing strong hands with her ability to set the ball to the pins no matter where she was on the court. Her sets were varied, with quick tempo and higher sets. She made smart choices keeping the defense off balance.

What impresses most about Sadie is no matter where the pass travels she shows the quickness to get to the ball, always using her hands to make the set. She also played a strong front row, getting her hands high enough over the net to make a couple blocks from the right side, as well as dumping tight sets to the floor. When watching her actions on the court you knew who controlled the tempo of the game.

After this tournament her status should rise.

I watched her set a 5/1 in the Patriot Division at the Junior Nationals in Las Vegas. She ran the offense well bumping her up from 116 to 75. She also appeared at our Stock up showcase and performed well. When the event was finished she asked me what she could do better to improve her game. That shows me a person who carries the motivation to improve.

Hopefully, Georgetown Visitation will schedule enough games to qualify for the DC state championship. With their roster they should be one of the top four teams in D.C.

Sadie set a 5/1 for Academy at the Junior Nationals in the Patriot Division. She showed a good ability to distribute the ball to all her hitters, with strong hands to push the ball outside on out of system passes. Despite her 5’9″ height she gets her hands high enough over the net to set a block. In the short window when I watched she rejected a hit.

Sadie plays for Georgetown Visitation. In the Independent School League (ISL) they would fall behind Flint Hill, Georgetown Day and Bullis when ranking the talent level. However, teams who carry efficient setters on their roster have a chance to overachieve. All they need are one or two offensive pieces.