Sandman32

you said "last few years"... my few was the last two, and a 2 point victory is hardly a statement. I agree its a bad loss, but in time I think Dixie will be alright. The freshman team is doing well and their is some talent being developed at the lower levels.

Congrats Lady Cougars! Nice win.

Correction, Dixie is 4-0 versus Villa the past two years.

Dixie has been on an upswing he past few years, but this season numbers are finally catching up to us. We have some young talent, (as in really young), but it will take most of the season to develop. Loosing our starting Middle and her younger sister (who was projected to play right side) hurt a ton. The Middle was actually a pretty complete player and would have played six rotations. We are struggling in the passing game first and foremost.

I believe the praise the other girl gets is well founded. As far as comparing the two, I am positive that Rebecca plays backrow better. Front row I will give to player B, as she has a much higher VIQ and skill set when it comes to shots and shot selection. Both are good players, and depending on a teams needs, one is a better choice then the other, though I can't imagine any scenario where you wouldn't play them both.

I think Beechwoods very solid, but you will be sorely disappointed if your looking for a ton of flash. Schuchanek at OH and Popova at Middle are their big hitters, but like most hs volleyball, very few teams have an effective block to challenge them so they do well. The rest of the team is fundamentally pretty decent in passing and Ogle does a better than average job of distributing the ball. They're young too, which means they should be good for several years.

Ryle had a record turnout for tryouts, so you are probably correct about playing time. I also know her dad moved into WV's district last year and I believe she moved in with him, making the transfer even more about geography than anything else. Grace had major back problems last club season, but battled through them all the way to Nationals in Orlando. Hopefully she will not need surgery, because I'd hate to see any kid that young go through that. She was the MVP of the freshman team and I believe did fairly well on the JV team last season, so the kid is not without talent.

Wallace moving to Walton was a godsend for both her and the program. Angel Wilson is a very skilled JR Middle.

Actually NKYVC has only been around 15 years, and Tri-State only 2, but they are an offshoot of TEAM Z which was around for a long while before that. There is sooooooo much interest in volleyball by athletes now that the sport is exploding, and there are tons of opportunities for kids today to play at a high level that didn't exist 10, 15, or 20 years ago. It will be interesting to see what the kids who traditionally went to NKYVC will do with NDA's head coach coaching club at Tri-State's 14's. I would bet all the kids planning on going there for HS migrate. This will (and already has) made NKYVC's lower teams weaker. NKYVC will be forced to look across the river and to the other NKY schools for talent would be my guess. We will see over the next few years for certain. People like to think that NKYVC's success has been because of some superiority in the design of their training program, and their are certain individuals which one could point too to make that case, such as Morgan Hentz, Ashleigh Bush, and so on... but there are just as many more who learned their skills elsewhere and migrated to their club before signing their letters of intent. Again, some will argue that it is because they migrated that they were afforded the opportunity. The truth is that in this day and age if your team plays a national schedule they can suck, and as long as you can play, you will still get the same opportunities regardless of club affiliation. Lauren O'Conner could have played for Bluegrass select (which is now defunct by the way and the reason I used them), and she would have still gotten a scholarship with UK. Athletic Outside Hitters with a 6'5 frame are hard to come by. By the way, I was agreeing with you. lol

LOL, that's a nice statement, but those clubs have totally different styles and geographic draws for the most part.

I can see that. It's hard to have Rachel McDonald be doing so well without her.

I really liked Borders from Boone Co. when we played them, which is why I added her to the list.

I totally agree about our defense and setting, though we are starting to make some strides there. Last night Dixie played Ryle and our passing was much better, which led to a 25-20, 25-17, 25-15 defeat that was much closer than the score for most of the games. Ryle seems to struggle from chemistry issues IMO right now, they have all the pieces but they aren't playing well together. Metzger and Long could start for just about any team in NKY IMO.

From what I've seen so far in addition to what has been posted... Julia Popova at Beechwood Grace Isaacs at Campbell Co. Alli Borders at Boone Co. Cali Helinski and Dee Atwood at Conner

I'm sure you're right, and thats sad. She's deserving.

Nice win Camels!

St. Henry appears to be struggling a little more than in years past. Not sure if its due to talent or just a new set of players not jelling. I guess we will know more as the season plays out. I expected SH to be much better

I think they've already made a statement. Regardless of the outcome it is safe to say that NDA is headed back where they finished the year last season, barring any major injuries.

I agree. Very short sighted. Especially in volleyball.

I say Panda's 3-1. Both teams will be up for this one, but I believe in NDA's talent a little more. Probably because I've seen most of those kids play for the past several years.

Nice synopsis. Can't wait to read what happens tonight. With all the upsets this season early on its hard to gauge if the talent in NKY is down or if their is just a lot more parity. I'm not a believer in Beechwood just yet, but a convincing win over NCC might help change my mind. In a season which typically goes 30-35 games, I'm not overly excited about 6-0 starts. I believe Ludlow had a pretty good record early last season and didn't make it out of districts.. I'm just saying.

Congrats to the Eagles. Big win for the program.

It sounds to me like you are severely jaded by a bad club experience or just uniformed.... Very few clubs fold up each year and even fewer "steal money" as you put it. This past year Bluegrass Select and Midwest Xtreme decided to close their doors in NKY, but that is the only time I can remember that happening in recent memory. Neither was a premier volleyball club. Bluegrass Select was a small club that was only around a few years and had only a few teams. Midwest was around for at least five years if not longer, and they made arrangements for their kids to receive a try out at another club when they decided to call it quits. I believe the reason they decided to close their doors after a complete season was that their practice facility costs for the next year were going to increase dramatically and they couldn't find a suitable alternative. Like it or not, Club volleyball is where kids go to become better at volleyball. Of those who choose to do so, some will be lucky enough to get a college scholarship, but for the vast majority they are there because they love the sport and are trying to ensure they have a decent HS experience. More kids than not get athletic scholarships or accepted into D3 programs on NKYVC's, NKJV's, Elevation's, Cincy Classic's, and Tri-State Elite's 1's teams, and even kids on the 2's have been known to do so as well. I don't believe Blue Crush, Caliente, Midwest, or Bluegrass's kids received very many, but a few did. As far as money goes, I don't think there are very many people getting rich off of club volleyball. Your "money grab" comment isn't even close to correct. The best volleyball players all play club. Can you play in high school without it? Yes, but you'll always be a step behind the better players in the area, state, and nation.

The Eagles have a nice team. I don't see this as a cake walk. It should be a good game. If I wasn't occupied I'd love to go to this one.

That's kind of a clueless answer... how do you join a club team when you have no idea club exists? How do you seek out rec sports leagues for girls volleyball when your school system doesn't even acknowledge it exists until 6th grade? And if you're relying on the public middle school system to give you a strong foundation in volleyball or information and encouragement to play club ball you will be disappointed more likely than not. Dallaslaredo, You are assuming that all parents and kids are endowed with your knowledge about the volleyball world. They aren't. I recently had a discussion with a public middle school volleyball coach. She was complaining that the high school had taken several girls from her team. I pointed out that it was a great opportunity for them to compete at a higher level and that one was starting varsity. Her answer was, "But All of them would start for me, and our team would be really good this year." Even though private school leagues may be short and not as well structured as club, it is the first step... when you take that step in 3rd as opposed to 6th, and in a place were club participation is embraced... how is that comparable to the lack of information that kids get from public schools? Prove to me that private school kids are genetically superior athletes and I'll stop posting about how the focus on athletics by private schools at an earlier age is directly leading to their superiority in sports at the high school level. Ryle is probably the closest thing you can provide as an answer, and they have ZERO state titles... 0. ie... none, nada, no enchilada, negative, un uh, never ever ever gonna happen, notga..notga...not gonna work here no more, nope, eh- eh...