June 16, 2022

AAUs in Orlando features stiff competition in the 13 Open division. Day 1 showcased 27 teams. All the top seeds proved dominant in pool play. It has all the makings for exciting pool play moving forward as the cream is rising to the top. Plenty of individuals stood out as well. Here are our Show Stoppers from the first day of action. 13s SETTERS Addison Hurley, Adidas KIVA 13 Red – Hurley has a solid serve which resulted in long serving runs. Additionally, the location of her sets were consistent. Marissa Jones, A5 Mizuno 13 Karen – Jones’ hands are strong and the release is smooth. She was able to set a “3” going backwards showing her athleticism. Zamari Christensen, Club V 13 AR Jess – Christensen’s trust in her middles in evident in the fact that she sets them frequently and they reward her with kills. Kenna Robinson, Asics Munciana Stingrays – Robinson was very effective running combination plays with two quick attacks or two players crossing, giving her hitters no blockers. Caitlin Crino, Tribe 13 Elite Hector – Crino was very good at getting her feet to the ball with a nice release making her sets consistent. LIBERO Lyndsey Robinson, Asics Munciana Stingrays – Robinson has a consistent and strong serve. Peyton Beatty, Lexington United 13 Adidas – Beatty displayed good touches in serve receive and is confident in her out of system setting. Addison Traina, GP 13 Rox – Traina is an energetic and active libero who also moves well and covers the backrow. Paige Lee, Top Select 13 Elite – Lee likes to move the serve around. She also flashed strong serve receive and played good middle back defense. MIDDLES Cynthia Ockerman, Legacy 13-1 Adidas – Ockerman was the only middle who ran a slide and it was effective. Milana Mays, Asics Munciana Stingrays – Mays runs a very quick “1” attack in serve receive and in transition. Sitoafa Tausinga, Club V 13 AR Jess – Tausinga’s “3” attack is hard to dig because it is so quick. Emily Poteraj, Adidas KIVA 13 Red – Poteraj’s presence at the net was felt during tight balls as she had quite a few stuff blocks. Ava Mineer, Adidas KIVA 13 Red – Mineer possesses a heavy arm swing resulting in many big kills. RIGHT SIDES Kaitlyn Wohl, Adidas KIVA 13 Red – Wohl has a lot of range on her swing including the sharp cross court. Ava Gould, Asics Muncian Stingrays – Gould is a lefty with a sound swing. She does get kills in row 1 on the outside. Jenny Glushakov, Top Select 13 Elite – Glushakov has a good, high contact that allows her to hit line consistently. Bradee Boyd, Tribe 13 Elite Hector – Boyd was engaging with her teammates, bringing smiles from everyone. OUTSIDES Brooke Codey, Adidas KIVA 13 Red – Codey has a high wrist snap on her swing giving it a lot of topspin. Darby Felts, K2 13 Adidas – Felts is a fearless hitter who swings hard with or without a block. Abbie Stewart, Asics Munciana Stingrays – Stewart has good court sense as she moves the ball around and tips to open spots for points. Jada Cripe, Boiler Juniors 13 Gold – Cripe not only can move the ball around but also put some monster blocks on tight sets and passes. 12s The 12 Open division at AAU is not as big as others with 19 total teams. The top seeds mostly dominated with four out of the five pool winners not dropping a set. We present our Day 1  Show Stoppers featuring the standouts who caught our attention the most. SETTERS Mila Zujovic, OT 12 T Kesha – Zujovic has nice, strong hands and very consistent location. Kaelyn Easton, Legacy 12-1 Adidas – Easton is very athletic as she will jump set consistently. Paislee Terry, Asics Muncian Peppers – Terry has a great touch and shows confidence in setting slides regularly. Marian Rolon, Borinquen 12-1 Juan – Rolon has a hard serve that is also accurate. LIBERO Danica Waterman, OT 12 T Kesha – Waterman has a consistently accurate serve that frustrates passers. Stella Smith, Legacy 12-1 Adidas – Smith is an energetic and talkative teammate. She’s very quick on hustle plays. Brooke Neale, Asics Munciana 12 Peppers – Neale was solid in serve receive and such a good passer she plays defense in middle back. Arianys Salgado, Borinquen 12-1 Juan – Salgado is very quick and can set out of system wherever the setter passes the ball. MIDDLES Adriana Hernandez, Borinquen 12-1 Juan – Hernandez hits a hard quick attack that defenders don’t expect to come so fast. Haili Winkle, Asics Munciana 12 Peppers – Winkle was the only middle to run a slide attack in her age group, showing her athleticism. Lexi Coleman, Legacy 12-1 Adidas – Coleman can hit a variety of hard shots, including quick attacks as well as a “2” out of transition. McKenzie Andrews, Legacy 12-1 Adidas – Andrews is a tall and very athletic middle. She will run “3s” consistently. RIGHT SIDES Mikaella Fontanez, Borinquen 12-1 Juan – Fontanez is a strong attacker constantly tooling the block and will hit a quick set out of serve receive. Arya Ozel, OT 12 T Kesha – Ozel was very good at the net blocking many outside attackers. Isabel Penrose, OT 12 T Kesha – Penrose is very dynamic. She can hit on the right side and out of serve receive. She will hit a middle set effectively too. OUTSIDES Anabella Valentin, Borinquen 12-1 Juan – Valentin is her team’s lifeline as at any signs of trouble she will get set for a big swing. Itzamar Martinez, Borinquen 12-1 Juan – Martinez is physical on offense with her hard swings and at the net with her blocking. Sofia Rivera, GVA 12 Jayson – Rivera has such a quick swing. Line diggers have a tough time reacting to how fast it comes. Lia Ray, Tribe

If you like reading about talented and impressive volleyball players then you’ll be glued to vballrecruiter.com for the next couple of weeks as we go on our journey through the two end of the year national championships. Wednesday brought us Day 1 of the 14s and 18s divisions at AAUs in Orlando. We’ll get to some of the day’s action further down if you keep scrolling. But first, we want to highlight the Show Stoppers from Day 1. These are the players who made us take notice while we were roaming from court to court. Kalyssa Taggart, S, A5 Mizuno 14 Helen – Taggart hits her spots well. She has an easy, seamless delivery and can go behind her well too. Sophia Stallworth, MB, WPVC 14 Armour Black – Stallworth is a smooth attacker with an easy swing. Defenders need to be on their toes because Stallworth can connect and hit with pact. Elle Mottola, S, WPVC 14 Armour Black – Mottola has a nice touch and delivers consistently hittable balls. Amelia Mancino, OH, WPVC 14 Armour Black – A bit undersized, Mancino isn’t afraid to challenge blockers. She was showing ability to tool blocks with aggressive swings. Alivia Morgan, RS, Rev 14-1 Fuego – Morgan was a viable threat on the right side. She’s lanky with a nice swing who is capable of catching a few and ripping them for winners. Ella Jenkins, OH, Rev 14-1 Fuego – We recently saw Jenkins at the JVA SummerFest and she was back doing her thing. She’s the go-to outside who gets off the ground well and pressures defenses to try and slow her down. Ashlyn Cobb, OH, Tribe 14 Elite – The outsides for Tribe are tough to slow down. Cobb takes big swings and isn’t afraid to get after it, whether front or back row. Vitoria Belfort, OH, Tribe 14 Elite – Belfort is quick off the ground, which makes her harder to time blocking. She also showed a nice knack for making some defensive plays in the back row. Reagan Turk, L, Team Indiana 14.1 – Turk was nails. She wasn’t getting a lot of action in serve receive but when the ball did find her she was on target to the setter. Lydia Stahley, OH, Team Indiana 14.1 – Team Indiana moves Stahley around to throw different looks at the defense. Stahley is a force with her fluid swing and ability to carry the offense. Sydni Lafasciano, OH, Dynasty 14 Black – Lafasciano is a dangerous weapon for Dynasty. She explodes off the ground and has a quick swing. She was putting down impressive kills on the regular. Elizabeth Scanlon, OH, Dynasty 14 Black – One match Scanlon was playing across the front. The next she was in for six rows. She has a big arm and can really connect when the set allows for it. Madeline Kraft, L, Northern Lights 14-1 – Kraft was a steadying presence defensively. She’s also a reliable passer out of serve receive. Teaming with DS Sidney Burley, they made up a two-person serve receive formation at times. Rayna Christianson, S/RS, Northern Lights 14-1 – What a talent Christianson is! At 6-2, she’s long and is good enough setting and hitting it’s hard to say which she is better at. She has great hands running the offense and is a total mismatch when attacking with her height. Caroline Banks, S, Northern Lights 14-1 – The backrow setter in a 6-2, Banks moves well and hits her spots on the regular. Kenlee Barnard, S, Metro VBC 14 Rasche – This is likely a name you’ll be hearing more of in the future. Barnard oozes potential. She’s tall at 6-1 with good hands. The future is bright for her. Siri Fullop, L, Metro VBC 14 Rasche – Fullop is scrappy and confident, darting in and picking off balls. Her passing was on point as she rarely missed keeping Metro in system. Geiliany Del Valle, S, Top Select 14 Elite – Del Valle was smooth and effective. She displayed nice hands and was able to get her various hitters involved when in system. Isabella Umpierre, RS, Top Select 14 Elite – A springy lefty, Umpierre is quick on the attack. She has a fluid swing and can find the hole in the block to exploit it. Allie Davison, S, Mich Elite 14 Mizuno – Davison sets a nice ball. She didn’t miss her spots very much and was putting her hitters in good positions to score. Graceyn Shepard, L, Triangle 14 Black – Shepard was passing well out of serve receive when the ball did come her way. She was routinely picking up cross court shots at left back and was covering touches well to keep the play alive. Maya McConnell, OH, Munciana 14 Chipmunks – McConnell went on the best serving running we saw all day. She has a strong jump serve with lots of topspin. She was also able to make a few nice digs in the back row to help her own cause and stay serving. Andrea Rodriguez, S/RS, OT 14 Cristobal – Rodriguez plays an important role by setting and attacking. She has a good touch and was dishing to her spots with consistent accuracy. Isabel Taylor, OH, Club V 14 Ren Silver – Taylor was not holding back. She was attacking with aggression and was a threat to hit from different spots on the court, including out of the middle. Grace Jones, L, Tri-State Elite 14 Blue – Jones was displaying a tough serve, one with lots of movement and deep near the end line. Sienna Fry, OH, Summit 14 Elite – When Fry is front row she gets set as often as possible. For good reason, she’s long with a good swing and can go right over the top of smaller blockers. Sarah Ojeda, OH, Wildfire Albert 14 – Ojeda is a bit undersized but she stood out for her tremendous defense and passing ability. She has a sound