2019 OHSAA Tournament

Auggie

Auggie

Well-known member
Not a lot of volleyball talk here so might as well have all Divisions under one thread.
 
 
This has to be the year Padua breaks through and takes Division 1 though a Cincy all girl school will be in Columbus to give them a fight they have not seen since the national tourney. In Div 2 I like any of the NCL schools at the top of the poll, NDCL, Gilmour or Lake Catholic. In Div 3 maybe Independence can keep the NEO train rolling but they will need more attacking depth. In Div 4 I have St. Henry.
 
Padua is strong but they have many tough teams from the South as well as Ursula. Their bracket is not strong early and other teams will get better competition along the way. Grafton group has 4 top 20 teams in the State just in that district. Padua is only ranked team in their district. Padua just struggled with Independence last week. Lotsa great matchups the next few weeks!
 
Tslate said:
Padua is strong but they have many tough teams from the South as well as Ursula. Their bracket is not strong early and other teams will get better competition along the way. Grafton group has 4 top 20 teams in the State just in that district. Padua is only ranked team in their district. Padua just struggled with Independence last week. Lotsa great matchups the next few weeks!
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Independence has one of the best Liberos in the country and are a state contender in Div III so its not like Padua was playing some chumps. But something was up with that match, they lost the first two sets in close fashion but then beat Independence 25-12, 25-10 15-4 so they imposed their will probably after some spirited remarks from BeHarry.
 
Auggie said:
Independence has one of the best Liberos in the country and are a state contender in Div III so its not like Padua was playing some chumps. But something was up with that match, they lost the first two sets in close fashion but then beat Independence 25-12, 25-10 15-4 so they imposed their will probably after some spirited remarks from BeHarry.
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That was their third match in 5 days and the second half of a back-to-back stretch (with one more match the next night), so it could have been that they had tired legs or they could have tried to go with more of their bench. Not sure exactly what happened and I was assuming that the championship would be a rematch, but it looks like Ursuline is in the same half of the regional bracket as Padua, so they would end up meeting in the semi-finals, not the finals.
 
If Ursuline gets back their outside hitter/DS that got hurt they will be a better team. Missing a player that plays all the way around is tough to overcome. MND continues to get stronger because they have several underclassmen that play important roles on their team. It will be good to see some stronger competition at the State Final 4 because Ursuline pretty much was not challenged the past two seasons once they won their Regional.
 
College#19 said:
If Ursuline gets back their outside hitter/DS that got hurt they will be a better team. Missing a player that plays all the way around is tough to overcome. MND continues to get stronger because they have several underclassmen that play important roles on their team. It will be good to see some stronger competition at the State Final 4 because Ursuline pretty much was not challenged the past two seasons once they won their Regional.
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Coffman took them 5 in 2017 and while they beat Padua 3-0 in 2018 they were competitive games in 25-19, 25-23, 25-23.

But I get what you are saying about the regional competition.........and league competition for that matter.
 
One of the best nights of HS volleyball happens this evening, District Semifinal double headers. A lot of re-matches from earlier season league matches with a possible defacto state title match occurring in Elida between New Bremen & St. Henry.
 
Great game in Norwalk on Sat.

Padua beat Toledo St. Ursula in 4 intense highly competitive sets 21-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23

SUA won the 1st set and was up 14-7 in the 2nd set, but couldn't close it out.
 
D1 Semis: St. Francis DeSales rolls over Solon in straight sets. Padua wins in 4 sets in what sounded like a pretty major battle over Mount Notre Dame.
 
soccerdad72 said:
D1 Semis: St. Francis DeSales rolls over Solon in straight sets. Padua wins in 4 sets in what sounded like a pretty major battle over Mount Notre Dame.
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That #1 national ranking put a bulls eye right on Padua. Good for them that they were able to pull out a couple of tough 4 setters the past two matches against some high level comp.
 
Padua chokes away another Div I state title. Would love to hear a take from someone that was there.
 
Padua did not choke. They played as well as they did against Mt. Notre Dame. DeSales plays excellent team defense. They were making amazing digs and getting touches on most hits. Their team chemistry is outstanding. So is their team composure. That is a tribute to their coaches. They just never give up on any hit. At one point, one of the DeSales girls almost went over the scorer's table, made a backward pass that led to a point. The DeSales middles outplayed the Padua middles. The Ott girl was doing a great job of hitting. Looked unstoppable. DeSales began serving her, a common tactic to neutralize great hitters, and her kills declined and so did her hitting percentage. Helped turn the game around. The DeSales coaches did a good job preparing their team and making adjustments. But Padua is a great, well-coached team. Is horribly wrong to say they choked. They absolutely did not.
 
I think Padua's loss says more about the quality of volleyball in Ohio than them choking. They had a brutal path just to get to the final.

Toledo St. Ursula was up 1-0 and 14-7 in the 2nd set of the regional final before Padua fought back to win the next 3 very tight sets 21-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23.

MND obviously gave them all they wanted in the State Semi 29-27, 26-28, 25-19, 25-19.

I can't believe I am defending them, but Padua played a brutal schedule all season and just happened to lose to another very good team in the 3rd straight game that could have gone either way.

Again it says a lot when the #1 ranked team in the country (they earned that ranking with their schedule and results) gets pushed as hard as they did in their attempt to win a state championship.
 
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You comments are excellent. Ohio high schools play great VB. Is a tribute to all the coaches and parents. In my area, Pitt has become a real power, and they are recruiting from Ohio. They have a senior from Eastlake and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin who is their leader. And freshmen from Bishop Hartley, Lake Catholic, and Cincinnati Mt. Notre Dame. Those freshmen may be starting next season. Good young players and quality people!
 
As a former volleyball player and current coach, it was very evident that Padua played much better against MND in the semifinal than they did in the final against DeSales. Against MND, Padua clearly came prepared and had a specific game plan: stop Hendrickson on the outside and let the libero Thompson dig her cross shots in the middle of the court. To complement the game plan, Padua missed 4 total serves and kept MND on their heels from the serving line. In the finals, I think Padua missed 4 serves alone in the first set. They did not seem like they had a specific game plan to stop DeSales like they did against MND ... DeSales was producing kills all over the court from every hitter. I think Padua may have been slightly unprepared from what they had seen from DeSales since DeSales had a lackluster performance against a mediocre Solon team in the semifinals and then came prepared for Padua the next day. I think DeSales flew under the radar. Still, a 28-1 playing all season with OHIO volleyball is incredible and winning the LIVT is near impossible so Padua proved they still have a top 5 team in the NATION!!! The last Ohio team to do so was the Ursuline team in 2017 that finished #3 in the nation with their lone loss to Mercy.
 
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