Crosley

Update: The Camel Classic is a JV Tourney. There is also a freshman tourney as well. On the JV side - Ryle wins the Camel Classic beating Beechwood in the finals. Either Scott or Dixie walked away with third place. I’m not sure of the outcome of that Scott/Dixie game. The teams represented in the Classic were:

Gold Bracket:

Ryle – 1st

Beechwood – 2nd

Scott/Dixie – 3rd and 4th (again – outcome unknown)

Simon Kenton

Campbell County

Bronze (not sure of the finishing order)

Bishop Brossart

Walton Verona

Holy Cross

Congrats to Ryle on the 1st place victory.

Since this is Alyx's second year of coaching, I think she got her first win back in August of 2012. However, it still doesn't diminish a win over your former team, coach, and Aunt all in the same night. That's big stuff.

Losing is often ugly.

Congratulations to Beechwood. Jenna Fessler and Jasmine Stokes did a great job of delivering hittable sets, and the two OH’s (Liz Pawsat and Taylor Weibel) accounted for most of the kills on the Beechwood side. The team played with a lot of emotion and it carried through in their play.

Regarding the 9th Region, I can't argue with your top two teams. My personal feeling is that 3, 4, and 5 are not so clear. I don't remember seeing anything from Holy Cross last year that would lead me to believe they are better than NCC and St. Henry this year. I would probably rank St. Henry #3 and then group Holy Cross, NCC, Beechwood and the other three Boone County schools together. The advantage will go to the team who brings their "A" game that particular night.

I'm not sure what you mean by "...under the current system and rules”. If you mean that currently the state tournament is an all-in system, I don't think that has as much bearing as the fact that NDA, Assumption, Mercy and Sacred Heart pull from areas of the Commonwealth with very good club systems. Since parochial schools start volleyball in third grade, they will naturally be the ones that gravitate to club volleyball. I guess what I am saying is that high enrollment doesn't guarantee strong sports programs. It helps a great deal but it's not a guarantee.

If I am misinterpreting, forget my last paragraph.

From what I understand, Jason Suchanek pitched a complete game for the win. I believe that marks his third win of the season, but I would have to check that. I know for sure that is his second complete game win of the season. In the third one, he went 6 1/3. I think Tiberi was lifted in the sixth but pitched well. Also, on that his steal to win the game -- it was a straight steal. Gutsy move in the bottom of the seventh with two outs.

I respect Horace’s reply to my question on why The Guru and others believe the Beechwood basketball program is setup for failure. Mostly because I agree with the commitment bit but also because Horace didn't blame it on the schedule. Regarding sharing athletes, you are competing with the other sports from Day 1. Some people think Day 1 starts in junior high, but I think it really starts in something like third or fourth grade. By fifth or sixth grade an athletic kid has already associated himself with one or possibly two sports. This is the sports world we live in today.

On a side note, the gym situation just sucks, but in my opinion kids get better by playing AAU basketball which is practiced and played outside the school gym. Also in my opinion, grade/middle school basketball and school sponsored summer clinics are just the conduit to get the kids/parents energized to play AAU. If a boy or girl isn't playing AAU basketball they are not really serious about becoming a solid high school basketball player. This seems to hold true for baseball, volleyball and soccer where you have AABC, Club and Select respectively. If you aren’t playing at the highest level you can play at outside of school then you aren’t serious about being the best you can be at that particular sport.

I know I am poking the bear with this question, but I was hoping the Guru could explain what he means by “the program is setup for failure”. Is it because they play a Division II schedule? I know it’s not an apples comparison (and I stress that it’s not apples to apples) but boys’ football, baseball + girls volleyball and soccer don’t seem to be complaining about playing those same schools. In fact, those same teams seem to be doing quite well.

Also, it’s my guess that Suzy Wera (AD) wants to give each sport every chance to succeed. It could just be that she feels this is her year to make the personnel changes to give them that chance. This happens all the time in the corporate world – (1) a new business leader comes in (2) evaluates what he/she inherited (3) makes the changes that he/she feels is necessary.

I think I said I would have liked to see him get more time. And yes, I agree the gym situation is not his or any other coaches’ fault. I don’t think anyone cares whose fault it is, they just want it resolved ASAP. For all I know Michael could have had a long-term plan and just didn’t have enough time to execute it or see the fruits of his labor.

You can argue what the Beechwood administration did or didn't do forever and I don't think it gets you anywhere. I just want to say that I would have liked to see Michael receive more time to build a basketball program than what he received. At a school the size of Beechwood, you need time to work back through the grade school and junior high programs to build a pipeline that can eventually feed the varsity team. I my humble opinion I think it’s less about the X’s and O’s and more about the pipeline. Michael didn’t have enough time to do that, or at least come to the realization that he needed to do it. I’m sure that he would have if given enough time.

That being said, I am also not surprised that the new AD is making changes. If Suzy Wera feels like she has to make changes, don’t be surprised if she feels compelled to do what she feels is necessary.

I don't think there is any question that NDA will be the #1 team in Northern Kentucky next year. St. Henry will probably play NDA tough as these types of rivalry matches sometimes yield unexpected results, but on-paper NDA looks stronger. I am still waiting to see a team other than NDA and St. Henry truly compete for that top spot in the Ninth Region. NewCath has moved over to the Ninth, and as others have said I think they will find it difficult to get through the Region and progress to State.

With that being said, my question has been at what point in the future will a team outside of NDA and St. Henry represent the Ninth Region? I would certainly like Ryle to do it in 2013, but I think they are still a notch or two below NDA.

The equation with volleyball seems to be straightforward - start volleyball early (at least by 4th-5th grade), play club volleyball at a good club that teaches sound fundamentals and plays a competitive schedule, and then hope your school is lucky enough to have volleyball players with sufficient height to compete in the front row against the better teams. That’s oversimplified but not far from it in my opinion.

Personally, I think it will be a great when other schools begin to break the stranglehold that NDA and St. Henry have over volleyball in the region. At that point, the yearly volleyball conversation will become much more interesting.