NKYVB

Ryle loses pretty much everyone, so I don't see them beating NDA. St. Henry loses a large chunk of their team and I don't see them beating NDA either. Cooper loses some but has more depth and a great incoming class, but who knows what they will look like. NCC only big returners are Freppon and McDonald and I don't think they have any depth to replace what they lost, so I don't think they can beat NDA. Beechwood returns pretty much their entire team and could present a surprise. Not sure how 2015 will shake up but I think Cooper and Beechwood are the only team that could/might possibly give NDA a run for their money.... maybe.... possibly..... My way too early preseason rankings: 1. NDA 2. Cooper 3. Beechwood 4. St. Henry 5. Ryle 6. NCC please don't attack me for writing this.... please

Ryle loses pretty much everyone, so I don't see them beating NDA. St. Henry loses a large chunk of their team and I don't see them beating NDA either. Cooper loses some but has more depth and a great incoming class, but who knows what they will look like. NCC only big returners are Freppon and McDonald and I don't think they have any depth to replace what they lost, so I don't think they can beat NDA. Beechwood returns pretty much their entire team and could present a surprise. Not sure how 2015 will shake up but I think Cooper and Beechwood are the only team that could/might possibly give NDA a run for their money.... maybe.... possibly..... My way too early preseason rankings: 1. NDA 2. Cooper 3. Beechwood 4. St. Henry 5. Ryle 6. NCC please don't attack me for writing this.... please

I'd say Sacred Heart will win state next year. NDA loses Thelen who, despite what some seem to think, has been the most consistent player all year for the pandas and also VonHandorf (libero) has been silently getting the job done without much recognition. The question is, do the pandas have enough depth to replace them? They don't have another person to play middle at that level. Defensively, they have a couple people that could play, but they will really struggle without a true middle.

Tates Creek and Scott were the only good teams in that tournament.

Thursday's schedule: NDA vs. Ryle 6PM St. Henry vs. Cooper 7:30 Both games to be played at Ryle

I highly doubt NCC is happy...

Campbell County has been playing much better in recent weeks. I think the Camels are a much stronger team than Brossart.

Cooper and Ryle both advance to district finals 6:30PM Thursday night at Conner.

Finals are on thursday night.

seeded. 1. Cooper 2. Ryle 3. Conner 4. Boone County 5. Heritage

Well, I guess that's why we need to proofread before we post. I didn't finish the last part. Cooper has arguably the best class to ever come through the program coming in next year (class of 2019) with some big talent that could play big roles for the jags. From what I hear, Ryle will have a fairly good class coming in too.

This is probably Ryle's last chance to win the region for a few years. Nda is keeping everyone but Thelen and Von Handorf. Cooper is losing 4 seniors but has arguably the best class to ever come through the program.

Maybe the fact that they are emotional teenage girls and are unpredictable. I think injuries, illnesses have plagued them. I'm not saying they're going to beat NDA in regionals, but all 3 of these teams have talent and I'm sure they want to beat NDA more than anything. These teams have shown talent at certain points, but have failed to put it all together.

Ryle lost to NDA 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-12). With this being Ashley Bush's first game back, she was quite rusty against the pandas as most would anticipate. She had more attempts than anyone on the team but wasnt as efficient as she was pre-injury. This could easily be that she has sat out 12 weeks and may not be 100% physically back into the game. That being said, Ryle started off very strong against the pandas (Ashley's first couple swings being uncommon errors) and controlled the entire first set, managing to keep NDA out of system. This continued most of the way into the 2nd set up until the end where NDA pulled ahead for the 2-point set win. Ryle and NDA went back and forth the 3rd set until the pandas went on a huge run and inevitably winning the set. Set 4 was all pandas from the very beginning and Ryle serve receive/defense/hitting broke down completely leading to an easy NDA final set win. Yes, Ryle showed many weaknesses, but they also exposed some NDA weaknesses. No one can predict how Ryle will be come regional time, but I think this match did show us that Ryle can hang with NDA and could give them a run for their money. Cooper is a team that has had a roller coaster of a season. Their record sits at 18-10 (obviously not that great), but all 1 of their losses have come from teams ranked Top-25 in the state per KVCA, 6 of them being top 10 teams (#3 NDA, #5 Henry Clay (twice), #7 Dunbar, #9 McCracken County, #10 St. Henry). The other losses come to Ravenwood (2013 Tennessee state runner-up), #17 Scott (5 sets), #25 NCC (5 sets) and Boone County (in-district rival). Cooper has suffered from countless injuries and illnesses that have plagued the team from the beginning of the season. When Cooper played at NDA, you could tell they were nervous. They had been on a slide, losing 5 of their last 7 matches. It's safe to say they weren't playing their best volleyball at the time. In set 1, that was very apparent. NDA came out serving very aggressively and Cooper serve receive was just non-existent. They were aced countless times and struggled to get a pass to the setter. When they did, their hitters were putting the ball down, but defense and serve receive just never clicked and thus, Cooper suffered a crushing defeat in set 1, 25-10. Set 2 was like night and day. Cooper came out on fire, never looking back. Serve receive continued to struggle some but overall, they were able to execute well enough to get the hitters good swings. Cooper pushed all the way to the end and almost let their lead slip, but managed to come away with the 26-24 set 2 win over the pandas. Set 3 was back and forth for the first part of the set until NDA went on several long service runs to crush the jags 25-10 in the 3rd and final set (note: match was best 2/3. Not sure why. Must have been chosen by the teams). Once again, NDA flaws showed a little bit against the jags. NDA offense is really only Hentz, Thelen, Salkowski. Shut one of them down and NDA will struggle. Shut one of the other two down and the pandas are weak. St. Henry is a team I haven't fully figured out yet. Every time I have seen them play, it looks like a different team. They swept Cooper toward the beginning of the season, but have recently struggled. Don't count them out of the 9th though, because they hung with Ryle and Henry Clay, but got smacked by NDA. I'm not sure which St. Henry team will show up for regionals, but I know they have talent and if they show up to play, NDA could just get their money's worth. I hope this was a good enough synopsis for you. I am in no way any expert on any team, but I have seen all of them play and I'm just calling what I see.

There are easily 3 teams that could upset NDA (Ryle, St. Henry, Cooper). All 3 teams have a lot of talent but haven't shown it all season. As we all know now, even the best team in the country (Mercy) has off nights. It wouldn't surprise me in the least bit if another team knocked them from their pedestal.

Lol. Like like like.

Every team does the same thing with freshmen. The good ones play up. It's not just NDA that pulls them up. Plus, I would say that this year's freshmen pandas weren't much different from previous seasons.

NDA wins 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-12).

Ryle serve receive and defense was very poor in the last 2 sets. That was the biggest difference. Get Ryle out of system and they struggle big time.

Ryle is not the top team without Ashley Bush. NDA is clear favorite with Ashley Bush out for Ryle but I'd say NDA's chance of winning the region is lower than last year, just not sure by how much. They might breeze right through the 9th or it could turn out to be quite the challenge. Without Ashley Bush, ryle loses in 3 (assuming it's best 3 of 5).

Cooper won the Cake Classic this afternoon for the 2nd year in a row with wins over Bishop Brossart, Madison Central, South Oldham, Highlands and Campbell County in the finals. The Jaguars didn't drop a single set en route to the title.

Maybe we should switch to what football does and develop classes (6A, 5A, 4A, etc.). There is no reason that teams like Corbin should be playing teams like Mercy or Assumption. That's just embarrassing on both ends. Getting beat that badly is just demoralizing for teams.

I was able to watch the online streaming and you are right, NDA really struggles on serve receive. You can't run an offense without that first serve receive pass.

On KHSAA, it shows NDA beating Assumption 2-1 (18-25, 25-18, 27-25). Is this supposed to be Sacred Heart and not Assumption?

I would have to agree that Scott played phenomenal against Cooper. They played Cooper earlier in the year at Bluegrass State Games and Cooper won in straight sets 2-0, but Scott looked much stronger the second time around and caught Cooper off guard. But don't be surprised if you see Scott make its way to state this year because they are the best team in their region and arguably one of the better teams in NKY.