HS Dream Team of the Week: Ward, Pruitt, Laurendine, Sheppard, Hurst, Vazquez, Favre, Christian

Every week during the high school season, VolleyballMag.com recognizes a Dream Team of players who were standouts the weekend before. Most weeks, the eight-girl Dream Team will consist of the following:

Setter
Setter, S/RS or RS
OH
OH
MB
MB
Libero
DS

This week, because no defensive specialists or right sides were nominated, we added a second setter and third OH.

Players will be considered for Dream Team ONLY if they are nominated by their high school coaches using this link: https://volleyballmag.com/hs-player-of-the-week-submissions/.

Nominations will be solicited by email to high school coaches only on our email list. To sign up, follow this link: https://volleyballmag.com/hs-email-sign-up/

Note to coaches and directors: while there is no science to how we choose members of our Dream Team, performing on bigger stages will give players an edge, as will nomination forms that describe with specificity how well a player performed the previous week.

DREAM TEAM for October 26, 2022
S: Livia Ward, 5-10 Soph., Mount St. Mary (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) – Ward led the Rockets to a second straight Oklahoma 5A title.

The sophomore played her best volleyball when the team needed her most. She recorded 44 assists in the three-set sweep of Bishop McGuinness, including 17 in the final set, which pushed her past the 1,000 assist mark on the season. The state tournament MVP also added 15 digs and made zero errors in 16 service attempts with one ace.

S: Ashley Pruitt, 5-8 Sr., Briarcrest Christian (Eads, Tennessee) – Pruitt led the Saints to another Division II-AA state title this past week. She hoisted 109 helpers for the tournament (10.9 per set) and was a prime reason Briarcrest Christian hit .325 for the week. “She played well in all facets of the game,” said coach Associate Head Coach April Jauregui. “Her biggest contribution is that she plays with amazing passion and energy. She was poised on the court and brought senior leadership. She did a great job distributing the offense and following the game plan.”

OH: Lakin Laurendine, 6-2 Sr., Jackson Academy (Jackson, Mississippi) – An Auburn recruit and the 2021 Gatorade Mississippi POY, Laurendine put her exclamation point on the 2021 season by recording 20 kills, 19 digs and two aces in a sweep of  Madison-Ridgeland Academy. A four-year state champion with the Raiders (40-5), she finished 2022 with 623 kills (4.9 per set), 526 digs, 97 aces and 35…