Updated Rankings: Class of 2023
The Class of 2023 and 2024 were easily the toughest to rank this year. When we introduced our first 2023 rankings in August, we had primarily their freshman seasons to work from due to an abbreviated club season. The top…
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Continue ReadingThe Class of 2023 and 2024 were easily the toughest to rank this year. When we introduced our first 2023 rankings in August, we had primarily their freshman seasons to work from due to an abbreviated club season. The top few athletes were quickly identified. We don’t discuss these players with college coaches due to NCAA rules, however, an easy search of their social media followers will tell you who are among the top prospects. As we continue to navigate the rankings for this class; high school numbers, all-state recognition, and input from regional coaches and scouts played a large determining factor in these updated rankings. Our initial rankings identified the top 20 athletes in this class. We had added an additional 30 from our first update. The plan is to add more athletes as the club season gets off and running (fingers crossed) Here are your 2023 updated rankings.
Setter Dominated Class
This is a very talented and deep class of setters in the state of Missouri. Many of these athletes are on the watch list of a variety of Division 1 programs. The head of the class and top-ranked prospect running away is Rock Bridge and KC Power’s Ella Swindle Ella Swindle 6'2" | S Rock Bridge | 2023 State #6 Nation MO . At 6’2″, it is quite possible she may need to add another phone line or two by June 15th when many programs will call and text all day. She is athletic and poised and among the top setters in the entire country. Sydney Draper Sydney Draper 5'11" | S Pembroke Hill | 2023 State #143 Nation MO comes in 4th overall and the 2nd ranked setter in this class. She plays up with KC Power’s 17s team and is a silky smooth ball handler. She is as competitive and smart as they come. In complete transparency, we actually have two ranked at number 4 but the system doesn’t allow that to occur. So right next to Draper is Carl Junction’s Logan Jones Logan Jones 5'10" | S Carl Junction | 2023 State #57 Nation MO . Like Swindle, Jones makes the trek to Kansas City this year to join Mavs KC. She has great foot speed and utilizes it to make sets some setters would give up on. Her ball placement is phenomenal. Draper and Jones both stand at 5’10”, which with their talent makes them prospects to many D1 Programs. The newest setter to the rankings, coming in at 10 is probably the most athletic out of the bunch in Lee Summit’s Makya Clayton Makya Clayton 5'6" | S Lee's Summit | 2023 State MO . If you’ve seen her in action, you get our drift. While only standing at 5’6″, she plays as if she’s 5’10. She jumps like crazy and this is after missing her freshman campaign with a knee injury. She worked back and has proven she’s one of the top players in the state. She has good hands and a great jump set. Juliette Myrick Juliette Myrick 5'11" | S Eureka | 2023 State #100 Nation MO holds steady at the 12th spot in these updated rankings. Another good setter with size, the southpaw is heady with her dumps and 2nd ball swings. She provides a good block when in the front row. Ashley Mullen Ashley Mullen 5'10" | S Liberty | 2023 State #9 Nation MO rounds out our setters in the top 20 coming in at 14. In her second season, she took over the offense in the 5-1 and had a great season. She is another setter who hustles all over the court to make plays. She is extremely athletic and makes the tough plays look easy.
New to the Rankings and Top 20
#7 Chapel Dobbs Chapel Dobbs 6'1" | OH Helias | 2023 State MO – OH – Helias/Dynasty
Dobbs not only entered the rankings this time around but positioned herself to make a jump into the top 5 if her play continues to elevate. The 6’1″ hitter is powerful and will continue to increase that power as she gets stronger. She is continuing to develop as a defender and passer as evidenced in her statistics this fall. She made a huge jump in production from her freshman season finishing with 325 kills.
#10 Makya Clayton Makya Clayton 5'6" | S Lee's Summit | 2023 State MO – S – Lee’s Summit/PVA
We discussed Clayton above in the top setters discussion. She is a fun player to watch. She averaged over 10 assists per set and contributed almost 200 digs on the year.
#11 Mia Berg Mia Berg 6'1" | OH Eureka | 2023 State MO – OH – Eureka/Rockwood
Berg caught the eye of quite a few individuals over the last year. She has good size and has shown she is capable of being a big-time player. In 12 matches this fall she averaged around 2 1/2 kills per set
#19 Ashlyn Bellamy Ashlyn Bellamy 6'1" | OH Lee's Summit | 2023 State MO – OH – Lee’s Summit/Mavs 816
Bellamy is a player we could see continuing to move up this list over the years. She is an aggressive attacker and will be the go-to scorer on the pins for years to come.