vbtalk

I don’t think that’s the case this year. I think the odds are traveling, and the evens are hosting. Region 1 winner will travel to Region 2 winner. 3 goes to 4, and so on.

Draw is as follows for region winners at semi state round: 1@2 3@4 5@6 7@8 9@10 11@12 13@14 15@16 Dear KHSAA…. Just please let me seed this tournament. I promise it’ll be better if I do it and you’ll make more money! However in a nice twist of fate, the 7th (Assumption and Sacred Heart) and 9th (Notre Dame and St Henry) regions are on opposite sides of the bracket for the first time in a while so we could very well have the two best teams playing in the finals.

Big win for NDA tonight as they win their annual rivalry match - Playing For A Purpose - against St Henry, 3-1. St Henry came out firing with a 28-26 win in the 1st set, and led most of the 2nd set until the Pandas put their foot on the gas. Set 2 was 26-24, NDA. Set 3 was 25-21, NDA. Set 4 got a little out of hand towards the end as NDA closed out the match 25-15. Still looks to be a 2 team race for State between NDA and Assumption, but don’t tell Sacred Heart or St Henry that. They’ll each get one more shot in their respective Regional Tournaments.

Mercy is really young and isn’t nearly as good as usual. However, I think NDA is clearly the top team in the state after winning at Sacred Heart, who then beat Assumption less than a week later. NDA and Assumption could cross paths at the LIVT. Speaking of LIVT… my seeding prediction is: 1. Mother McAuley (Chicago) 2. NDA 3. Sacred Heart 4. Assumption

3rd set was 25-15…. Not 11.

Well, I was wrong in my way too early prediction. Assumption handled St Henry pretty handily last night. Scores were 25-21, 25-19, and 25-11. Assumption is back, folks. Notre Dame looks to be up to the challenge too. I haven’t seen Sacred Heart yet but they should be in the conversation. For now it appears it’s Assumption, Notre Dame, possibly Sacred Heart, then everyone else.

Sacred Heart won the championship. I haven’t seen any scores. Does anyone know if SHA was challenged at all? Dunbar beat Mercy in the first round of bracket play, won a few more until losing to SHA in the finals. Not sure if Dunbar over Mercy is an upset or not, they didn’t play last year though Dunbar went further in the state tourney. Also can’t read much into this tournament as it’s preseason and many teams are working out some bubble players trying to find a decent lineup before the season starts. Anyone who was there able to weigh In contenders and pretenders?

NCC alum Mikah Freppon is new Campbell County head coach. Dear CCHS parents: You won’t get this lucky again. You absolutely have to do better. https://linknky.com/sports/volleyball/2023/06/17/former-newcath-lewis-university-star-takes-over-talented-campbell-county-volleyball-squad/

How many state championship winning coaches have the Highlands parents either made quit or gotten fired?

Have to ask the glaring question… why would anyone want to coach there after the way Suli was treated? Seems like if you have a good thing at SK or wherever you are, staying there would be much better for her mental health!

Here are my two major concerns with this: First, Jack VonHandorf blatantly lied to the program. Coach Kayed didn’t “resign for other opportunities”, he was asked to resign by the person telling families otherwise. I believe this is the primary problem for which he needs to be held accountable. Secondly, the parents. If the good parents don’t start holding the bad parents accountable, none of this will ever change at NDA. I like that the parents are supporting Coach Kayed on Facebook, but I imagine that won’t accomplish anything. Name the parents who did this. Make the next group of parents think twice before they derail a career for the sake of being petty. There is absolutely no deterrent for parents to blast a coach at NDA. All they have to do is pretend like they might write a check, and there are no consequences for their actions. It’s been happening there for years. While this particular principal appears to be a spineless liar, he is not the original problem. Until parents have to consider facing some form of repercussions, history will continue to repeat itself.

Campbell County High School Volleyball in search of their 4th head coach in as many years. https://linknky.com/sports/volleyball/2023/01/20/ginter-steps-down-from-campbell-county-volleyball/?fbclid=IwAR1pYueq1pxfsRWfvgKjLeKNopF4n113aiyT5NVmjg1xbpt056cmO5q9ye4

2022 State Champions, Notre Dame Academy finishes ranked nationally in all three major polls. MaxPreps Top 25 - 25th Prepvolleyball.com - 25th USA Today Super 25 - 21st Congrats to the Pandas on an awesome season!

Yes, Assumption beat SH in the regular season last year. But as I pointed out, Taylor Preston got hurt during that match. Before Taylor got hurt, St Henry was outplaying Assumption. So no, Assumption would not have won last year because when Helmers was healthy for AHS, and Preston was healthy for SH, we saw what would have happened. Secondly, there’s no way to know what would have happened this year with Helmers. I’m aware of how good she is. But we can play “what if” all day long. “What if” NDA doesn’t lose a transfer to St Henry? I don’t know if you watched the NDA/AHS semifinal match or not, but it wasn’t a lack of offense by AHS that was the difference. NDA’s defense was next level and AHS had some serious first contact issues. NDA was just better this year, and I don’t think Helmers would have changed the outcome.

If? We’re going with “if”? Helmers didn’t play this year, and NDA went 3-0 against them. Also, Taylor Preston got hurt against Assumption last year, when Helmers was healthy. St Henry was a better team than Assumption when Preston was on the floor and Helmers was healthy. They weren’t beating St Henry even with Helmers last year.

They haven’t fallen off so much, NDA got a lot better over the last 4-5 years and St Henry had a generational team last year. Assumption isn’t as good as they were in 18 or 19, but ‘18 might be the best HS team of all time. This year’s Assumption was plenty good enough to win State, NDA was just better. Same with last year’s Sacred Heart, but St Henry was just better.

Grace steps into the libero role, and they’ll have Grace Portwood to add to the mix. No doubt the Pandas will be lights out again next year. I’m just thinking St Henry Senior class might be too much. But at least we agree the 9th will stay on top!

Congrats to the 2022 KHSAA Volleyball State Champions, Notre Dame Academy! But, is it too early to start thinking about next season? I’m calling it right now. The 9th Region remains atop the volleywealth (volleyball in the commonwealth? No? Oh well, worth a shot.) with the Crusaders from St Henry and 2023 Ms Volleyball, Alivia Skidmore! Another prediction, that guy from Boyd County will still be super annoying on every KVCA Facebook post. Enjoy your club seasons, volleyfans!

The KHSAA has stated that the State Tournament is not supposed to be a tournament of the top teams, but a tournament with equal geographic representation. So it’s not that they are unaware of the issue, they just don’t think that it is an important issue. They also want everything to be like basketball. Except football. Football gets to do their own thing.

While I’m complaining about the format…. How about two of the five best teams in the state (NDA and St Henry) playing each other in what is essentially the round of 64?! Also have a top 5 and a top 10 (SHA and Manual) playing in the same round. Meanwhile, you’ll have teams that wouldn’t be in the top half of the 9th Region that will go on to the final 16, or maybe even the final 8!

Anything is possible! But seriously, how crappy is the RPI that what should be #1 overall seed has to drive 3+ hours on a Monday night?!

Okay I’m going WAY outside the box here and declaring that either Notre Dame Academy or Assumption will win State. Crazy, right? Here’s my ranking: 1. NDA - they’ve beat everyone (the “usual” top five) at least once, and Assumption twice. Only in state loss was 16-14 in fifth to SHA at the beginning of the season. 2. Assumption - they’ve beat everybody except NDA. Their first loss to NDA was in Chicago 0-2. Their second loss was at NDA 2-3, and they served poorly. And, you can’t EVER go against Coach Kordes. 3. Mercy - they get the edge over SHA here based on how they’ve played common opponents 4. Sacred Heart Academy - They have gotten better throughout the season and will likely give AHS everything they can handle during the Region Tourney. 5. St Henry - can’t count out the defending State Champs. They’ve had a bit of a roller coaster season. Almost beat AHS at AHS early on. Played well against the best Florida had to offer. Dropped in state matches to AHS, NDA, and one to Mercy at LIVT. Dark Horses - Dunbar and Manual. Those two teams both have studs and great coaches. Public schools are closing the gap!

I think you’re correct. I’m not sure how the math works for them to have 8 first place votes but still be 4th. I really think it’s time to revamp the voting. First, you can’t vote in that poll without paying dues. Second, I think votes should be public like the AP Poll or the Coaches Poll in CFB.

How fitting that the latest KVCA poll is released just minutes after I posted this. 1. Assumption (15 first place votes) 2. Mercy 3. Sacred Heart 4. Notre Dame Academy (8) 5. Dunbar 6. St Henry 7. Bowling Green 8. duPont Manual (1) 9. Frederick Douglas 10. North Oldham This is…. uh….. interesting.

Three of our teams traveled to Chicago last weekend for the prestigious Mother McAuley ASICS Challenge. 24 teams from 6 states including a few nationally ranked teams and two teams from the Bluegrass finished 2nd and 4th! Congrats to Notre Dame Academy for their second place finish and Assumption for their 4th place finish! NDA swept Assumption 2-0 in the semis on their way to dropping a 3 set championship match to host team Mother McAuley. The Rockets travel to NKY for a rematch with the Pandas on 10/13. This time it’ll be best 5! It’s become pretty clear the last 4 weeks that Assumption and NDA are the two best teams in the state and we can only hope the brackets will allow for them to compete in the finals at State!