Tori Dixon is quite the player. Her size is quite intimidating. My daughter is a 5'8" OH that has paired up with her, or should I say, tried to. She just says, man is she strong, hurts my hands IF I get a hand on the block. Her size is explained if you have seen her dad, David Dixon former Minnesota Vikings Offensive Guard (6'5 350ish). I've had the opportunity to watch her and Northern Lights on several occasions. When Tori is on the front row, they are virtually unstoppable and they seem to make it look effortless. Our girls were neck and neck with them (to our surprise and excitement) but then Tori rotated to the front and our hopes and dreams of taking a game from them were shattered. I should mention, the other N.L middle is no slacker. Very impressive as well. Another key factor is setter Molly Kreklow. Extremely accurate and athletic. They are solid from every angle.

I believe N.L.'s average height is 6'1". Early in the season they played MAVA which shines behind the impressive play making ability of 5'9" Emily Juhl (one of my favorite players to watch. Too bad that opportunity game along only once this year with the JVDA move). It was a very entertaining match. MAVA's average height is 5'9" and they challenged N.L. to 3 games.

All that said, it does appear that all roads go through N.L's at JO's but I see several Texas teams with the ability to challenge. TAV, Young Guns, Willowbrook to name a few. We'll be over on the national division courts giving it our best shot but I'll be finding my way to the Open courts and can't wait to see the 16's battle it out. It should be a BIG time... after all everything is BIG in Texas, enter Tori Dixon!