USA Volleyball selected 17 athletes from around the country for the first ever under-17 girls national team and has them training at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., through Saturday this week.
From that group, 12 players will be selected to play in the NORCECA Women’s U17 Continental Championship that is next Tuesday through Nov. 9 in San Jose, Costa Rica.
It is a great opportunity for the athletes to compete against some of the best young players in the world, but the timing is bad for those from Texas. It will force a handful of the top Dallas-area players to miss at least the first round of the UIL playoffs and possibly more.
Mansfield’s MC Crutcher, Hebron’s Taylor Johnson and Allen’s Maya Ogbogu will all miss their team’s playoff opener this week, their coaches confirmed. Those are big losses, given that Crutcher ranks third in the Dallas area with 534 kills, Ogbogu is tied for seventh with 466 kills and Johnson is Hebron’s team leader in kills.
High School Sports
“It would be difficult to step into the playoffs without any of our players on our 16-man roster, so it’s difficult, but we also have a good team and a deep bench and kids that are ready to step in and play hard,” Mansfield coach Julie Price said.
Mansfield, ranked No. 27 nationally, starts the playoffs Thursday night with a match against Keller (30-6), ranked No. 5 in the area. Crutcher, a freshman, has had more than 20 kills four times this season, with a high of 33 against Midlothian and 30 against Mansfield Lake Ridge.
Johnson was a MaxPreps freshman All-American and second-team all-area selection last year after she had 466 kills to help Hebron reach the regional semifinals. This year, she will be missing when District 5-6A co-champion Hebron (26-11) plays Plano East (28-10) on Friday in one of the top first-round matchups in the area, with Hebron ranked No. 6 and Plano East No. 9 in D-FW.
“It’s extremely challenging, but we’ve got really good depth, so I feel confident in our depth,” Hebron coach Rachel Buckley said.
Ogbogu was the area’s newcomer of the year last season when she was a freshman All-American and led Allen to the state semifinals for the first time since 2006. District 6-6A co-champion Allen (35-6), ranked No. 3 in the area and No. 36 nationally, plays Coppell in the first round Thursday.
Plano’s Bella Osborn and Coram Deo’s Grace Hengler were also selected for the under-17 national team. Plano (27-10) plays District 5-6A co-champion Flower Mound (33-8) in the first round of the UIL playoffs Thursday. Coram Deo is a private school in TAPPS, and most of their Dallas-area teams have a first-round bye this week.
Any local players selected for the travel squad that will compete in Costa Rica would also miss the second and third round of the UIL playoffs that are next week. If they got back in time, they might be able to play in regional finals that are Nov. 10-11, if their team makes it that far.
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