CLASS 3A: Ranked Players at State Tournament!!!

There are 36 ranked players in Class 3A!  I did not think there would be that many in any class but this one is loaded with talented players. I will not be able to cover all of them but let’s look at some of the best from each team! Osage (31-2) Osage has 8 ranked players on their team for the state tournament run.  This is amazing!  [player_tooltip player_id="17262" first="Danielle" last="Johnson"], 2021. Danielle Johnson Danielle Johnson 6'0" | OH Osage | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #9, OH) Danielle has 3.8 KPS, 2.4 DPS, 22 total blocks, and a team-high 48 aces with an 89.2% serve efficiency.   Ellie Bobinet Ellie Bobinet S Osage | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #54, S) Ellie has 10.4 APS, 1.6 DPS, 21 total blocks, and 46 aces with an 89.2% serve efficiency. Paige Kisley Paige Kisley OH Osage | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #17, OH) Paige has 3.3 KPS, 2.1 DPS, 3 blocks, and 46 aces with a 91% serve efficiency. [player_tooltip player_id="42440" first="Kaebre" last="Sullivan"] #5, 2022. Kaebre Sullivan Kaebre Sullivan 6'1" | MB Osage | 2022 State IA (2022, Ranked #22, MB) Kaebre has 1.8 KPS, 1.1 DPS, 39 total blocks, and 42 aces with a 91.1% serve efficiency. Meredith Street Meredith Street 5'5" | OH Osage | 2022 State IA (2022, Ranked #20, OH) Meredith has 1.6 KPS, 1.7 DPS, 13 total blocks, and 25 aces with a 92.3% serve efficiency. [player_tooltip player_id="79667" first="Claudia" last="Aschenbrenner"], 2023. Claudia Aschenbrenner Claudia Aschenbrenner 5'10" | OH Osage | 2023 State IA   (2023, Ranked #4, MB) Claudia has 1.8 KPS, .5 DPS, 31 total blocks, and 40 aces with an 87.7% serve efficiency. Humboldt (33-3) Jori Hajek Jori Hajek 5'5" | OH Humboldt | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #88, OH) Jori has 3.7 KPS, 4.5 DPS, 10 total blocks, 29 aces with a 99.4% serve efficiency. These two teams face off on Monday at 8 p.m. on Court One.  It may not look like the Wildcats have enough production to handle Osage, the top seed in this class of the state tournament, but it has happened before that a top team is knocked off by the bottom seed.  Chris Fitzgerald, Prep Dig regional scout and manager, gave a prediction earlier today on Twitter and called this game for Osage, so I will take the underdog and go with Humboldt.   Davenport Assumption (22-2) The Knights have 8 ranked players on their team and I am going to write about the ones at the top of the statistics for this season. [player_tooltip player_id="102046" first="Annabelle" last="Costello"], class of 2021, Setter, Davenport Assumption, jersey #10, club team IA Select. Annabelle Costello Annabelle Costello 5'8" | S Assumption | 2021 IA (2021, Ranked #69 , S) Annabelle has 10.1 APS, .7 KPS. 2.0 DPS, 9 total blocks, and 19 aces with a 90.8% serve efficiency. [player_tooltip player_id="79708" first="Ava" last="Schubert"] ,class of 2023,RS, Davenport Assumption. Ava Schubert Ava Schubert 6'1" | RS Assumption | 2023 State IA (2023, Ranked #2, RS) Ava is a 6’1" right side hitter and has 20 assists, 4.5 KPS, 2.7 DPS, 39 total blocks, and a team-high 37 aces with an 82.2% serve efficiency.     [player_tooltip player_id="17244" first="Emma" last="Schubert"], class of 2021, OH, Davenport Assumption. Emma Schubert Emma Schubert OH Assumption | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #31, OH) Emma has 1.9 KPS, 2.4 DPS, 17 total blocks, and 31 aces with a 93.7% serve efficiency. Bri Gartner, class of 2022, DS/L, Assumption. Brianna Gartner Brianna Gartner 5'5" | DS/L Davenport Assumptoin | 2022 State IA (2022, Ranked #49, L) Brianna has 47 assists, a team-high 4.1 DPS, and 21 aces with 84.2 serve efficiency. The Knights also have an unranked player making a big impact this season in Maggie Johnson (2024, MH), who is the top blocker with 58 total blocks, and other ranked players in Carly Rolf Carly Rolf 5'8" | S Assumption | 2022 State IA (2022, Ranked #52, MB), Annie Lynch Annie Lynch 5'5" | S Davenport Assumption | 2022 State IA  (2022, Ranked #94, S), Anna Quijas Anna Quijas 5'8" | OH Assumption | 2021 IA (2021, OH) and Amelia Quijas Amelia Quijas 5'8" | OH Assumption | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #129, RS).  The Knights have a stacked deck and appear ready to take on the world.  Unity Christian (23-5) Gracie Schoonhoven Gracie Schoonhoven 5'11" | OH Unity Christian | 2023 State IA (2023, Ranked #42, OH) Gracie has 3.1 KPS, 3.2 DPS, 65 total blocks, 30 of which are solo blocks, and 26 aces with 90.8% efficiency. Helping their lone ranked player out are the following unranked players: Emma Byker (2022, S) Emma has 8.7 APS, 2.2 DPS, 40 total blocks, 27 aces with a 90.0% serve efficiency. Jenna Bouma (2022, MB) Jenna has 2.0 KPS, 81 total blocks, and a team-high 36 aces with a 93.8% serve efficiency. Janie Shoonhoven (2021, DS) Janie has 18 assists, 2.0 KPS, 2.5 DPS, 42 total blocks, and a tie for team-high aces with 36 and a 93.9% serve efficiency. My point in writing about all of these unranked players is that Unity has a really good team even if they do not have as many ranked players as Assumption.  Best of luck in calling the winner in this match-up as both teams have tons of talent to draw from.  It isn’t very far from the bench to the court and both of these teams are deep with skills and drive.  They meet up on Tuesday at 10 a.m. on Court One.  Good luck to both teams! Chris Fitzgerald called this one for Assumption on Twitter earlier today, and on paper, I tend to agree with him, but, every one of these teams that have come this far are really good and I believe any one of them are capable of winning these quarterfinal matches. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows (27-2) The Cowgirls have three ranked players in our database with the specs below: [player_tooltip player_id="17239" first="Saari" last="Kuehl"] (Gladbrook-Reinbeck) and [player_tooltip player_id="17258" first="Jadyn" last="Jondle"] (CGD) playing for Six Pack this past 2020 Club Season Jadyn Jondle Jadyn Jondle DS/L Clarion-Goldfield Dows | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #21, L) Jaden has 28 assists, 3.3 DPS, and 53 aces with 92.5% serve efficiency. Alaina Freisleben Alaina Freisleben MB Clarion-Goldfield-Dows | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #99, MB) Alaina has 8.8 APS, 40 kills, 1.3 DPS, 23 total blocks with 13 being solo blocks, and 33 aces with 93.5% serve efficiency. [player_tooltip player_id="41239" first="Morgan" last="Middleton"], 2021, CGD. Morgan Middleton Morgan Middleton OH Clarion-Goldfield Dows | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #7, OH) Morgan has 6.3 KPS, 1.7 DPS, 31 total blocks with 21 of them being solo blocks, and 44 aces with a 93.5% serve efficiency.  OMG on the 6.3 and she has only missed 15 serves all year.  Very impressive player! Red Oak (30-4) The Tigers have two players making our rankings right now.   Red Oak’s [player_tooltip player_id="79272" first="Lexi" last="Johnson"], 2022, OH, [player_tooltip player_id="79039" first="Peyton" last="Cook"], Underwood, Setter, 2021. Alexis Johnson Alexis Johnson 5'6" | RS Red Oak | 2022 State IA (2022, Ranked #60, OH) Lexi has 4.4 KPS, 3.1 DPS, 31 total blocks, 37 aces with a 97.0% serve efficiency.  I have watched Lexi grow and play since she was in 5th grade and I can tell you she has more than that in her tank still.  I think this will be a whole new level for her performance and I cannot wait to see it.   [player_tooltip player_id="93046" first="Abbey" last="Jones"], class of 2021, Libero, Red Oak High School. Abbey Jones Abbey Jones DS/L Red Oak | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #63, L) Abbey is one of my favorite players to watch.  I have watched her play since her 6th-grade season.  She is a great libero without any qualifications.  I watched her serve around 97 good serves in a row when she was 12.  It was a little lesson in club practice about what a good serve looks like when she accomplished that feat.  She can do a standing flip and land on her feet.  She is very athletic and driven.  This season she has 78 assists, 58 kills, 5.4 DPS, and 45 aces with an 89.3% serve efficiency.  She is also Alexis Johnson Alexis Johnson 5'6" | RS Red Oak | 2022 State IA ’s cousin.  This is a very talented family.    These two teams don’t look evenly matched on paper, but I have watched the Tigers and all of their players for a long time now.  They really are very competitive and usually play to the level of the team they are facing.  Earlier today, Chris Fitzgerald forecast a win for CGD, but I disagree.  I think the Tigers might surprise CGD and take it from them.  We will have to see how this one plays out when they are face to face.  They play on Monday at 8 p.m. on Court Two.   Mount Vernon (30-6) Jorie Randall Jorie Randall 5'7" | DS/L Mount Vernon | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #19, L) Jorie has 3.7 DPS, and 26 aces with an 89.5% serve efficiency. [player_tooltip player_id="41237" first="Sydney" last="Dennis"], 2021, S/L, Mount Vernon. Sydney Dennis Sydney Dennis 5'5" | DS/L Mount Vernon | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #2, L) Sydney has 9.3 APS, 47 kills, 31 total blocks, and team-high 46 aces with a 97.0% serve efficiency. Rachel Axtell Rachel Axtell DS/L Mount Vernon | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #116, DS) Rachel has 2.7 DPS and  35 aces with a 94.9% serve efficiency. Camryn Ellyson Camryn Ellyson MB Mount Vernon | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #68, MH) Camryn has 2.1 KPS, 31 digs, 61 total blocks, and 27 aces with an 82.8% serve efficiency. [player_tooltip player_id="17217" first="Lauren" last="Schrock"], 2021, OH, Mount Vernon. Lauren Schrock Lauren Schrock 6'2" | OH Mount Vernon | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #5, OH) Lauren is a 6’2" OH with 3.7 KPS, 45 digs, and 22 total blocks.  Some more ranked players for Mount Vernon include Madison Cranston Madison Cranston OH Mount Vernon | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #96, OH) with 1.7 KPS,  Madeline Miller Madeline Miller 5'11" | S Mount Vernon | 2023 State IA  (2023, Ranked #49, S), Dani Pitts Dani Pitts MB Mount Vernon | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #82, MB), and Natalie Welch Natalie Welch 6'0" | RS Mount Vernon | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #24, RS) with 1.9 KPS.  Unranked but blocking for the Mustangs is Sara Rhomberg (2022, MB) with 1.3 KPS and 37 total blocks.  This team is deep with talent and spreads the wealth among their entire team.  Altogether, this is a tough team to beat. Union (31-9) Allie Driscol Allie Driscol 5'3" | S Union | 2021 State IA  (2021, Ranked #67, S) Allie has 9.5 APS, 55 kills, 2.0 DPS, 26 total blocks, and 16 aces with a 93.7% serve efficiency.  Belle Weber Belle Weber OH Union | 2021 State IA (2021, Ranked #39, OH) Belle has 5.2 KPS!, 2.8 DPS, 32 total blocks with a team-high 13 solo, and 46 aces with a 94.3% serve efficiency.  Belle is an all-around threat from any area of the court.  The question is, is this enough to take on Mount Vernon and prevail?  Probably not alone but she also has help from unranked players like Lexi Nolan (2022, OH) with 1.7 KPS, Aubrey Gates (2023, MH) with 2.2 KPS, and Laura Rempe (2022, MH) with 1.2 KPS.  These unranked names are all over this team’s complete stats page and will definitely have an impact when these two teams meet on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. on Court Two.  Earlier today on Twitter, Chris Fitzgerald, Prep Dig regional scout and manager, picked Mount Vernon to win this contest but I am going to go with Union in this matchup.  Good luck to all of the players and teams in Class 3A!!!!