adselder09
Well-known member
Elder bounced back with a win over St X last night. Interested to see how the Moeller-X matches go in a few weeks.
Pung has been outplayed by McCarthy and Huber at St X thus far.
I understand stats don't tell the whole story. I have seen St X twice this year and Pung has not played up to his high standards. By my eye test, McCarthy has been St X best player with Huber, Pung, and Hilvert close behind.
Even last year, St X relied more on Pung yet he was more effective. Look at the stats on the league website to compare. So far this year he is 10th out of the 11 players in Kill Efficiency for St X.
http://gcls.gclsports.com/statsPage.aspx?satc=251&div=-1&v=a&stat=a
This year, he is 3rd on the team in total attempts. Last year, he had almost double (725 vs 398) to attempts than anyone else on St X's team.
I understand that teams are keying on him, as teams ALWAYS do against other teams best players, but this year unlike last year he hasn't risen to the occasion YET (keyword: YET).
I think it's more that the other top teams have figured Pung out. He never hits line and he never looks to bounce balls straight down, regardless of the block or the set. He either bangs hard cross, splits the hole and aims for deep corner, or just aims for high hands to tool the middle. The better teams have been keying on Pung for years, as he's been a focal point of X (and his club teams, for that matter) for 3 years now. In the Elder match, the defenders in 1 played Pung almost at the end line and completely took away his high-hands tool shot. Kastner doesn't deliver him the ball fast enough to prevent the defenses from shifting entirely to defend his limited shots, so he's got much tighter windows than he had a year ago.
McCarthy and Hilvert have a lot more unorthodox swings and have more shots in their respective repertoires, so they're able to be more consistently effective against top-tier competition. McCarthy gets 2-3 kills per match on crafty tips off the blockers hands alone. Pung gets up higher, hits harder, and obviously has the much higher ceiling going forward; but his present game is better suited to beating up on weak competition than it is being effective, much less dominant, against good players that know how to defend him.
That being said, Pung's defense is on a whole other level. As others have pointed out, his passes are almost always in system and his digging out of 6 has been the key to X's defense. His serve receive is arguably better than Huber's at this point. I think McCarthy for sure, and potentially Hilvert and Mauch may have passed him by in terms of "effective hitters against the top teams in the state", but his defense alone keeps him in the 1st team all-state conversation. He's still one of the best 5-10 players in the state, no matter what criteria you choose.
Jefdar, you might think the teams are down in Central Ohio but the player talents pool is there.
I have seen the following players play and have helped their team to successful starts to the season.
Watterson has two players helping them off to a good start in Jake Maziaz (SP) and Jack Brinkman.
Briggs has Justin Sharfenaker, saw him play against DeSales and Watterson where he had about 20 kills in both close matches. He is their go to guy.
Mt. Vernon has Spencer Stanley, who is getting it done in the middle.
Darby has 4 players playing well and are looking for another title in Noah Platfoot, who is such a great setter, Adam Ansel, Colin Buelow, and Dom Mechiorine (SP), who is playing awesome.
St. Charles is off to a hot start with Kevin Gallagher at Libero, Saw him play against Watterson and DeSales and he had about 20+ digs.
Olentangy is having a season to remember with Eric Gossat and Jamer Brunton
Olentangy Orange has two young players leaving their mark in Luke Little and Lawton Hinley
Jerome has a solid Libero in Tommy Pool
And Coffman has a setter in Jack Procter leading their way.
Other teams I have seen play and don’t know players names are Davidson, Westerville Central and North.
Central Ohio has had the following teams ranked in the State Poll at some point this season
Olentangy, Darby, St. Charles, Briggs, Davidson, Mt. Vernon, DeSales, Watterson, Worthington Kilbourne, and Gahanna.
Going to be fun to watch, come tournament time in Central Ohio
Jefdar, you might think the teams are down in Central Ohio but the player talents pool is there.
I have seen the following players play and have helped their team to successful starts to the season.
Watterson has two players helping them off to a good start in Jake Maziaz (SP) and Jack Brinkman.
Briggs has Justin Sharfenaker, saw him play against DeSales and Watterson where he had about 20 kills in both close matches. He is their go to guy.
Mt. Vernon has Spencer Stanley, who is getting it done in the middle.
Darby has 4 players playing well and are looking for another title in Noah Platfoot, who is such a great setter, Adam Ansel, Colin Buelow, and Dom Mechiorine (SP), who is playing awesome.
St. Charles is off to a hot start with Kevin Gallagher at Libero, Saw him play against Watterson and DeSales and he had about 20+ digs.
Olentangy is having a season to remember with Eric Gossat and Jamer Brunton
Olentangy Orange has two young players leaving their mark in Luke Little and Lawton Hinley
Jerome has a solid Libero in Tommy Pool
And Coffman has a setter in Jack Procter leading their way.
Other teams I have seen play and don’t know players names are Davidson, Westerville Central and North.
Central Ohio has had the following teams ranked in the State Poll at some point this season
Olentangy, Darby, St. Charles, Briggs, Davidson, Mt. Vernon, DeSales, Watterson, Worthington Kilbourne, and Gahanna.
Going to be fun to watch, come tournament time in Central Ohio
Falcon11, I never said Jefdar was wrong nor was I trying to make an argument. I said Jefdar, you might think the teams are down in Central Ohio but the player talent pool is there. My post was to mention some of the players I have seen play that I thought were having good years.
I was told the kid from Briggs does play right side for Vanguards 18 Gold Team. I saw them Play Watterson and DeSales, both teams were not that bad and they could not stop him. Now if they played a team like X, Elder, Darby, or Olentangy then I could see that happening. They did have another kid #3, I think that was not bad. As Jefdar said teams are down, but it is nice to see teams having some good players on them.
Centerville Elite is this Saturday - looks like the 3 GCL schools will be there, along with Centerville. I'd imagine St Ignatius and Darby will join them - anyone know if any of these teams Olentangy, Beavercreek or Northmont will be there either?
Heard that Hilliard Davidson will be attending.
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In addition to Hilliard Davidson and Darby, I believe Olentangy and Beavercreek are attending as well.
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