High School Spotlight: Northbrook Raiders
The high school volleyball season is underway in Texas and talented young players have been showcasing their skills in every corner of the Lone Star state. One of our missions at Prep Dig is to highlight as many teams and…
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Continue ReadingThe high school volleyball season is underway in Texas and talented young players have been showcasing their skills in every corner of the Lone Star state.
One of our missions at Prep Dig is to highlight as many teams and prospects as possible around the state, from State Championship contenders and household names to underdogs and special talents who might be flying under-the-radar.
We spend a lot of time at the gyms gathering information and watching matches and will use this space to highlight some of the teams and players we got to watch in person. Our topic today is the Northbrook Raiders.
Northbrook Raiders
Part of the 6A class and the Region III – District 14, the Raiders play for the Northbrook High School, located in Houston, in the Spring Branch neighborhood. The team saw a massive turnover after last season, graduating as many as 12 seniors and seeing 15-year head coach Vanessa Garcia-Wheeler leave. The new group of players is yet to find its footing under first-year coach Jamie Henk and has lost all of its 14 matches in the season so far.
Players to Watch:
Jasmine Ochoa – Libero – 2022
If there’s one area of the game where the Raiders haven’t struggled it’s serve-receiving and starting libero Jasmine Ochoa should take a lot of credit for it. The diminutive defender does a tremendous job with her passing, covering a huge amount of the court and delivering dimes to her setter more often than not. Ochoa is a hard-worker on the court and is extremely reliable with the entirety of her game, most notably her serves.
Nyla Walker – Middle Blocker – 2023
Also a basketball player for Northbrook, Walker provides some much-needed size and length at the net for the Raiders. Her game is still a work in progress from a technical standpoint, but her physical tools allow her to already impact matches at the net. Walker has good reach on offense and a block that’s big enough to bother opposing hitters.
Madison Campbell – Outside Hitter – 2023
Madison Campbell’s game might still be a little bit raw, but it’s easy to see her potential. An extremely athletic outside hitter, she goes up really high at the net and has arguably the heaviest arm in the entire roster. All that power also translates to her serving game as she’s extremely dangerous from there as well. Cutting down the number of unforced errors and improving her backcourt game would both tremendously improve her ability to help the team.