As qualifying season winds down for the 18s, clubs spent the past weekend at the Momentous Sports Center in Irvine. We were on hand for Days 2 and 3 and wrote about some of the top standouts we saw in action below.
OUTSIDES
Elia Rubin, Sunshine 18 LA (Stanford) – There’s hardly anything Rubin can’t do. Her scoring, passing, defending and serving is all high level. She can cross court with spin or rip high, flat and hard to tool blocks. Sunshine can run a variety of offense but when it really needs a point – which wasn’t very often this weekend – it’s going to Rubin to deliver.
Dani Thomas-Nathan, Sunshine 18 LA (USC) – Thomas-Nathan brings a level of physicality to the Sunshine attack and serve game. She can bring the heat and blow up blocks but her serve can be even more of a weapon with its speed causing passers problems.
Avery Calame, Madfrog 18 Green (Arkansas) – With some of the explosiveness Madfrog contains, Calame is part of the glue that keeps it all together. She’s a lefty playing outside and is just a flat-out gamer. More times than not she goes up and takes aggressive, hard swings and has a knack for finding the open space to attack.
Brynne Faltinsky, Coast 18-1 (Harvard) – Faltinsky carries quite a bit of the offensive load for Coast. She’s a solid passer out of serve receive and a heady, smart attacker who doesn’t try to overdo it and can take what the defense is giving her.
Emily Hellmuth, Skyline 18 Royal (Pepperdine) – As the go-to hitter, the Skyline offense can go as Hellmuth goes. She’s long with good vision. The team can stall at times with her in the back row but when she’s up front Skyline can start reeling off points in a hurry.
Devin Kahahawai, SASVBC 18-1 (Texas) – Few are as fun and entertaining to watch as Kahahawai is when she has it going, which is most of the time. She’s a game-changing, lanky outside with levels to her attacking. She hits as hard as she needs to in order to score, but there are times when she can absolutely unload and send reverberations throughout the court.
Grayce Olson, Rage Westside 18 Michelle (UCLA) – At 6-4, it’s a difficult task to slow down Olson without putting up a large block in return. She can simply go over blocks and with how hard she can hit at times there’s really nothing defenders can do about it.
Emma Donley, Rage Westside 18 Michelle (Cal) – A junior playing up on 18s, Donley is another tall outside that Rage turns to in order to keep the offense trucking along. She’s similar to Olson in that her height gives her a tremendous advantage against smaller blocks.
Kimi Waller, Absolute Black 18-1 (UCSB) – An undersized lefty playing outside Waller is an integral part of Absolute’s offense. She’s spring with a quick swing. She’s an option both front and back row and the one Absolute looks for when the play breaks down.
Jordan Middleton, AZ Storm 18 Thunder (USC) – An explosive outside with a whip for an arm, Middleton is a huge part of Storm’s attack. Though she’s a capable back row scorer, Storm’s offense can slow down at times when she’s not in the front. When she is up front, watch out. She can score in all the ways – off the block, around the block, over the block – with high efficiency.
Adonia Faumuina, Mizuno Long Beach 18 Rockstar (USC) – Faumuina’s development as a full-time outside continues. While only playing across the front, she’s a threat with her lanky frame and ability to get up and blast down.
Audrey Brown, Legacy 18-1 Adidas (Fordham) – A six-rotation outside for Legacy, Brown was carrying a load for the Michigan club this weekend. She was called upon often whether front or back row. She’s a smart hitter that plays within herself.
RIGHT SIDES
Kerry Keefe, Sunshine 18 LA (Duke) – Keefe adds another dynamic to Sunshine’s offense and the way they are able to get her involved makes it almost impossible to key in on any one player. She’s especially strong on the cross-court attack and Sunshine will go to her front and back row to finish off points.
Tori Wilson, Madfrog 18 Green (North Carolina Central) – Injuries have given Wilson time to show what she can do. Though she’s not a huge part of Madfrog’s offense she can get up and score well against one-on-one blocking. She’s also a capable blocker who’s able to help slow down outsides at times.
Bella Rittenberg, Coast 18-1 (Penn) – The junior lefty is Coast’s most physical attacker. She’s able to take big cuts and brings consistent scoring to the lineup.
Madison Pietsch, Rage Westside 18 Michelle (USC) – A smooth attacking lefty opposite, Pietsch really helps open up the Rage offense. She’s another tall pin for Rage and she’s an effective scorer who can carry the offense at times.
Grace Olivia, Absolute Black 18-1 (San Diego) – Olivia has grit to her game. She’s not the tallest or biggest right side but she plays with tenacity and will keep at it. She’s definitely someone Absolute looks to get involved and help spread out the attack.
Laura Williams, Mizuno Long Beach 18 Rockstar (Oregon State) – Long Beach has some athletes on its roster. Williams brings some explosiveness to the right side. When she’s on she can score at will and is capable of carrying the attack for Beach.
MIDDLE BLOCKERS
Kennedy Hill, Sunshine 18 LA (Northwestern) – Back from injury and making a return to the lineup, Hill was impressive throughout the weekend. She’s quick and Sunshine was looking to go to her often. She proved effective putting balls straight down or scoring off the block when two were up on her.
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Madfrog 18 Green (Texas A&M) – A physical presence in the middle, Cos-Okpalla had her moments on the offensive side. Yet, she really makes her mark blocking with her strength and ability to move well from side to side.
Fatima Sheriff, Coast 18-1 (UNLV) – With length in the middle, Coast probably could go to Sheriff more than it does. When called upon, she was hard to stop sending balls down against one-on-one blockers.
Grace Wuischpard, Absolute Black 18-1 (UCSB) – The game changes for Absolute when Wuischpard checks in. She’s a threat to score out of the middle or running the slide to the right side. She’s also an impactful blocker who can give Absolute points that way as well.
Rylie McGinest, Mizuno Long Beach 18 Rockstar (USC) – Beach’s passing can break down at times and that’s really the best way to stop McGinest when she’s in. She’s one of the better blocking middles but she can really light up the gym with some of her kills where she bounces ball at the 10-foot line or even inside of it.
Serena Nyambio, Legacy 18-1 Adidas (Michigan) – There were times when Legacy had trouble connecting with Nyambio but she’s someone defenses must take note of because when in system she’s a weapon. She can also get up and slow down attackers with her range at the net.
SETTERS
Kelly Belardi, Sunshine 18 LA (Stanford) – Belardi is so smooth and adept at running the offense. No doubt it’s easier when Sunshine is in system as much as it is and that really allows Belardi to get her hitters one-on-one looks repeatedly because with her skill at delivering the ball around there’s no way to lock in on any one hitter.
Harmony Sample, Madfrog 18 Green (Notre Dame) – A setter/right side, Sample is a baller whatever she’s doing for Madfrog. When setting back row she’s able to run tempo and get her hitters looks before the block fully sets up. As a hitter on the right side she’s a total threat. She can get up and unload on balls that energizes the team.
Haiti Tautua’a (Pitt) and Jaclyn Matias (Hawaii), SASVBC 18-1 – One thing that stood out about both setters for SASVBC is they don’t get overly reliant on setting their big outside in Devin Kahahawai. They’ll ride Kahahawai when necessary but both do a good job of incorporating the other front row hitters into the attack as so blockers can’t solo load up on Kahahawai.
Havannah Hoeft, Rage Westside 18 Michelle – With a hitter like Madison Pietsch on the right side a setter better be good at delivering back sets and being able to set against the flow. Hoeft does that well for Rage and is able to put up consistent sets for not only Pietsch but her big outsides as well.
Leah Wilton-LaBoy, Absolute Black 18-1 (Utah State) – Wilton-LaBoy is a ball of energy on the court for Absolute. She’s outgoing and is a sparkplug at the position. She’s also good at spreading the ball around with consistent location.
LIBEROS
Megan Verbiest (USC) and Ellie Geoghegan (UCSD), Sunshine 18 LA – Sunshine switches off between their two liberos and for good reason. Sunshine may be the best defensive team around and these two have a lot to do with it. There constantly able to extend rallies and rarely break down in serve receive.
Gala Trubint, Coast 18-1 (USC) – Steady and consistent in both passing and defender, Trubint unquestionably anchors the Coast defense. Teams are wise to keep the ball away from her and challenge other Coast back row players.
Naylani Feliciano, Skyline 18 Royal (Miami) – Feliciano is quick and can make up ground well. She can help anchor a two-girl serve receive along with DS Emily Canaan to showcase the duo’s serve receive skills.
Kate Morin, AZ EVJ 18-1 (Washington) – It’s difficult for EVJ to match teams offensively so defense and ball skills are critical elements of EVJ’s chances of competing. Morin is a calm presence at libero with strong skills and rarely makes mistakes or errors.
