2024 HS Season

Who are we expecting to be the top teams out of Columbus? Will anybody challenge Liberty or be ready to compete at the state level? Darby maybe? Berlin? I know Jerome lost a lot.

My way too early Top 10 would look something like

1. Liberty
2. Moeller
3. X
4. Ignatius
5. Elder
6. Darby
7. Berlin
8. Brecksville
9. Beavercreek
10. Mount Vernon
 
Brambleberry said:
I think McNich belongs in the top 10. Return practically everyone from a state semi-final run last year
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I think he was just referencing D1, but yes, in D2 McNick has to be one of the early favorites along with Roger Bacon, Fenwick and St. Charles. All teams returning a ton, if not their entire starting line ups.
 
X has no holes and plenty of depth in my opinion. They should be the favorite. I do like McNick and maybe Bacon to take down one of the big 3.
 
MatchPoint said:
They’re my #2, but Liberty is ridiculously stacked.
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I agree, Liberty has to be #1 until beaten this year given who they return, plus I've heard Mallory (A2's 18-1 libero from last year) will be playing for Liberty during school season which will more than fill the hole left by Sullenberger last year.
 
MatchPoint said:
OHSAA has a link to past tournament results from the OHSVBA in the Boys Volleyball History section. Nice to see. I’ll bet there was some pressure from coaches to throw that in there.

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That great news. Now they need to add the "honors" that the players (POY) and coaches (COY) received through the years. Add all of the past history that the coaches association collected. All of it.
 
MyNameIsDoug? said:
My D2 Early Top 10 (I'm a sucker for D2 given that there's a bit more parity):
1. McNick - Looks like they return every single starter from a team that reached the Final 4; believe most, if not all, kids play club so should improve a ton; Gerhardt (1st team all region, HM all state), Gundrum (1st team all region, HM all state) and Dillard (HM all region) will be their big, go-to guys and Kaser is a solid libero, but if other guys develop can be a very well-balanced team

2. Fenwick - Return everyone that earned the 1 seed in Region 8; just happened to get reverse swept by a hot Badin team, don't think they'll forget that; Snyder (1st team all region, 2nd team all state) will be the driving force out of the middle, but have options at every spot with Morris (2nd team all region), Wagner (HM all region), Weber (HM all region); Kiser at S as well (2nd team all region)

3. St. Charles - looks like they return a lot of their core from this season; 1st team all region OH, 2nd team all region OH and S, and HM all region MH and L; don't know what their stats or ball distribution was like among those hitters, but don't think you can ever discount this program, especially one returning so many solid pieces

4. Roger Bacon - Only lose their Opp, return their setters, OHs, MHs, L and solid DS; thought they underperformed a bit with some of their losses, but should only get better; OH1 was a freshman and was 2nd team all state, OH2 would be OH1 on most teams and was HM all state

5. Badin - lose their MH1, OH1 and Opp, but return their region 8 POY, 1st Team all state setter, their OH2, MH2 and L; might see Brockman put up crazy stats; freshman Jungkunz was also very solid as their OH2 and freshman Carpenter did well at libero

6. Watterson - Return 3 of their top 4 hitting options as well as their setter, libero and a key DS; will be battle-tested playing St. Charles and DeSales multiple times each

7. Taylor - need to schedule tougher and no idea if any of their kids play club or anything; looks like they competed well against ; return both OHs (2nd team all region, HM all region), setter (HM all region) and MH2; new program seems to be on a good path for a small public school

8. Hoban - lose their setter, but return their top 2 hitters who both were very solid and their libero; MH1's offensive stats were super impressive, but will that be enough and will they stay that way with a new setter

9. SVSM - lose a lot, but also return some key pieces from their runner-up team, including their all state setter and their OH2 who was 2nd team all region; they'll both have to carry the load offensively next season

10. DeSales - seems like they lose even more than SVSM, but I'd just expect a program like that to reload with some solid young pieces and remain competitive

Just missed:
Chaminade and Alter - both were very young at key positions and play in a tough conference/region

Chillicothe - also had some young players who made 1st and 2nd all region teams in what is probably the 2nd best region in D2
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The falcons beat mcnick 2 times last year pretty handily. They clearly have lost 0 starters and Todd Snyder is in the running for D2 Player of the Year. Why does mcnick have the edge over the falcons here?
 
swankyfalcon32 said:
The falcons beat mcnick 2 times last year pretty handily. They clearly have lost 0 starters and Todd Snyder is in the running for D2 Player of the Year. Why does mcnick have the edge over the falcons here?
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They're probably more 1A/1B in hindsight and we're kinda splitting hairs here. Also, wasn't aware of Fenwick's injuries. McNick and Roger Bacon essentially lost 0 starters as well, so I expect those 3 to be the top teams in their region with Roger Bacon probably being a step below the other 2. From McNick, you could expect Gerhard to be in the running for state POY, and from RB, you could probably see Weigand make his case as well. Lots of talent on all 3 teams. Last year was last year, though, and I'd expect a lot of growth out of Fenwick and McNick that results in their matches being even more competitive this year.

I'm also not ruling St. Charles being a state favorite in D2 because they seem to return a lot, but I'm less familiar with their region.
 
Brambleberry said:
GCL-S expected lineups

Elder
S - Kelly
OH- Tierney
OH - Davis
MH - Neimann/James/Tucker
MH - Neimann/James/Tucker
OPP - Jones?
L - Murray

Add anyone I'm missing. It will be a very interesting year where more talent is spread across Cincinnati rather than the 3 GCL schools. Roger Bacon, LaSalle, and McNicholas will all have some talent capable of taking down the big boys especially given some of the perceived holes that Moeller, Elder and X have to fill
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I'm not sure Bayden Brandt doesn't challenge for the 2nd OH spot. He seems like he can really get up and swing. I'm thinking 2 of the 3 middles you listed stay at MH and the other is a front row only Opp. Could also, maybe, see Coach Tierney liking having Kelly as a hitting option and running a 6-2 again with Bass taking over the Voss role. Not for nothing, they also had 3 sophs on Varsity last year, so could maybe see guys like Bullens or the younger Kelly operating as swing players. This feels like maybe another year of rebuilding, yet really progressing, towards a potentially big year in '25.
 
swankyfalcon32 said:
The falcons beat mcnick 2 times last year pretty handily. They clearly have lost 0 starters and Todd Snyder is in the running for D2 Player of the Year. Why does mcnick have the edge over the falcons here?
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I personally believe with all of McNicks talent playing club this year (3 of which are on the same team) will improve enough to take down Fenwick this year. It seems like Fenwick only has two players playing club this season where McNick has at least 6.
 
Giraffe said:
I personally believe with all of McNicks talent playing club this year (3 of which are on the same team) will improve enough to take down Fenwick this year. It seems like Fenwick only has two players playing club this season where McNick has at least 6.
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Didn't know this. Did some Fenwick kids quit club? Or just never played to begin with? That does seem like something that could swing the pendulum in McNick's favor.
 
LaSalle named Zach Harvey as head coach a few days ago. He’s a ‘19 LaSalle grad and was a good player in his own right. Very late in the off-season to be naming a head coach so the interest might have been very tepid; good luck to him, as he might be learning on the fly
 
MyNameIsDoug? said:
LaSalle named Zach Harvey as head coach a few days ago. He’s a ‘19 LaSalle grad and was a good player in his own right. Very late in the off-season to be naming a head coach so the interest might have been very tepid; good luck to him, as he might be learning on the fly
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Yeah this is tough no matter who you hire at this time. Tryouts are in 2 weeks... Best of luck to Zach, i hope he brings stability to the program.
 
MyNameIsDoug? said:
Didn't know this. Did some Fenwick kids quit club? Or just never played to begin with? That does seem like something that could swing the pendulum in McNick's favor.
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They didn't have a lot of players playing to begin with, but they have even less this year. For example Jack Wagner isn't playing club this year (Was on OP 18-1 last year). Fenwick still has 2 players (That I know of) still has Josh Sabin (Attack 17-2) and Todd Snyder (Attack 18-1) while McNick just to name a few has Gavin Gerhard (Attack 17-1) Kevin Kaser (Attack 17-1) Jay Clifton (Attack 17-1) Bryce Dillard (Attack 18-2) and Ethan Gundrum (Vanguard 18-1). In my opinion club makes a huge difference and when your whole starting lineup is on a competitive club team we could expect to see a whole new team this year.
 
Giraffe said:
They didn't have a lot of players playing to begin with, but they have even less this year. For example Jack Wagner isn't playing club this year (Was on OP 18-1 last year). Fenwick still has 2 players (That I know of) still has Josh Sabin (Attack 17-2) and Todd Snyder (Attack 18-1) while McNick just to name a few has Gavin Gerhard (Attack 17-1) Kevin Kaser (Attack 17-1) Jay Clifton (Attack 17-1) Bryce Dillard (Attack 18-2) and Ethan Gundrum (Vanguard 18-1). In my opinion club makes a huge difference and when your whole starting lineup is on a competitive club team we could expect to see a whole new team this year.
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Is Gundrum a senior? Or just old for his age? For some reason I thought he was the same class as Gerhard, Kaser and Clifton.
 
With club season coming to a close it seems like Ohio is becoming more balanced as compared to years past. More based on the club teams. I’m not sure who the best is…? Vanguard/Attack/A2 Any surprise HS teams out there that no one has heard of?
 
Coach #1 said:
With club season coming to a close it seems like Ohio is becoming more balanced as compared to years past. More based on the club teams. I’m not sure who the best is…? Vanguard/Attack/A2 Any surprise HS teams out there that no one has heard of?
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Pickerington North should be legit this year
 
Coach #1 said:
With club season coming to a close it seems like Ohio is becoming more balanced as compared to years past. More based on the club teams. I’m not sure who the best is…? Vanguard/Attack/A2 Any surprise HS teams out there that no one has heard of?
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I'm not sure there'll be any surprises, but it does feel like both divisions are starting to see more parity. Public schools have been picking up steam in D1 for awhile now, but, as you can imagine, those public schools tend to ebb and flow a bit more than the traditional powerhouses. Interestingly, D2 has only ever seen 1 public school make it to the state finals; granted, the state tournament for D2 has only been around since 2008 so hopefully this year will bring more public school teams to the D2 level.

Anyone have any idea if there's new programs starting this year? Only one I've heard of is possibly Turpin in the Cincy area.
 
MyNameIsDoug? said:
I'm not sure there'll be any surprises, but it does feel like both divisions are starting to see more parity. Public schools have been picking up steam in D1 for awhile now, but, as you can imagine, those public schools tend to ebb and flow a bit more than the traditional powerhouses. Interestingly, D2 has only ever seen 1 public school make it to the state finals; granted, the state tournament for D2 has only been around since 2008 so hopefully this year will bring more public school teams to the D2 level.

Anyone have any idea if there's new programs starting this year? Only one I've heard of is possibly Turpin in the Cincy area.
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Hopefully Anderson comes along soon as well. And Kings could maybe ride the popularity wave after their girls team just won the D1 state championship. ECC could be a solid public school league and become better than the GMC like in girls volleyball.
 
az0217t said:
www.cincinnati.com

OHSAA approves postseason expansion for 7 sports. Details, reaction from local coaches

Soccer will expand to five divisions. Girls volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball will expand to seven divisions.
www.cincinnati.com www.cincinnati.com
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Don’t think this will affect anything here for now or for awhile. But it does seem like the boys’ basketball tournament was pushed back a bit this year which hurts new or smaller boys’ volleyball programs who rely on multi-sport athletes much more than the GCL schools of the world
 
MyNameIsDoug? said:
Don’t think this will affect anything here for now or for awhile. But it does seem like the boys’ basketball tournament was pushed back a bit this year which hurts new or smaller boys’ volleyball programs who rely on multi-sport athletes much more than the GCL schools of the world
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Along with that, it causes a massive gym scheduling headache for many schools. A successful girls basketball team could play till March 16th and a boys team could play till March 23rd. If both are successful you have 3 teams competing for gym time 2 weeks from the start of games and 5 weeks from the start of practices. Let alone the big public schools that host sectionals, districts, and regionals.
 
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