Brande: Newport-Mesa area players making their mark on next level

As the CIF girls’ volleyball playoffs are in full swing, it is amazing how well the former Newport-Mesa high school players are doing during their respective college seasons. Many have excelled as they move their game to the next level. The quality of the level of play in high school is directly related to each player’s college experience.

Britton Taylor (Corona del Mar High) is in her senior season at UC Santa Barbara. She is currently second on the Gauchos in kills and has been in the top three for three of her four seasons. UCSB will be playing UC Irvine on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at the Bren Event Center. This will be Britton’s final match of her outstanding volleyball career.

At Hawaii Pacific University, Kasey Thompson (Newport Harbor) concludes her senior season as the captain and a four-year starter. Typical of the Thompson clan, Kasey is playing despite a badly injured knee.

Tristen Thompson, who has suffered and recovered from numerous knee surgeries, has emerged at Santa Barbara City College as the libero. She currently leads the Western State Conference in digs and is hoping to continue her volleyball career at a four-year school next fall. Her twin sister, Torey, is the only setter at Chico State for the third season in a row. She is second in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. in assists after leading the conference for her first two seasons.

Hunter Jennings (Newport Harbor) is the libero at the University of San Diego and is leading her team in digs and understanding how to win. As a three-year starter, Hunter’s ball control and ultra-competitive gamesmanship allows her to lead the Toreros who are tied for first in the West Coast Conference with BYU. She also leads her team in aces and digs.

Newport Beach’s Reegan Dennis (Orange Lutheran) is a junior middle blocker at Pepperdine University, while Paige Migliori (CdM) is a freshman setter for the Waves.

Carolyn Bockrath who played at Newport Harbor before attending West Point (Army), is the leader of the Black Knights who are second in the Patriot League. Carolyn leads her team in kills, blocks, and kill percentage (similar to a batting average) where her .416 average is second in the Patriot League and 13th nationally.

Another player making her move collegiately is Alexis Cage (CdM) who has emerged as a starting outside hitter in her redshirt sophomore year at San Diego State. While her hitting is strong, Alexis also is third on the team in digs.

Katie Craig, who was a standout on last season’s team at Corona del Mar, is playing considerably as a serving and back-row specialist at Colorado State. The Rams are leading the Mountain West Conference and are ranked 13th in the nation.

Maddie Abbott (Sage Hill School) has stepped in at the University of Michigan as the Wolverines No. 2 setter in a 6-2 system. The Big 12 Conference is a huge step from Sage, but Maddie through hard work, has become an integral part of the attack at Michigan.

Another former Sage Hill standout, Kekai Whitford, is playing as a back-row specialist at Loyola Marymount. She has played in every game and is third in digs and aces for the Lions. LMU is fourth in the West Coast Conference.

Stanford has the most Newport-Mesa players with four. Juniors Grace Kennedy and Kelsey Humphreys both had outstanding careers at Corona del Mar and they have continued as a part of the very successful program at Stanford. Kelsey backs up All-American Madi Bugg at setter and is used as a serving specialist also.

Two freshmen who have made quite an impact for the Cardinal are Hayley Hodson (CdM) and Halland McKenna (Sage Hill). Halland is the libero and improves with each match as she conquers the tough task of serve reception in the Pac-12. Hayley, who moved to the opposite position, has led the Cardinal in kills, hitting percentage and serving. She has garnered Pac-12 freshman of the week many times. Stanford is tied for third with UCLA in the Pac-12 (behind leader USC and Washington) and sixth nationally.

Katie Duhoux (Newport Harbor) is continuing her volleyball career at Orange Coast College where she is the starting outside hitter for Chuck Cutenese’s Pirates. Brittany Welsh (Mater Dei) is a freshman middle blocker at Louisiana State University and has shown great results as one of the Tigers’ most efficient blockers.

Another exciting story is Logan Grove (Newport Harbor) at Concordia University. Logan started the year as the No. 3 setter and did not even make the Eagles’ first road trip. Eventually due to injuries to the two starting setters, Logan was given the opportunity to “run the show” and the team has taken off. Her second week starting (Oct. 12-18), she was named as the Pacwest Conference Freshman of the Week. She is also second in the conference in aces per game. What a credit to her perseverance.

Now as the current seniors finish their high school careers, it will be exciting to watch CdM’s Payton Carter (Pepperdine), Jessie Harris (Princeton), Natalia Bruening (UCSB basketball) and Newport Harbor’s Remy Wilson (UCLA sand volleyball) as they move ahead in their athletic careers.