Two routes to the same number

Karsyn Evans plays libero at Aledo, which is 19-6. She has 497 digs and 280 receptions and she has been the back row of a good team all season, which means most of her touches come in rallies her side is winning, on serve receive against opponents trying to keep the ball away from her and mostly failing.

Makayla Escobedo plays defensive specialist and libero at Madison in San Antonio, which is 8-20. She has 495 digs and 370 receptions. Her touches come in a different kind of match. Madison has played 67 sets to Aledo's 63, and Escobedo is at 7.4 digs per set to Evans at 7.9, so the two of them have arrived at nearly the same total by opposite routes. Evans has done it at a higher rate in fewer chances. Escobedo has done it by being on the floor for more volleyball, a great deal of it in sets her team was losing, where getting the ball off the ground is the only thing left worth doing.

Two digs separate them. If either plays a set tonight it changes.

Side by side

Karsyn Evans	Two digs apart	Makayla Escobedo
497	Digs	495
63	Sets played	67
7.9	Digs per set	7.4
280	Receptions	370
19-6	Team record	8-20

We are not going to tell you which one is better

Evans has the record and the cleaner sample. Escobedo has 370 receptions, the most of anyone in this piece, which is what happens when the other team serves at you all night because they have figured out it is working. Those are two different kinds of good, and a college coach will have a view about which one she wants.

Leyton Minnix at Crawford is at 469 in 58 sets, 8.1 per set, for a 21-5 team, with 340 receptions and 25 aces.

The one player above 400 with a better rate than any of them is Ashley Ruschill at McKinney Boyd, 483 digs at 8.9 per set. Ruschill is a sophomore. Players her age do not usually turn up in a conversation about the national dig lead in August, and she leads her whole class in it by more than a hundred.

The national dig board, thirty deep

Rank	Athlete	Pos	Class	High school	State	Digs	Sets	Per set	Source
1	Karsyn Evans	L/DS	Sr.	Aledo	TX	497	63	7.9	School page
2	Makayla Escobedo	DS/L	Jr.	Madison, San Antonio	TX	495	67	7.4	School page
3	Ashley Ruschill	L	So.	McKinney Boyd, McKinney	TX	483	54	8.9	School page
4	Leyton Minnix	L/DS	Jr.	Crawford	TX	469	58	8.1	School page
5	Camryn Bruder	L	Sr.	Burleson	TX	381	63	6.0	School page
6	Kyleigh Shaw	S	Jr.	Madison, San Antonio	TX	363	67	5.4	School page
7	Emily Redwine	L	Sr.	Denton	TX	360	63	5.7	National board
8	Xyanna Stephens	L/DS	Sr.	Lake Travis, Austin	TX	357	64	5.6	National board
9	Louisa Ertischek	L/DS	So.	Lake Creek, Montgomery	TX	354	78	4.5	School page
10	Addison Mayo	L	Sr.	Flour Bluff, Corpus Christi	TX	344	58	5.9	National board
11	Ashley Shreves	—	Fr.	Springtown	TX	344	80	4.3	School page
12	Tiara Cooks	DS	Sr.	McCallum, Austin	TX	337	62	5.4	National board
13	Zoe Miller	OH/L	So.	Hebron, Carrollton	TX	317	67	4.7	School page
14	Madison Moody	L	Sr.	Smithson Valley, Spring Branch	TX	314	53	5.9	National board
15	Maggie Wheeler	OH	Jr.	Lake Travis, Austin	TX	312	64	4.9	National board
16	Alani Williams	L	Fr.	Rock Hill, Frisco	TX	309	59	5.2	School page
17	Violet Garza	DS	So.	Harlan, San Antonio	TX	308	64	4.8	National board
18	Milan Benavides	L	Sr.	Glenn, Leander	TX	305	59	5.2	School page
19	Isa Cordaway-Dreier	L/DS	So.	Round Rock	TX	304	63	4.8	National board
20	Piper Adair	OH	Jr.	McCallum, Austin	TX	303	62	4.9	National board
21	Preslie Shiflett	DS/L	Sr.	Ryan, Denton	TX	299	54	5.5	National board
22	Mackenzi White	DS/L	Sr.	Centennial, Burleson	TX	299	57	5.2	National board
23	Mackenzie Ressler	OH/L	Sr.	West Rusk, New London	TX	298	47	6.3	National board
24	Piper Marquart	L	Sr.	Ridge Point, Missouri City	TX	298	57	5.2	National board
25	Alina Pinter	DS/L	Fr.	Duncanville	TX	286	55	5.2	National board
26	Cydnie Flynn	—	—	Carroll, Southlake	TX	265	61	4.3	National board
27	Jozlin Rodriguez	S/DS	Sr.	McAllen Memorial, McAllen	TX	248	65	3.8	School page
28	Elena Barreto	L	So.	Paschal, Fort Worth	TX	240	62	3.9	National board
29	Kendal White	OPP	Sr.	Iowa Colony	TX	236	62	3.8	School page
30	Brielle Boothe	OH/DS	Sr.	Boerne-Champion, Boerne	TX	218	45	4.8	School page

Every name on that board plays in Texas

That is not a claim about Texas. It is a claim about the calendar. The players on this board have played between 45 and 80 sets. Most of the country has played fewer than twenty and some of it has not started. A libero in Wisconsin who will finish the season with 600 digs currently has 40.

So read this as a list of who has had the most opportunities and taken them, and check back in October when the sample is fair.

The rest of the country shows up on rate

Kennedy Shockley, Fishers (IN) is at 5.8 digs per set, through six matches, the best rate we found in any state that started this month.

Elizabeth Campbell, Montgomery Academy (Montgomery, AL) is at 5.0 digs per set, 75 digs in fifteen sets.

Emma Rupeika, Northview (Johns Creek, GA) is at 3.9 digs per set, for a team that is 1-14.

Elaine Bogus, Juan Diego Catholic (Draper, UT) is at 2.7 digs per set, through four matches.

Brooke Williams, Carrboro (NC) is at 2.3 digs per set, leading her programme, which is 8-2.

Shockley and Campbell have two of the best dig rates in the country on roughly a tenth of the sets of the players at the top of the board.

On the cusp

Kennedy Shockley (Fishers IN), Elizabeth Campbell (Montgomery Academy AL), Ashley Ruschill (McKinney Boyd TX), Mackenzie Ressler (West Rusk TX), Emma Rupeika (Northview GA).

Ruschill has the best rate of anybody above 400 digs. Ressler has the fewest sets of anyone near 300.

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*Stats as of Aug. 31, 2026.