boothmark77
Well-known member
agree on this.
2024 HS Season
- Thread starter MatchPoint
- Start date
agree on this.MatchPoint
Active member
Agreed. Not just Meyer, but almost the entire coaching staff left after last year.
az0217t
Well-known member
I saw Elder live for the first time yesterday against Fenwick. I believe that Elder's middles and their OP will be what determines how good Elder will be this year. If they step up they will go far. Elder's 2 OHs and their setter are very good. DS and LIB are above average but do need to work on serve receive.
Fenwick is very good. Their middles, especially number 4, are quick.
Fenwick is very good. Their middles, especially number 4, are quick.
MyNameIsDoug?
Well-known member
Tough to get a read on the GCL minus X. Moeller returned a ton, but had a complete coaching overhaul and has questions at OH. Elder is younger than most GCL teams and has questions at MH and Opp. LaSalle took Elder to 4 and all sets were pretty tight, but also hasn't played the toughest competition outside of that. Looking at stats, Hausfeld's arm is gonna fall off by the end of the year (18 sets played, 212 swings), but they'll go as far as he can take them.
My initial thoughts on the Moeller-Elder match tonight was sloppy. Unforced errors on both sides of the net made it feel like the match could have been won by either team. Too many missed serves by both teams and balls hit into the net by Elder made it less exciting than a typical GCL contest. Anyone else in attendance have different thoughts on the match?
MyNameIsDoug?
Well-known member
Definitely a little sloppy, but it's still early in the season so some rotations/spots might be under review by both teams. Also thought there were some interesting coaching decisions made on Elder's side. Not sure taking out your 2 best players at the same time in a, at the time, close 4th set is the right call. Even if you think they need a breather or to clear their heads or something, those are 2 guys crucial to the team's success.
this is a down year in ohio tbh
I am beginning to think the same thing.
You don't have as many top tier athletes at the public schools - but I agree East is the closest. Big setter with plenty of experience, huge lanky Oppo, and plenty of other guys who played club. Walnut lost their big go-to guys, Sycamore the same. Loveland usually has some talent but seem to be down as well. Walnut did have a nice win vs Roger Bacon, though.
All the teams you mentioned is exactly what I meant. Just hoped those schools would have been able to build off there success and continue to push the big 3 GCL schools and that doesn't seem to be happening. It all starts at the youth level and voluntary coaches to build programs.
I think Walnut is in better hands than the past few years judging from the current coaching staff. Sycamore doesn't have any younger kids laying, but the coaches do care. East is going to have some years pretty soon where they can definitely beat the GCL teams due to their coach prioritizing youth ball. LE has boys teams playing in both fall and spring.
I am wondering if anyone knows how many public schools are playing in the BWAC and the east side league? Oak Hills and Walnut have always played in the BWAC. It is great that there is more participation at Attack but having kids play together starting at a young age in their own schools really helps with teamwork and pulling other kids into the sport that wouldn't normally play.
MyNameIsDoug?
Well-known member
There's a BWAC website you can check out (https://www.gwacsports.com/bwac). Has division standings and schedules listed, but, public school-wise, looks like the following:
7/8 A - Walnut Hills
7/8 B - 2 Three Rivers teams
5/6 A - None
5/6 B - Three Rivers
3/4 "Gold" (whatever that means) - None
3/4 "Blue" - Three Rivers
Not sure if Oak Hills is playing elsewhere, but, if not, that's disappointing to see them have no teams at all after having been in it for so long. I could be wrong, but I think Walnut has always limited themselves to the 7/8th level. Cool to see Three Rivers going strong for a few years and have teams at every grade level. I think Lakota East played in BWAC for a year or 2, but not sure what league they're in now or if there's a site for other Cincy grade school leagues.
I looked it up:
Walnut has a 7/8 A team.
Three Rivers has 2 7/8 B teams, 1 5/6 B team, and 1 3/4 team.
No Oak Hills teams at all.
Lakota East played in BWAC last year, but I guess are playing elsewhere this year.
The east side league has never let non-Catholic schools participate.
Jinx. haha
Walnut probably cannot do anything under 7/8 because the school is 7-12. Anything younger would be up to CPS elementary schools I'd assume. Three Rivers is the whole school district.
Looks like Lakota East is playing in the Cincinnati Premier Youth Volleyball League. Also includes teams from Anderson, Indian Hill, Loveland, Madeira, Mason, Milford, Oak Hills, Sycamore and "LAVA" which appears to be other Lakota kids.
MyNameIsDoug?
Well-known member
Oh, duh, good point about Walnut; brain fart.
So interesting that the one Oak Hills team they seem to have would choose to play in that league. Has to be more of a hassle logistically to get to away games. I can understand Lakota switching to that league since the same could be said for them playing in BWAC.
Looking at the GCCYS website...man, the amount of teams absolutely dwarfs the BWAC. Insane to see the disparity.
az0217t
Well-known member
BWAC was started more than 25 years ago. Oak Hills started playing in BWAC about 15 years ago or so. I'm not sure why they left.
Walnut Hills started playing about 7 to 8 years ago when their then coach Ober put the whole program together.
The eastside school leagues inquired about joining BWAC 15 years (or so) ago but BWAC said no because no one wanted to travel all over the city.
MyNameIsDoug?
Well-known member
Wow, didn't know that. It'd be awesome to have a true citywide tournament at the end of the year.
Looks like the East side schools are doing a good job trying to grow their programs, along with Walnut and Taylor. Thanks for the info. It is difficult to to have dedicated volunteers at the youth level to build boys volleyball programs. Kudos to all those working to build the sport.
mrorcadood
Active member
CPS elementary athletics is headed in the right direction, but they're still a few years from the possibility of full feeder teams.
CincyVballGuru
New member
Pretty quiet thread this season.
Curious everyones thoughts now that were almost halfway through the regular season.
I don't see much outside of scores from other regions, but think its a pretty clear pecking order today of X, Moe, Elder, Lasalle.
This Friday could switch that up if Elder takes X down at The Pit.
X in 4 is my gut feeling, but The Pit aways brings the energy and chaos. Suffice to say, I would not be surprised if X were to need all 5 sets.
Curious everyones thoughts now that were almost halfway through the regular season.
I don't see much outside of scores from other regions, but think its a pretty clear pecking order today of X, Moe, Elder, Lasalle.
This Friday could switch that up if Elder takes X down at The Pit.
X in 4 is my gut feeling, but The Pit aways brings the energy and chaos. Suffice to say, I would not be surprised if X were to need all 5 sets.
MyNameIsDoug?
Well-known member
Assuming X takes care of business (a big if), I’d anticipate an X vs. Liberty state final. St. I’s is undefeated, but get a real test of where they’re at this weekend when they take on X. Kudos to Ferris and X, though, because they’re playing a lot of top out of region and D2 teams this year in addition to their usual GCL schedule. Feels like they’re preparing themselves to not get bounced early this postseason.
SiberianHawk
Member
East D-1 is looking fairly normal. Liberty on top followed by the runner-up tier of MTV/Berlin/Pick North, and there will be a quad 4/13 featuring those 3 (+ Beavercreek). Would not be remotely surprised to see the final region rankings repeat Liberty>MTV>Berlin>Pick N this year.
Pick North’s schedule is, compared to MTV and Berlin, very weak leading up to that quad due to their conference requirements, so they haven’t had any opportunities yet to prove themselves. Historically, I’m inclined to put them below MTV/Berlin. They look good on paper beating all these weaker teams until reality hits them in the form of Liberty/MTV/Berlin, but they’re a big school and that could change quickly.
Berlin has already played X, Liberty, and BBH and are about to play Darby so they’re a known factor. They took a set off X but got handled by Liberty and BBH.
MTV, thanks to not having any conference obligations, always manages to put together, statistically, the most brutal schedules in the state (per MaxPreps their schedules even outrank GCL schools some years since the big 3 can’t play themselves). They’re doing so again this year by playing X, Moe, Elder, Ignatius, Darby, Berlin, St. Charles and Pick N, but there surprisingly is no MTV/Liberty matchup this year. They only got a set off Moe and Darby and were crushed by St. Charles which was impressive for St. Charles more than anything. It looks like they’ve comfortably handled all other opponents.
I don’t think there has been a MTV/Berlin match that didn’t go to 5. MTV has won most of them iirc but when you’re going to 5 things could fall either way. I expect the match on 4/13 to be similar.
If MTV and Liberty meet again in the regional final, it’ll be the 3rd regional final in a row between those two. The last two both ended 3-1 to Liberty.
Ok, I think it is safe to say the big 3 in the GCL are the top 3 in Cincinnati, and LaSalle may be 4th. Outside of the Catholic schools, who is the best public school in Cincy this year? Lakota East was posted as a team to watch a couple of weeks ago but just lost to Moe. Anyone else ?
MatchPoint
Active member
Lakota East is a pretty safe bet. Even though it was a loss, they took a set and it was decently close outside of set 1.
MyNameIsDoug?
Well-known member
I’d argue that it’s the big 3, then could be any one of McNick, Fenwick or Lakota East and then LaSalle. The private schools in Cincy will continue to dominate because that’s just the culture in the area. A lot of those kids start playing when they’re 8 or 9 years old; the public schools simply don’t have that consistently. Lakota East is probably the best public school this year, though. Honestly, no idea who the next best would be, but it’d be a significant drop off from LE. Maybe schools like Walnut, Mason, Edgewood, Taylor, Lakota West? I don’t know, but Cincy public schools don’t have it like Columbus in terms of competitiveness
D1 Regional Final picks at the halfway point:
Region 1- Liberty over Pickerington North
Region 2- St. Ignatius over Brecksville Broadview
Region 3- Thomas Worthington over Darby
Region 4- X over Moeller
It'll be worth monitoring what they do with the format of the Final 4. Under the old system, the pairings at states rotated each year. I think Region 1 played Region 3 and 2 played 4 last year. Hopefully they'll continue to rotate so we get some new matchups in the semifinals each year.