Rank School

1 Assumption (28)

2 Mercy Academy

3 Notre Dame

4 North Oldham

5 Elizabethtown

6 Ballard

7 Sacred Heart

8 West Jessamine

9 Lexington Catholic

10 Bowling Green

11 McCracken County

12 Paul Laurence Dunbar

13 St. Henry District

14 DuPont Manual

15 Great Crossing

16 Ashland Blazer

17 Conner

18 Ryle

19 Central Hardin

T-20 Adair County

T-20 Bullitt East

22 Holy Cross (Louisville)

23 Frederick Douglass

24 Whitley County

T-25 Apollo

T-25 Beechwood

Rank Region 1

1 McCracken County

2 Ballard Memorial

3 Graves County

4 Marshall County

5 Mayfield

Rank Region 2

1 Henderson County

2 Heritage Christian Academy

3 Christian County

4 Crittenden County

T-5 Fort Campbell

T-5 Madisonville-North Hopkins

Rank Region 3

1 Apollo

2 Daviess County

3 Owensboro Catholic

4 Meade County

5 Ohio County

Rank Region 4

1 Bowling Green

2 South Warren

3 Greenwood

4 Warren East

5 Logan County

Rank Region 5

1 Elizabethtown

2 Adair County

3 Taylor County

4 Central Hardin

5 Thomas Nelson

Rank Region 6

1 Mercy Academy

2 Holy Cross (Louisville)

T-3 Bullitt East

T-3 North Bullitt

T-5 Bullitt Central

T-5 Butler

Rank Region 7

1 Assumption

2 Sacred Heart

3 Dupont Manual

4 Christian Academy - Louisville

5 Ballard

Rank Region 8

1 North Oldham

2 Eminence

3 Oldham County

4 Simon Kenton

5 Woodford County

Rank Region 9

1 Notre Dame

T-2 Beechwood

T-2 St. Henry District

4 Ryle

5 Conner

Rank Region 10

1 Bishop Brossart

2 George Rogers Clark

3 Scott

4 Calvary Christian

5 Montgomery County

Rank Region 11

1 Lexington Catholic

2 Paul Laurence Dunbar

3 Great Crossing

4 Frederick Douglass

T-5 Madison Central

T-5 Sayre

T-5 Tates Creek

Rank Region 12

1 West Jessamine

2 Trinity Christian

3 Somerset

4 Pulaski County

5 Southwestern

Rank Region 13

1 Whitley County

2 Corbin

3 Bell County

4 South Laurel

5 North Laurel

Rank Region 14

1 Knott County Central

2 Letcher County Central

3 Leslie County

T-4 Breathitt County

T-4 Wolfe County

Rank Region 15

1 Shelby Valley

2 Paintsville

3 Betsy Layne

4 Johnson Central

5 Pikeville

Rank Region 16

1 Ashland Blazer

2 Rowan County

3 Russell

4 Greenup County

5 Boyd County

Assumption SMOKES Mercy twice last weekend, but Mercy is better than NDA? Get out of here with that. Beechwood at 25 is crazy as well.

3 hours ago, Three Blind Mice said:

Assumption SMOKES Mercy twice last weekend, but Mercy is better than NDA? Get out of here with that. Beechwood at 25 is crazy as well.

"The Louisville Lean"???

17 hours ago, NoKYJimmy said:

"The Louisville Lean"???

That is a huge part of it. But also the Bluegrass Games effect. Coaches who vote in that poll and take their teams to those scrimmages will always vote for the teams they see performing well over teams they haven’t seen yet.

4 hours ago, vbtalk said:

That is a huge part of it. But also the Bluegrass Games effect. Coaches who vote in that poll and take their teams to those scrimmages will always vote for the teams they see performing well over teams they haven’t seen yet.

Conner and LexCath

7 hours ago, vbtalk said:

That is a huge part of it. But also the Bluegrass Games effect. Coaches who vote in that poll and take their teams to those scrimmages will always vote for the teams they see performing well over teams they haven’t seen yet.

Not sure what they saw in Assumption v Mercy that made them confident in Mercy beating NDA....but whatever. Volleyball seems, out of ALL OF THE SPORTS I'VE BEEN AROUND, to have have the most good 'ole boy award network.

5 hours ago, Three Blind Mice said:

Conner and LexCath

Not sure what they saw in Assumption v Mercy that made them confident in Mercy beating NDA....but whatever. Volleyball seems, out of ALL OF THE SPORTS I'VE BEEN AROUND, to have have the most good 'ole boy award network.

Believe it or not this is the best preseason poll I’ve seen in a while. Usually NDA is 5th or worse, there are first place votes given to teams who wouldn get single digited by Assumptions or NDA, and couldn’t take a set from half the teams in the 9th. I don’t get nearly as worked up about the KVCA poll as I used to since it will all work itself out. But the all state voting is what gets me. That’s a complete joke.

Updated Yesterday (08/26):

Rank / School
1 Assumption (23)
2 Notre Dame
3 Mercy Academy
4 Sacred Heart
5 North Oldham
6 St. Henry District
7 Lexington Catholic
8 Bowling Green
9 Elizabethtown
10 Ballard
11 West Jessamine
12 Paul Laurence Dunbar
13 Beechwood
14 Ryle
15 DuPont Manual
16 McCracken County
17 Ashland Blazer
18 Great Crossing
19 Christian Academy-Louisville
20 Frederick Douglass
21 Conner
22 Apollo
23 Adair County
24 Greenwood
25 Holy Cross (Louisville)

After having seen some teams play, I think the gap between the top teams and the best of the rest is closing. Assumption is good, as they always are. But they are not the #3 team in the country. I don't know if anyone in KY can beat them. As for the teams who are usually good enough to challenge them, I don't think that's the case this year. Assumption pretty much walked through that Knoxville tournament, and it looked like their top player was on the sideline. Beechwood challenged them in one set, but not the second. SHA, St Henry, and Mercy lost to teams not nearly as good as Assumption. NDA got handled last night by a Cincinnati team. Granted, a top Cincinnati team who will almost definitely win their division of OHSAA state championship. But NDA wasn't even competitive with them. Now, it's August 27th. There's a ton of time left. In 2022, NDA dropped an early season match to a different Cincinnati team and then went on to win State. I don't see that happening this year, but they can bounce back as well as anyone. The 9th is wide open for Beechwood to be the first ever 9th Region (current alignment) public school to make it to State. St Henry has a great shot too. It's been a long and dominant run from the top teams, but that run might have an expiration date in the next few years.

Beechwood just made a massive statement tonight. The athleticism of their front row is extremely impressive.

I watched NDA, and I think they look unbalanced compared to years past. The 5-1 doesn't seem to fit them like it does St Henry or Beechwood.

I think we see the Regional Final being a repeat of the 35th District Final this year.

Mercy and Sacred Heart both got beat pretty handily by Cincinnati teams today. Sacred Heart lost 25-15, 25-15 to Kings in the CIT. Mercy lost 25-10, 25-18, 25-15 to Ursuline. Just a down year for KHSAA vball. Ohio is always a whole lot deeper than we are if you look at the top 25 or 50 teams in each state. But the top 5 has been leaning towards Kentucky for a while now. Not the case at all this year. Our 2nd best team (whoever that is) this year might not be top 10 in Ohio.

Things just got a whole lot more interestinger.

2 hours ago, Three Blind Mice said:

Things just got a whole lot more interestinger.

I guess this comment pertains to last night's result in Park Hills? 🧐

...if so, I agree - especially regarding the 9th Region.

It's obviously very early in the season, so I imagine there'll be a lot more interestingER developments between now & the end of October / beginning of November.

Out of the teams I've seen, Beechwood is the most athletic. On top of that, they are playing 2 Freshmen and an 8th grader. By Regionals, theoretically they should be even better. St. Henry is huge and will improve dramatically as their new faces keep getting reps. Notre Dame, like I said before, seems unbalanced in a 5-1. They've run a 6-2 since I've been following.

After that, there's a drop. Ryle is limited this year on the pins. Their middles are awesome. Conner struggles w/ their block, but have a trump card in Patton if they ever focused setting her.

6-10 is a toss up in the 9th.

At this point I don't think Conner is 5th. They were definitely 4th or 5th going into the season, but now they've lost to Brossart (granted, different region but still NKAC) and Holy Cross. I guess that makes Holy Cross or Highlands #5. Of were talking about NKAC teams, Brossart has a strong case for 5th. SK looks like they could be decent when they catch up with their new coach. As for Ryle, Wilkinson is probably the top player in her class in NKY, and top 5 in the state. She's that good.

NDA is an enigma. They still have the most talent from top to bottom. Every problem I've seen is fixable. Their off blocker defense is atrocious right now. St Henry scored on them at will with tips and setter dumps. I can't imagine they won't make that a priority to fix. And the setting decisions should improve with more experience in the 5-1. NDA had match point in the 3rd and they set the OPP instead of the Power 4 committed outside, or the Power 4 committed middle. If she does, NDA probably wins in 3 and this is a different conversation. I will say it's a lot of fun with this many contenders instead of trying to figure out if anyone can win a set against the favorite!