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Crosley

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Posts posted by Crosley

  1. Beechwood was undefeated in the tournament with wins over:

    - McAdory High School (McCalla, AL)

    - Bowling Green

    - Page High School (Franklin, TN)

    - Paul Lawrence Dunbar

    - Harrison High School (Kennesaw, GA)

     

    From what I understand, Harrison was undefeated coming into that final game.

     

    There were quite a few Kentucky Teams in the tournament, including Ryle, Cooper, Scott, NCC, Southwestern, West Jessamine, Henry Clay, Dunbar, Tates Creek, Elizabethtown, Bowling Green, South Warren, and Lexington Catholic.

  2. With some early season results in, we have some idea of what this should look like:

    1. Assumption

    2. Mercy

    3. Notre Dame

    4. Sacred Heart

     

    After that it gets more difficult, but I don't think Henry Clay should be up as high as is. I think both Presentation and North Oldham have beaten Henry Clay in early season play.

  3. I'm just guessing, because I'm not a part of this rating process...but I'm sure the placement of Beechwood has something to do with the fact that 9th Region Coaches vote in the 9th Region Poll...every coach in Kentucky votes for Statewide Poll. I'm also guessing that the State Poll is based on the last weeks tournament, but who knows. Beechwood played several teams on that list.

     

    In my opinion Ballard is missing. I thought they were a really solid Team. Based on seeing them in one match, I would go as far as saying top 10 or 12.

  4. I have seen them all play, and to me it's between McDonald, Smith and Bush. I don't want that to sound like I am taking anything away from Natalie and Lainey. Rachel McDonald might as well be a Libero that also hits because NCC has her receive no matter where she is on the floor. Plus she hits what seems to be 80% of the attacks. Katy Smith and Haley Bush are very similar to Rachel. We just don't see them as much as NCC. But you get this sense that without these girls on their respective teams, you would see a big drop off in terms of their team's success.

  5. Thanks Moderator for fixing the title. It's definitely about next year (2016). My bad on that. The 10th Region thread probably needs to be fixed, too. I must have been looking at that before starting this one up.

     

    In my opinion, NDA is still #1 in NKY and in the 9th Region. They will be taller in the front row than they have been in awhile. I don't buy any lack of experience arguments because these girls have played since they were in Third Grade. They have plenty of experience and in high pressure club volleyball situations. I think where NDA will lack is defense. I just don't see how they can be as good in the backrow without Morgan Hentz and some of the seniors that are graduating in May / June 2016. To be honest, Morgan Hentz seemed to be everywhere on defense. They missed her when she was out of the game. If folks didn't see that, I'm not sure what they were looking at.

     

    With that said, I think other teams in the 9th Region will challenge NDA in ways they haven't been challenged in awhile. It doesn't mean NDA will get beat, it just means that they will be challenged more this upcoming year than in the past.

     

    I think the rest of the teams like Cooper, Ryle, St. Henry, Beechwood, and New Cath will be in the rung down. They all have weaknesses. That makes it hard to be consistent game in and game out.

     

    On the positive side:

    Cooper will have a very strong senior class.

    Ryle is a big school and almost can't help but put out a strong team each year because of their sheer numbers.

    St. Henry has solid coaching and a very good player in Maria Tobergte.

    Beechwood's has strong junior class that tends to play consistent, solid volleyball and they rarely beat themselves.

    New Cath has two very versatile, talented players that they play through.

     

    It should be lots of fun this year.

  6. It's early, but I saw the thread on the Tenth Region, and thought I would start one for the Ninth Region outlook for 2017.

     

    - Is NDA still the team to beat? Are they going to reload and not miss a beat?

    - Will Cooper and their Seniors be a serious contender for the Region?

    - How will Ryle, Conner, and Boone County look?

    - What’s the outlook for St. Henry?

    - How does New Cath stack-up? Will Rachel McDonald take 90% of the swings for New Cath?

    - How does Beechwood stack-up against the rest of the field now that their Sophomores are turning into upper classmen?

     

    I’ve got to think NDA is still on top, but I’m wondering how they will look defensively without Morgan Hentz and some of their other DS’s? I also have to think Cooper will be strong this year.

     

    What does everyone else think?

  7. Best defensive player I have ever seen at the high school level. I could go on and on about her volleyball IQ and her ability to anticipate.

     

    Unfortunately, I have haven't had the opportunity to see her play Open / National level tournaments against the top level talent her age. But I'm looking forward to seeing her play volleyball at the collegiate level. Unfortunately, we don't see the PAC-10 play as often, but I think we have their network on Time Warner. We'll have to start DVR'ing those games when they are on.

  8. Everyone acts like NDA cupboards are bare after this group of seniors graduates. The truth is they are not. Next year they will still be formidable. However, the team will be different, and I don't think there is any question about that. The biggest reason is because they will not have a Morgan Hertz on the court. When she isn't on the court, the team doesn't play at the same level as they do when she is on. I don't think anybody will disagree with that.

     

    One thing to keep in mind is that next year's NDA team could be taller than they are today. Natalie Hardig, Sears, B. Morgan are all about six feet tall. Reese, Draud and Stephenson are all fairly tall. The one area that I'm not as familiar with is how they will be on defense. I think it is too early to say, but in volleyball, defense sets up offense. I'm sure that they will be fine.

  9. I don't think the smaller schools like Louisville HC, St. Henry, Beechwood, Presentation, Allen Central, etc. are collectively asking for a change. There is already a small school tournament and it's called The All 'A' Classic. Most folks that represent the larger schools already dismiss that tournament as a small school tournament. If a change was made to divide into classes, that winner would be discounted as well. Same is true, if it were public and private. The public school tournament would be discounted by the private school fans.

     

    I know almost everyone on here disagrees with me, but I don't see the point in splitting the tournament. The All 'A' seems to be a suitable replacement. To me, it's on the larger public schools like Dixie, Boone, Ryle, etc. to find a way to compete in the State Tournament. They are approximately the same size as Assumption, Mercy, NDA, and SH.

     

    Back to the crux of this thread...the final game will not be the climatic showdown between two great teams. That climatic showdown will come one game before in the final four game.

     

    wxyz - I'm quite sure that despite the short turnaround, the bottom bracket will still emerge as the State Champion. However, the inequality of that turnaround needs to be addressed. I do agree with that.

  10. Everyone's complaint seems to be around the Championship game not being a competitive match. I admit, that's a shame. However, the best team at the time of the state tournament will win the state tournament, of that, I have no doubt. So although, the one side is overweight strong teams, the best team from that side will emerge to play in the Championship.

     

    So other than the letdown of the Championship game, we will still know who the best in the state is when this season closes out.

     

    In other words, the system still works. The best team in the state is left standing at the end.

  11. Congrats to Presentation for winning the All 'A' Classic. The final match was exciting to watch with both teams playing some great volleyball.

     

    A quick breakdown of the sets: Beechwood took the first set, Presentation rallied back in the second set to force a game three. Beechwood got behind in the early in the third set, but eventually closed the margin. However, Presentation went on to eventually win the set and the match. I don't have the individual game scores, but I'm sure that Riherds will have them at some point.

     

    I'm a Beechwood fan, so I want to pass along how proud we are of the team's effort to get to the finals. Winning the 9th Region All 'A' Classic was big. Taking care of business to get to the finals in the State All 'A' was also great to see. Presentation is a really good team, and unfortunately for Beechwood they gained it early in the final set.

  12. I'm going to agree with Mr. Equus. There many in NKY who get full rides and partials because they can play volleyball at a high level.

     

    Regarding club, I think it depends on what school your daughter is playing at. If you want to play volleyball at NDA, Ryle, St. Henry, Beechwood, Cooper, Scott, etc. you most certainly need to play club. If you are not playing club, I think you have a difficult time making varsity or getting playing time. I look at it as the price of admittance.

  13. I started the thread, so I'll give you my opinion.

     

    NDA is clearly, and by a large margin, the #1 team in NKY this year. Scott is emerging as the #2 team. After that you have a bunch of teams that can beat each other on a nightly basis depending on who comes to play. In that group I would say you would have teams like St. Henry, Ryle, Beechwood, NCC, Copper, Conner, and Boone County (in no particular order). I don't think Scott would be immune to losing a match to one of those teams, but so far they have looked pretty strong.

     

    I don't know if the picture changes next year or not. NDA will be graduating a lot of senior volleyball players this year. Whether they will be as strong as they are this year remains to be seen. Personally, I can't believe they will, especially because Morgan Hentz will not be in the equation next year. I think a lot of the other teams mentioned get better and things become even more competitive. But that is next year, clearly this year NDA is #1 .

  14. I don't think this is making excuses for Beechwood, but as pointed out before they are largely made up of sophomores. 6 of the girls in the rotation are sophomores, and all but one of them play in the front row. So if your setter, libero, opposite, one OH, and both middles are sophomores, you are going to see some uneven performances from time to time.

     

    Also, I don't know if I agree that Beechwood plays harder than anybody else. I think it's nice that some folks think they do. Also, I think it would be great if the girls knew that's what folks expect of them each night. Beechwood is a single A school, playing a much tougher schedule than most single A schools in the area, and probably the state. So it's rare that they take another team lightly.

  15. I've read in different threads and posts that certain programs are "down". The latest seem to indicate that NCC and St. Henry are down. I've think in other posts I've read that Cooper is down, and although I didn't look for it, I think I read in a post that Ryle is down.

     

    BTW - nobody has said NDA is down. However, some seem quite certain that NDA won't be as strong next year after this current crop of seniors have graduated.

     

    To tell the truth I don't know if the aforementioned programs are down. I don't think the talent in NKY has dried-up, but I could easily be wrong. If anything, I think there are probably more girls playing volleyball in NKY than ever before.

     

    Are these programs really down or is something else going on?

     

    I'm putting this out there to see what everyone else thinks.

  16. Yeah, well neither you or I have anything to do with the decision making processes behind these decisions.

     

    By the way, and I know you know this...you don't have to be better than all five of those schools mentioned (Assumption, Mercy, SH, St. Henry, and Notre Dame). You win your region and then you begin the process of beating the teams in front of you in the state tournament. Sometimes you get lucky, and you get a favorable draw, but sometimes you don't. However, I believe Assumption and SH are in Region 7. So you just have to beat one of those two. Mercy will likely be there from Region 6. Notre Dame and St. Henry are in Region 9.

     

    If you are Ryle or any other school in Region 9, you obviously have to win Region 9 to move on. Henry Clay is in Region 11, but they have to earn it like everyone else.

     

    So after winning your Region 9 that only leaves two of the schools you talked about. All the other regions have to beat 3 of those teams. It can and will probably be done.

     

    I will grant you that you need 7 to 8 solid volleyball players to win big games. It's not baseball where pitchers can dominate, or basketball where a player can put up 40 points. It's volleyball and weaknesses cannot be hidden so easily.

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