May 29, 2022

It’s officially on at the JVA West Coast Cup, which began three days of volleyball Saturday in Long Beach. Some of the top teams in the country were in action and vballrecruiter.com was on the scene taking notice. Below, we introduce our Day 1 Show Stoppers. They are 10 players who stood out to us. They’ll also be part of our extensive post-tournament Show Stoppers list featuring more standouts from Day 1 and beyond. In addition to these 10 standouts, we also provide a quick recap of the most important parts of Day 1 further below. vballrecruiter.com DAY 1 SHOW STOPPERS Izzy Starck, S/RS, Co Jrs 16 Sherri – This five-star recruit was doing it all, but was especially effective on the attack. Starck was explosive, getting up and hammering balls down all over the court. Blaykli Bobik, OH, Arizona Storm 16 Thunder – Bobik – a three-star recruit – had it clicking on offense. She’s lanky with a whip for an arm. She was using it to unleash some massive kills.   Ava Shankle, MB, Drive Nation 16 Red – Shankle proved unstoppable at times. Drive Nation went to her on the slide and 1s and defenses had few if any answers to keep her from scoring at will. Kendall Beshear, OH, SCVC 16 Roxy – This outside was showing off her all-around skills. She’s a solid passer and backrow defender. She’s also an explosive attacker with a great jump and powerful arm. Kayden Green, S/RS, OT 15 Meg – A two-way contributor, Green has a soft touch and consistent accuracy when setting. She also carries a strong arm and hits the ball hard. Kaci Demaria, OH, Surfside 15 PV Legends – A three-star recruit, Demaria owns smaller blocks. She’s lengthy enough to go right over the top of them. She also has a keen sense for the right shot selection. Kennedy Osunsanmi, RS, Legacy Girls 16 Elite – Osunsanmi is a name everyone will know before long. She’s 6-2 and still figuring the game out to a degree but she has potential oozing out of her and should shine on the next level one day. Taylor Deckert, L, SCVC 16 Roxy – Deckert was on fire for much of the day. Practically every ball she touched she bettered. Her passing was sharp and on point. Brianna Brewer, OH, Tstreet 15 Curtis – When we caught this three-star recruit, she was on her game. She was ripping powerful kills deep to both corners and provided Tstreet a reliable and consistent scoring option. Makena Lim, L, A4 Volley 17 Joaco – Lim – a recent Georgia commit and three-star recruit – was a steadying presence in the back row. Her passing was keeping A4 in system. She also made a couple A-plus digs to keep rallies alive. *** Across 14, 15, 16 and 17 Open, only one No. 1 team in its respective pool failed to advance. All eight No. 1 teams in their pools finished 3-0 in 14 Open. Only two No. 1 teams in 15 Open lost. Same with 16 Open. As for 17 Open, Rage 17 Greg was the No. 9 overall seed and top team in Pool 9 but went 1-2 and will not be in the top half come Day 2. In that pool, No. 2 Vision 17 Gold went 3-0 and No. 3 VVA 17-1 2-1 to move on. The oldest Open division had the most results going against the initial seedings. Joining VVA as No. 3 teams advancing were Surfside 17 MB Legends (Pool 2); OT 17 Felix (P4); Wave 17 Reily (P6); and Sunshine 17 Westside (P10). Additionally, two Nos. 4 teams in MVVC 17 Red (Pool 5) and Five Starz 17 Debby (P8) remain in the hunt. Almost everything played out according to seed in 16 Open. Two exceptions were SCVC 16 Roxy outlasting K2 16 Adidas in three in Pool 5. SCVC was the No. 2 team, K2 the No. 1 team. The same thing happened in Pool 9, with No. 2 Momentous 16 Dan downing Mizuno Long Beach 16 Rockstar in three. The conclusion to 16 Open was the most exciting part of the day actually. Wave 16 Brennan, the No. 1 overall seed, needed three sets to beat Tstreet 16 Carson. In Pool 2, Co Jrs 16 Sherri went the distance before prevailing over Absolute Black 16-1 in the 1 v 2 contest. It was the same in the 1 v 2 match in Pool 3. There, Vision 16 Gold clipped Forza1 North 16 UA. Lastly, Arizona Storm 16 Thunder edged out Drive Nation 16 Red in three in the 1 v 2 match in Pool 9. We’re likely to see much more of that Sunday in 16 Open. Pool 1 features USAV Open qualified teams in Wave, Long Beach and Seal Beach 16 Black. Co Jrs and Drive Nation – both Open qualified as well – will square off in Pool 2. Pool 3 contains three teams with Open bids with Vision, SG Elite 16 Rosh and Surfside 15 PV Legends – which qualified in 15 Open but is playing up an age group this weekend in Long Beach. Pool 4 has OT 16 Roberto and Storm in yet another match between Open teams. Coast 16-1 is the lone Open team in Pool 5. In 15 Open, the lowest-seeded team in the field advanced in VVA 15-1, which went 2-1 as the No. 4 team in Pool 1. Forza1 North 16 UA turned in a great performance by going 3-0 as the No. 3 team in Pool 3. It beat overall No. 3 seed Tstreet 15 Curtis to take first in the pool. The only other result to go against seed for teams advancing happened in Pool 8, where No. 2 Co Jrs 15 Shannon downed No. 1 Wave 15 Scott.