cvb

Thanks for the clarification on jungle ball, or our backyard ball. I would suggest trying to get into the Jefferson County Invitational held in Louisville. A lot of the best public schools in the state. It would be a start in getting to play teams from L'ville and NKY. There are usually one or two openings a year as teams sometimes have to cancel due to homecoming. The Catholic School powers do not play in this tournament, but they usually slaughter many of the public schools anyway. The premier tournament in the state is the Louisville Invitational. Tough tournament to get into and it is usually filled with the top 20 teams in the state and few sometimes from out of state. It is the BEST volleyball around.

What do you mean by Jungle Ball exactly.

What kind of season did Pulaski County and Rowan County have in 2005?

Noel Rash will do an outstanding job. There will not be any down years for Beechwood. They will continue to dominate in Single A.

I wonder how far Rowan County is from Lexington? Great for the few that are playing, but I would still like to see more clubs get started around the state.

I hope they have started club. This would be a great move for the sport of volleyball in Kentucky to get more areas involved.

It is worth the money and there are always fundraising options to pay for it. I am a supporter of NKJV.

Noel Rash is a great guy and will do a wonderful job at Beechwood and a great choice for the position. Congratulations to Noel and the Tigers!

Not aware of any in KY. There are many teams in Ohio since it is a sponsored sport by the OHSAA. Some of the schools in NKY do boys intramurals in the spring. There is talent there and I wish it were a sport in KY.

Great news! Congrats to Drew and his family.

The Rockets will return to dominate in 2006. In NKY, NDA will step it up a bit from the last two seasons. Many of the strong teams of 2005 will not be losing much, so they should all compete behind NDA and St. Henry with Ryle, Beechwood, Conner, CCHS, Highlands, NCC all matching up pretty nicely.

I am not sure who can make proposals. I heard that different people proposed sectionals, double elimination format, and enlarging the state tournament for greater participation. i guess they were all shot down and we have the format we are now stuck with.

When the state realigned the districts and regions the powers to be wanted volleyball to be set up like basketball. That is the reasoning for the one and out. They also wanted to get traditional rivalries set up in volleyball like they exist in basketball. Not sure why vb has to be set up like bb, but that was the goal. Other formats were offered by coaches from around the state, but the current format is what was accepted. I am not sure why some districts get a blind draw and others get to seed. Are all districts the same in bb? If so, then it should be the same in vb, but I cannot answer this part of the debate. The current set up is great for teams that would probably never have a shot under the old set up, and provides for many schools to have a wonderful experience. However, I can honestly say, it is not a true representation of the best talent in the state for a state tournament, and therefore is not the greatest show on earth. It does not even compare to the bb sweet sixteen. It also provides for some major disappointment for teams that should be there based on talent. There is no easy answer to this debate other than the state tournament does not showcase the best talent in the state as it used to do. The LIVT is the strongest tournament inthe state and everyone knows it. The state could look at other alternatives to post season play, but it will not happen. I know in Ohio, they rank the teams in a meeting and place the teams in sectionals based on who they played and who they beat during the season. Therefore, the talented teams get a better chance to get closer to state. This would never fly in KY though.

There were a number of schools in a few districts that were not happy with the way the draw went. It is upsetting to work hard all year be ranked in the state and not get to regionals. This happened to three teams in NKY.

It should be the same for all districts and all sports.

I agree!

Good luck Boone against Trinity! Congratulations to Dixie on a great season.

Nice article - thanks Buckman!

Coach of the Year Division I - Tasha Tanner - Ryle Division II - Maureen Kaiser - St. Henry and Jenny Mertle - NCC (co-coaches) Divison III - Jodi Schmidtt - Ludlow

Congrats to Stephanie Niemer. She had a great season and fabulous match in the finals against Assumption.

Are there enough teams to classify? I did not think that all schools fielded soccer.

I had two different coaches when I played in high school. One year we did a pot luck and one year it was catered. I prefer the catered.

Congrats to Highlands on a great season!

Pfeffer obviously did some things right to win the region and get to state. Not sure what the clipboard thing is about. But they had a nice season, and congratulations are in order for getting to state. I think they will do well in the next few years, since they are young.

We will see. Those are good choices, although it could be a toss up in Division I since Campbell, Conner and Simon Kenton all had great seasons and won over 20 games. Matt Long may be a contender for Division III too.