Crosley

I have never heard a high school volleyball player ask for changes to the existing way the state tournament is run. If you were to ask the girls, I bet you would hear the majority say they want a chance to win the outright state title. This "watering down" that so many adults call for on here, is what Indiana and other states did to their basketball title. Although the titles won in a division-based or private/public school format are not hollow, they leave a smaller school asking themselves the same question every time...what if this had been a tournament with the entire state included. Could we hang with the bigger schools?

Three things come to mind:

- Things change and the stranglehold that the large private schools have on the state title will not last forever. I don't care what anybody says, change is inevitable. St. Henry has won the 9th, and they are small. Why can't a public school do the same thing. The answer is the public schools can once they figure out how to do it. They figured it out in almost all the other sports. Volleyball will ultimately be no exception.

- There will never be another Hoosier story in Indiana. That possibility has been completely closed off. That makes a lot of folks sad to know that will never happen again.

- Kentucky will never go back to the one state title holder, once we change to a division, class, private/public system

Strong game tonight from Beechwood as they beat St. Henry to win the 9th Region All 'A' Tournament.

I think what Dozer61 is saying that this is a good match to start the regular season with. Scott will be up for this game, and I think he is saying that it is that kind of intensity and speed of game that they will need to do well this year.

Not sure if I got that right, but that was my interpretation.

It should be a good season. Luckily they all play each in NKY, so the girls will decide it for themselves.

However, on the girl at Beechwood that "bolted for another school", it is true she has left. However, she was only there for a cup of coffee, and no one ever thought she was serious about staying. It's hard to replace that kind of height, but life moves on. She's been replaced. And Beechwood only lost one senior last year, which is what I think volleyblogger meant.

Anyway, does it really matter. NDA, St. Henry, and Ryle will do well as they always do. I saw Cooper and Scott at the Bluegrass Games. They both looked very good, as did NCC. Highlands and Boone will be solid, too. From what I remember, Highlands has a lot of upperclassmen. All of these teams respect each other, so we should see some good games.

Championship Flight - http://bgsg.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Varsity-Championship-Flight.pdf

Northern Kentucky is well represented.

Beechwood is in the Championship bracket. Not sure who they are playing in the first round.

Beechwood is going to play, too.

I don't want this to come across as sarcastic, but a NKY team hasn't won the state volleyball championship since 1994 (NDA) --> that was 21 years ago. St. Henry won their one and only in 1981 and Villa in 1980. A world of volleyball has happened since 1994. So while I agree this is on the parents, I just had to laugh at the 35 years comment. State championships in this argument are irrelevant in 2015. However, the 9th Region dominance by Catholic schools is very relevant.

Aren't you both (Sandman32 and dallaslaredo) right? High-end club volleyball are where the best players play. That shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. It's also no coincidence that private schools start playing volleyball in 3rd grade. So it goes something like this:

(1) parochial school girl plays 3rd or 4th grade volleyball

(2) the same girl, or her parents take her to club tryouts if she enjoys the sport

(3) she is taught the game and begins to excel - the coaching and reps can't be discounted

(4) if the girl is tall and athletic, or she is skilled as a defensive specialist she ends up playing at one of the clubs playing Open by the age of 13-14

(5) because she went to a parochial school she often ends up playing at NDA or St. Henry between the ages of 15-18.

Since NDA is essentially a large 5A or small 6A school and St. Henry is a 2A school, NDA has the advantage with numbers. Hence, NDA usually wins the 9th.

I'm not sure I could put an order to it quite the same way dallaslaredo did, but I don't think there is any doubt that NDA should be #1 . After that I think there are three tiers of teams out of the ten that were mentioned, but who is in what tier remains to be seen. It's way too early to tell.

Is this your order for NKY?

It does look like Belle is moving to NDA. I don’t think many people ever thought she would stay. There are other girls that Beechwood can plug into the hole she’ll leave in the middle. However, don’t get me wrong, it’s always tough to lose a six foot tall middle / setter with her skills. In the end, Beechwood will have two seniors next year and approximately 6 - 7 sophomores + a couple of juniors.

No predictions from me though, other than to say that NDA is close to a lock in the Ninth Region. The experience that goes along with having such a strong senior class should put them on top. After NDA, it’s up for grabs.

Sorry I don't have an answer for the incoming freshman question. I agree with where dallaslarado was going. Most current incoming freshman (current 8th graders) won't have a significant impact on the outcome of the region. dallaslarado didn't say that specifically, but it was what I was thinking. Most years, it seems like the most successful teams have a strong group of juniors and seniors. That’s probably true of all high school sports. Has there ever been a team with a predominance of underclassmen win the ninth region? If anyone has ever done it, it would be NDA. Maybe it was accomplished when Heidi Thelen and Ogle were underclassmen. However, I still think they had a fair number of upperclassmen around them.

And with all due respect to the poster that kept referring to NDA as being young this year. By NKY standards, they were one of the most experienced teams around. Just remember that most of these girls started playing when they were in third or fourth grade. Had they not been experienced, I doubt they would have been the runner-up in the state. Most teams look at NDA as being both talented and experienced.

I feel like I know what NDA, Scott, Beechwood, and NCC have to replace. My question is what will Cooper, Ryle, and St. Henry have to replace?

No predictions from me other than NDA being at the top because of their incoming senior class. Beechwood had one 8th grader playing at the varsity level, none at the JV level, and 2 at the freshman level. It is always possible to lose an 8th grader. It's a big decision year for students entering high school.

Agreed on all counts.

Beechwood is blessed with a great student body cheering section that is loud, but keeps it clean. In my opinion they are the best volleyball cheering section in all of NKY. Also, the AD at Beechwood shows some great judgment by not stopping them from being a part of the game.

You get a sense for how young Beechwood is when they are announcing the teams. Maybe Covington Latin is younger, but I think this is the youngest team in NKY. However, it’s the three upper classmen that make this team go.

Congrats to Scott on the win tonight and for the success they have had this year.

I think these two teams get to play again on Friday evening at the Cake Classic.

I agree that mid-year polls are worthless, but not near as worthless as pre-season polls. At least now these teams have a track record we can look at to derive some ratings.

I reworked my list a little bit after checking Riherds. I moved Boone County down because of volleymom's comments and because they have been on a little bit of a skid recently. Also, I just have a hard time putting anyone in front of NDA until someone in NKY beats them. And yes, Scott has been very impressive. To those outside of Scott, that might be the biggest surprise of the year.

- NDA

- Ryle / St. Henry

- Scott / Cooper

- Beechwood / Campbell County / New Cath

- Boone County / Highlands / SK / Conner / Bishop Brossart

I was wondering if it was time to re-rate the NKY teams. This would include SK, but not necessarily the Oldham's. I was wondering what everyone thought. Here's my first attempt:

- NDA

- Ryle / St. Henry

- Scott / Cooper

- Boone County / Beechwood / Campbell County / New Cath

- Highlands / SK / Conner / Bishop Brossart

When I list them side by side, I think either one of those teams could beat each other on any given night.

Thoughts?

Second tough opponent for Beechwood in 5 days after playing St. Henry last Friday. Cooper over Beechwood (25-21, 32-30, 25-12). On the third game, Beechwood was probably suffering from the letdown of losing the second game in such a tough way. I think Beechwood was up 24-19 in that second game before Cooper tied it up at 25-25.

I’m not connected with the Cooper program, but I have been saying that they are an up-and-coming team for at least a year. I have never seen them as a team, but I have seen most of their players in club volleyball games. Obviously, that not the same as seeing them play together on the court, so I could be completely wrong. I also know that a lot of their talent comes from their sophomore class, which leads me to think two things:

(1) They stand to do quite well for the next 3 years

(2) That if you were ranking incoming classes, they would have been towards the top last year

I think time will tell whether they can hold or improve on the pre-season rank of #4 in the region. I tend to think they will.

As for their upcoming games, Beechwood is very young. They have four freshman on the court at any given time + an eighth grader for half the rotations. They have 1 senior and two juniors. So the match might be close, and it might not. I wouldn’t base too much off of that game.

I think the St. Henry game is another story. That game should be telling. St. Henry is comprised mostly of juniors and seniors. They stand a better chance of playing consistent volleyball game in, game out this year. And to pull in one more thread…congrats to St. Henry for winning the Ninth Region All ‘A’ Championship over Beechwood (25-17, 25-21) last night. Beechwood battled, but last night it wasn't enough.

The word is that Alyx is leaving to become a coach at NCC. Not sure if that is true, but that is the word. Alyx leaving at this late stage puts the Athletic Director in a bad spot as she tries to find a coach.

It should be noted that Beechwood will have a young team this year, but by far the majority play club volleyball. A lot of the numbers will come from the incoming Freshman class, but there are also a lot of Sophomores. I think the best days of Beechwood volleyball are ahead of them.

I don’t think anyone should bemoan Ryle’s situation because they only have one quality volleyball program (Gray) feeding into it. Ryle has as many as 800 girls to choose from each year for their volleyball program. Mind you, I’m not sure really sure what their total enrollment is, but it’s a guess.

Also, I’m not sure what Notre Dame has from an enrollment standpoint, but it could be as many as 600 girls. Based on the fact that they are fed from the many parochial schools that start playing volleyball in third grade, they should always have a great program. And in most cases, they have not disappointed when it comes to regional championships. NDA has dominated Ninth Region play for over 10 years.

In my opinion, both of these schools should be able to put together what it takes to win the state. One is fed from a very strong middle school program (Gray) with a strong enrollment that is probably over 1000 kids (500 girls). The other (NDA) is fed by the parochial schools that start playing in third grade. Nearly all of these girls play club volleyball. .

I look at this a different way. I ask the question “what would Ron do?”. Ron Kordes apparently has this figured out, so I would look at the personnel he puts on the floor and the coaching he puts around those players. I get that KIVA is somewhat an extension to his program at Assumption. That is huge, but the fact remains that Ron Kordes is looking for certain types of players. He surrounds them with very good coaching, and the bi-product is a successful club / state and national high school powerhouse.

As for the other schools in the NKY regions, I think it would be very difficult to win the state championship. That doesn’t mean I don’t think the other schools couldn’t win the Ninth Region. I believe St. Henry and Scott have done that in recent memory. It’s just very difficult for many of the schools to consistently come up with 6 – 9 excellent players. It’s usually because they either don’t have the enrollment numbers, or they don’t have enough girls playing at the Open / National levels of club volleyball. Let’s face it; there are certain things you need to make a strong team. You can’t have a 6 excellent libero’s and win at the net. Volleyball, like other sports is a sport that requires the right mix of strong players. To me it comes down to personnel and coaching.

BTW – I would expect Gray to do well year after year simply because they have some 500 girls to choose from for volleyball. I would think the other schools they play have either smaller enrollments or haven’t committed to volleyball like Gray has. That said, I don’t want to take anything away from Gray. There are other large middle schools that don’t have the volleyball program that Gray does.

I'm sure I'm going to have a bunch of folk shouting me down on this, but I'm just going to throw this theory out there and see what happens. As more and more girls outside the parochial school leagues are beginning to play club and school volleyball from an earlier age it could just be that Northern Kentucky begins to become a lot of more difficult in future years for NDA. Just as an example, I think Cooper will be a handful for any team over the next couple of years. There are other teams that could become more challenging as well. Ryle, who is already good, has an excellent program stretching back to their feeder middle school program. Many, if not most of these girls play club, too.

Clyde, sorry for taking you too literally. I should have known that was your intent because you are too knowledgeable about prep sports to have that statement taking so literally. My bad.

Interesting point Clyde, but I don't think it's that simple. I believe they have to play their district seed games against Holmes, Covington Latin, Beechwood and Holy Cross. Also, it would seem that they would play other NKY schools that are NKY Division I (e.g., Conner, Dixie). I'm not speaking from knowledge here but based on who they have on the schedule that's what I guess.

I think you could ask the same question of many teams in the 9th region. In my opinion, I would like to see the perennial top 6-8 teams in the region play each other at least once a year. I don't want to state who I think those are because I don't want to hijack this thread anymore than I already have. They know who they are and NDA and NCC are certainly on that list.

I agree with what raen21 said. Lots of freshmen playing and in some cases 8th graders. I would think that doing well in these kinds of tournaments despite having a young team bodes well for these schools in the future.

Two others things that I noticed in this tournament:

1. Possibly the worst volleyball ref-ing I have seen this year (or last year for that matter). It was bad in both the junior high and high school gyms. Next year Highlands needs to get some better refs to do their tournaments and home games. Refs who know the current rules of volleyball are a must. Also, refs who knows the correct hand signals would be good. I could comment further about this topic, but I'll just leave it at that.

2. Highlands played with a lot of energy in every match I saw them play in the tournament. Congrats to the girls and their coach.