2022 Volleyball

Smarty2022 said:
Who still around in the SW Ohio Volleyball Tournament? Any have a real shot at D1 State Title?
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Same as always, it's the GGCL. The GMC was very weak this season. The ECC was strong (Lebanon, Milford, Turpin but only Kings remains).

Seton, MND, Ursula, Ursuline are left. It's a bit of a down year in SW Ohio and maybe statewide. Dayton does not have any great programs as both Springboro and Centerville lost in the regular season vs the GGCL. No dominant teams exist.

As I have said since the opening of the season, IMO Ursula and Ursuline both have a shot at the title.
 
Obviously a lot can and will happen between now and 9-10 days from now, but a look at potential state semifinal match-ups. Upsets will happen and most of these probably won't happen, but a look:

D1:
Magnificat vs. Northview
Cincinnati Ursuline vs. Olentangy Liberty

D2:
NDCL vs. Union Local (???)
Bishop Hartley vs. Mercy McAuley

D3:
Mentor Lake Catholic vs. Versailles
Coldwater vs. Wheelersburg

D4:
Monroeville vs. Newark Catholic
Tiffin Calvert vs. New Bremen
 
Congrats to Bay on the District Championship over Hoban.

A bit of karma for the Hoban coach to lose on the floor of his old school after going up 2-0!
 
From the final OHSVCA poll, the following teams remain in the Sweet Sixteen.

D1
URSULINE ACADEMY (CINCINNATI)
MAGNIFICAT (ROCKY RIVER)
ST URSULA ACADEMY (CINCINNATI)
MOUNT NOTRE DAME (CINCINNATI)
OLMSTED FALLS (OLMSTED FALLS)
SETON (CINCINNATI)
OLENTANGY LIBERTY (POWELL)
BISHOP WATTERSON (COLUMBUS)
ST JOSEPH ACADEMY (CLEVELAND)
ST URSULA ACADEMY (TOLEDO)
JACKSON (Massillon)
SYLVANIA NORTHVIEW (SYLVANIA)
KINGS (KINGS MILLS)
PERRYSBURG
OLENTANGY ORANGE (LEWIS CENTER)
STEELE (AMHERST)
MEDINA (MEDINA)
AUSTINTOWN-FITCH
DUBLIN COFFMAN
GLENOAK (CANTON)

D2
BISHOP HARTLEY (COLUMBUS)
BADIN (HAMILTON)
MERCY MCAULEY (CINCINNATI)
LAKE (MILLBURY)
GILMOUR ACADEMY (GATES MILLS)
ROGER BACON (ST BERNARD)
NOTRE DAME-CATHEDRAL LATIN (CHARDON)
UNION LOCAL (BELMONT)
GIRARD
HIGHLAND (MARENGO)
LIBERTY-BENTON (FINDLAY)
CINCINNATI HILLS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
VERMILION
NEW RICHMOND
CIRCLEVILLE
WYOMING (CINCINNATI)
TIPPECANOE (TIPP CITY)
CELINA
MARLINGTON (ALLIANCE)
ARCHBISHOP McNICHOLAS (CINCINNATI)
BLOOM-CARROLL
KENSTON (CHAGRIN FALLS)

D3
LAKE CATHOLIC (MENTOR)
HURON
VERSAILLES
COLDWATER
ADENA (FRANKFORT)
ST HENRY
MEADOWBROOK (BYESVILLE)
LAKEVIEW
PARKWAY (ROCKFORD)
CRESTVIEW (COLUMBIANA)
FAIRVIEW (SHERWOOD)
KIRTLAND
WHEELERSBURG
SOUTH WEBSTER
INDEPENDENCE
OTTAWA-GLANDORF
CARDINGTON-LINCOLN
GALION
MINERAL RIDGE
PREBLE SHAWNEE (CAMDEN)
FAIRBANKS (MILFORD CENTER)


D4
NEW BREMEN
MARION LOCAL (MARIA STEIN)
MOHAWK (SYCAMORE)
CALVERT (TIFFIN)
RUSSIA
HILAND (BERLIN)
FORT LORAMIE
NEWARK CATHOLIC
SHENANDOAH (SARAHSVILLE)
SENECA EAST (ATTICA)
WELLSVILLE
LEIPSIC
SHEKINAH CHRISTIAN (PLAIN CITY)
MONROEVILLE
JACKSON CENTER
CRESTVIEW (CONVOY)
NEWTON LOCAL (PLEASANT HILL)
HILLTOP (WEST UNITY)
FISHER CATHOLIC (LANCASTER)
MINSTER
CALDWELL
 
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How was St Henry placed in the same district as Coldwater? New Bremen & Marion Local also in the same District? I thought they were now seeding by Region or is that only in the bigger metro areas?
 
Also it just continues to amaze me that volleyball is the complete opposite of softball, this sport is mostly about Catholic schools and this includes the majority Catholic students that attend the MAC public programs. Something in the holy water? :)
 
Auggie said:
Also it just continues to amaze me that volleyball is the complete opposite of softball, this sport is mostly about Catholic schools and this includes the majority Catholic students that attend the MAC public programs. Something in the holy water? :)
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Don't you feel like, and I hate to sterotype, but volleyball is more of an elitist type sport, where families who tend to pay for education have the money to pay for travel volleyball? Softball seems to be more of a grass roots type of sport. Maybe not a great analgy, but I feel that softball tends to be a little more of a grind, outdoors, multiple skill sets, I'm sure the expense is still there, but it's just different.
 
14Red said:
Don't you feel like, and I hate to sterotype, but volleyball is more of an elitist type sport, where families who tend to pay for education have the money to pay for travel volleyball? Softball seems to be more of a grass roots type of sport. Maybe not a great analgy, but I feel that softball tends to be a little more of a grind, outdoors, multiple skill sets, I'm sure the expense is still there, but it's just different.
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Soccer is as expensive as volleyball and way more demanding with your time throughout the year. The public schools soccer programs are extremely competitive with the private schools and in some years have dominated the landscape in SWO.
 
ElderMackStud said:
Soccer is as expensive as volleyball and way more demanding with your time throughout the year. The public schools soccer programs are extremely competitive with the private schools and in some years have dominated the landscape in SWO.
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Ok, so again, my point is that soccer/ softball/ basketball tend to be physical, grind it out sports. Volleyball is less "competitive" if I can say that? Meaning you don't mix with the other team, you don't tend to see real physical type kids play volleyball?
 
Auggie said:
Also it just continues to amaze me that volleyball is the complete opposite of softball, this sport is mostly about Catholic schools and this includes the majority Catholic students that attend the MAC public programs. Something in the holy water? :)
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I think it has more to do with the community aspect of the sport. Plenty of community teams playing travel softball. From my limited experience, not sure I've seen a travel team in volleyball with a community attached to it.

I'm sure there are some community rec leagues for volleyball at the younger ages but I've never seen one. Plenty of communities have softball for as young as 5 years old.

Is there are CYO league for volleyball for youth up to 6th grade? In my community, most girls' first exposure to volleyball is in the middle school on the 7th grade team.
 
14Red said:
Ok, so again, my point is that soccer/ softball/ basketball tend to be physical, grind it out sports. Volleyball is less "competitive" if I can say that? Meaning you don't mix with the other team, you don't tend to see real physical type kids play volleyball?
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I agree with the point that soccer & basketball are more of a body to body physical play than volleyball. The physicality in soccer and basketball does challenge the younger girls playing up as I have seen under classmen get roped by older girls in those sports. I disagree to softball being more physically demanding than volleyball. I would suggest you go watch a completive high school volleyball game and you will be amazed at the size/athleticism and how hard these girls can hit a volleyball.

Not sure how to apply that to a public vs private sports program
 
ElderMackStud said:
I agree with the point that soccer & basketball are more of a body to body physical play than volleyball. The physicality in soccer and basketball does challenge the younger girls playing up as I have seen under classmen get roped by older girls in those sports. I disagree to softball being more physically demanding than volleyball. I would suggest you go watch a completive high school volleyball game and you will be amazed at the size/athleticism and how hard these girls can hit a volleyball.

Not sure how to apply that to a public vs private sports program
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Not saying volleyball girls are not athletic, that's why I hesitated saying some of it. And believe me, I've seen ALOT of volleyball in my life, both high school and college. It's just less of a physical sport from a contact of the opponents. Heck, many vball players don't even like touching their teammates let alone the other team.
I will push you a little on softball, not that you have to be a great condition, but there are ALOT of skill sets in softball / baseball that are take it leave it as you climb. If you can't hit a pitched ball, that's pretty much it for softball. Softball players have to be able to catch and throw quickly, run, some hit for power, bunt. Don't tend to see alot of tall softball players until you get to the big time D1 pitchers. Volleyball is hit/ block, or pass, dig, the setter has some other responsibilities.
My point about the privates is that I feel you tend to see the volleyball type athlete more at private schools.
 
Yappi said:
I think it has more to do with the community aspect of the sport. Plenty of community teams playing travel softball. From my limited experience, not sure I've seen a travel team in volleyball with a community attached to it.

I'm sure there are some community rec leagues for volleyball at the younger ages but I've never seen one. Plenty of communities have softball for as young as 5 years old.

Is there are CYO league for volleyball for youth up to 6th grade? In my community, most girls' first exposure to volleyball is in the middle school on the 7th grade team.
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I think volleyball basketball tend to be less community because of the OHSAA rules for participates from a team on the same travel squad. A few decades ago, I'd agree that volleyball was likely the last sport a girl was introduced to, but now I see volleyball leagues for girls in 3rd/ 4th grade with modified rules. Girls sports are very competitive with kids. There is a sense that becuase there is such a smaller pool of athletes from the boys, if you can get the girl to love your sport first, you've got a chance.
One of the really nice things about the smaller communities is that you can have girls be multi sport athletes. So many times girls choose way too early to "focus" on one sport because they think it's going to be their sport. That 5'7" 8th grade hitter stops growing and she's suddenly a junior, still 5'7"and didn't transtion to the back row. And it's too late to become a basketball or softball player.
The other sad thing I see both for baseball and softball is many parents are forgoing those sports. Growing up EVERONE I knew at least played baseball for a few years. Now you have kids who are in high school who don't know a thing about the sport.
 
Some good banter, some follow up points to discuss:

  • If the community aspect is a big driver in softball how do you account for no MAC teams ever winning a state title in softball? These schools are based in some of the tightest communities and run some of the best athletic programs in the state with incredible dynasties but have zilch in this sport? I am totally fascinated by how good these teams are in sport like football and volleyball which also are traditionally Catholic school focused sports in the heart of a heavily Catholic area, I think there is correlation that is tradition based.
  • For anyone that has been following the sport of volleyball it is really starting to trend for girls of color as an alternative to basketball, especially those in diverse suburban areas that can afford the $s needed for JO. One of the best young players in the country was the black girl from UC and when she went down during the Olympics the US team faltered. I have to think that in the near future diverse public suburban programs should start to see more success at the state level and it is only a matter of time until you see more of these teams competing for state titles like Brecksville did 5 years ago.
 
They start playing volleyball in the Catholic grade schools in 3rd grade. That's 4 years at the gradeschool level when many don't start until 7th grade in public schools. The bigger Catholic grade schools may have 4 or more teams developing players from 3rd grade while the publics often have just one team for 7th and one for 8th. The bigger Catholic schools will have over 50 or 60 freshmen tryout leading to freshmen only teams. All the publics around here have 2 JVs with freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. The Catholic school kids simply start earlier in most cases and get involved in the club scene sooner.
 
Auggie said:
Some good banter, some follow up points to discuss:

  • If the community aspect is a big driver in softball how do you account for no MAC teams ever winning a state title in softball? These schools are based in some of the tightest communities and run some of the best athletic programs in the state with incredible dynasties but have zilch in this sport? I am totally fascinated by how good these teams are in sport like football and volleyball which also are traditionally Catholic school focused sports in the heart of a heavily Catholic area, I think there is correlation that is tradition based.
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Not really sure why the MAC is not competitive. Maybe they didn't introduce the sport in their communities as early as some of the best in the state. I know the Cleveland area lagged behind for a long time because they were playing slow-pitch into the 90s, maybe the MAC did too?? Actually watched a slow-pitch softball game in the Cleveland area for 13-14 year-olds about 10 years ago.

Hoban, StV, and Walsh have been very good at softball for decades, they also happen to be in one of the best areas for softball.

Looking at @TriangleMan rankings from above, there are very few teams from Summit/Stark/Portage/Medina counties. I always wondered why this area doesn't seem to have much success in the sport. @zski71 seems to answer it as these other areas play far more volleyball than I've heard of around here.

Maybe it is like you said, tradition-based.
 
Yappi said:
I think it has more to do with the community aspect of the sport. Plenty of community teams playing travel softball. From my limited experience, not sure I've seen a travel team in volleyball with a community attached to it.

I'm sure there are some community rec leagues for volleyball at the younger ages but I've never seen one. Plenty of communities have softball for as young as 5 years old.

Is there are CYO league for volleyball for youth up to 6th grade? In my community, most girls' first exposure to volleyball is in the middle school on the 7th grade team.
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In SW Ohio there is CYO Volleyball and a Youth Volleyball League (CPYVL). Both offer various levels of Play in each Grade/Age Group. Few things I have observed in these Leagues is that CYO Coaches are usually more knowledgeable and usually they have more Players on their Teams that have Played some Club Ball at some point. The Public School Youth Volleyball League Rec Division has a lot of Girls Playing Volleyball for fun and the social aspect of being on a Team. Coach many times is a Mom or Dad who a good organizer and all the girls and other parents like. Then you have the Public HS Youth organizations like Loveland,Kings and Milford that take Volleyball very seriously. Therefore you see some Youth Teams in those organizations that have quality Coaching and you can literally see the development of some Players. EVERY Club,AAU,Select Sport is Expensive,especially the more the Team/Coach wants to challenge them.
 
From the final OHSVCA poll, the following teams remain in the Elite Eight.

D1
URSULINE ACADEMY (CINCINNATI)
MAGNIFICAT (ROCKY RIVER)
ST URSULA ACADEMY (CINCINNATI)
MOUNT NOTRE DAME (CINCINNATI)
OLMSTED FALLS (OLMSTED FALLS)
SETON (CINCINNATI)
OLENTANGY LIBERTY (POWELL)
BISHOP WATTERSON (COLUMBUS)
ST JOSEPH ACADEMY (CLEVELAND)
ST URSULA ACADEMY (TOLEDO)
JACKSON (Massillon)
SYLVANIA NORTHVIEW (SYLVANIA)
KINGS (KINGS MILLS)
PERRYSBURG
OLENTANGY ORANGE (LEWIS CENTER)
STEELE (AMHERST)
MEDINA (MEDINA)
AUSTINTOWN-FITCH
DUBLIN COFFMAN
GLENOAK (CANTON)

D2
BISHOP HARTLEY (COLUMBUS)
BADIN (HAMILTON)
MERCY MCAULEY (CINCINNATI)
LAKE (MILLBURY)
GILMOUR ACADEMY (GATES MILLS)
ROGER BACON (ST BERNARD)
NOTRE DAME-CATHEDRAL LATIN (CHARDON)
UNION LOCAL (BELMONT)
GIRARD
HIGHLAND (MARENGO)
LIBERTY-BENTON (FINDLAY)
CINCINNATI HILLS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
VERMILION
NEW RICHMOND
CIRCLEVILLE
WYOMING (CINCINNATI)
TIPPECANOE (TIPP CITY)
CELINA
MARLINGTON (ALLIANCE)
ARCHBISHOP McNICHOLAS (CINCINNATI)
BLOOM-CARROLL
KENSTON (CHAGRIN FALLS)

D3
LAKE CATHOLIC (MENTOR)
HURON
VERSAILLES
COLDWATER
ADENA (FRANKFORT)
ST HENRY
MEADOWBROOK (BYESVILLE)
LAKEVIEW
PARKWAY (ROCKFORD)
CRESTVIEW (COLUMBIANA)
FAIRVIEW (SHERWOOD)
KIRTLAND
WHEELERSBURG
SOUTH WEBSTER
INDEPENDENCE
OTTAWA-GLANDORF
CARDINGTON-LINCOLN
GALION
MINERAL RIDGE
PREBLE SHAWNEE (CAMDEN)
FAIRBANKS (MILFORD CENTER)

D4
NEW BREMEN
MARION LOCAL (MARIA STEIN)
MOHAWK (SYCAMORE)
CALVERT (TIFFIN)
RUSSIA
HILAND (BERLIN)
FORT LORAMIE
NEWARK CATHOLIC
SHENANDOAH (SARAHSVILLE)
SENECA EAST (ATTICA)
WELLSVILLE
LEIPSIC
SHEKINAH CHRISTIAN (PLAIN CITY)
MONROEVILLE
JACKSON CENTER
CRESTVIEW (CONVOY)
NEWTON LOCAL (PLEASANT HILL)
HILLTOP (WEST UNITY)
FISHER CATHOLIC (LANCASTER)
MINSTER
CALDWELL
 
Smarty2022 said:
In SW Ohio there is CYO Volleyball and a Youth Volleyball League (CPYVL). Both offer various levels of Play in each Grade/Age Group. Few things I have observed in these Leagues is that CYO Coaches are usually more knowledgeable and usually they have more Players on their Teams that have Played some Club Ball at some point. The Public School Youth Volleyball League Rec Division has a lot of Girls Playing Volleyball for fun and the social aspect of being on a Team. Coach many times is a Mom or Dad who a good organizer and all the girls and other parents like. Then you have the Public HS Youth organizations like Loveland,Kings and Milford that take Volleyball very seriously. Therefore you see some Youth Teams in those organizations that have quality Coaching and you can literally see the development of some Players. EVERY Club,AAU,Select Sport is Expensive,especially the more the Team/Coach wants to challenge them.
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Another thing to keep in mind is that Volleyball has been ingrained in the lifeblood of Catholic Grade Schools and in many volleyball families, the third generations are now playing in Grade School/High School. Since Mercy won the first state championship in 1977, the GGCL was won 28 of 43 state championships with all but one school in the league winning multiple times. Seton has the second longest win streak in Ohio going over 3 years without losing.

History and a strong culture is a hard thing to overcome consistently over time. Go to a Catholic Grade school tournament on a Saturday night (at any grade level) and experience the environment of the gym - it is packed and loud. These girls expect to play in gyms like this.

I agree with you that the ECC has a strong culture and has been extremely competitive but they rely heavily on a grade of girls that are strong, ie. Kings this year & will continue next year. Once that grade goes, how competitive will they be? I will say though that Kings does have a great opportunity to be the first Public school in a long time to get out of the region next year
 
ElderMackStud said:
Another thing to keep in mind is that Volleyball has been ingrained in the lifeblood of Catholic Grade Schools and in many volleyball families, the third generations are now playing in Grade School/High School. Since Mercy won the first state championship in 1977, the GGCL was won 28 of 43 state championships with all but one school in the league winning multiple times. Seton has the second longest win streak in Ohio going over 3 years without losing.

History and a strong culture is a hard thing to overcome consistently over time. Go to a Catholic Grade school tournament on a Saturday night (at any grade level) and experience the environment of the gym - it is packed and loud. These girls expect to play in gyms like this.

I agree with you that the ECC has a strong culture and has been extremely competitive but they rely heavily on a grade of girls that are strong, ie. Kings this year & will continue next year. Once that grade goes, how competitive will they be? I will say though that Kings does have a great opportunity to be the first Public school in a long time to get out of the region next year
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Right. The Catholic Grade School Volleyball Tradition is very very strong. I have Officiated the Youth Matches that you speak of. Definitely crowded and loud. Loveland,Kings and Milford had some quality Youth Teams past few years. Not sure if all those Girls will attend HS at those Schools but few Teams were solid and had quality Coaching. Also, younger age groups in Catholic League play final set 25 and Public School to 15. Unless that changed this past season. Obviously gives the Catholic Youth kids more Playing time at a younger age.
 
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