Top Teams and Players in 2016

J

johnnyjohnny10

New member
Now that club season is in full swing, who do you think are some of the top players throughout the state along with the favorites to win a state title in D1 and D2?
 
 
D1:

Darby has to be the favorite. They return many of the key pieces from the title team a year ago. They are led by Cowen(Loyola Commit) who will operate the offense. Also key are the returning players Bowling and Salmons. Bowling will most likely end up playing college ball at the D1/2 level(I would imagine). Salmons most likely is the favorite to be the libero. A total of six players are on the 18Gold and 17Gold(Open Bid in Chicago) Vanguard teams. Another 3 can be found on 16 Gold.

Elder, Moeller, X round out the Top 4. Loads of talent for all three programs from Cincinnati Attack.

Centerville is a nice pick for No.5. Much of the talent at Air City can be found in the hallways at Cville. Schindler at Middle will be key for them.

Beavercreek should also be solid, if they can replace Noah Boos. Otto and Mickesh lead a team that will be solid. Mickesh is on the 18Gold at Vanguard and is just a monster Libero.

After this I see a major drop off. Not sure many Central Ohio teams will have the full team to compete with those listed above. Pick North will have Dejon Clark(Ohio State commit) but how much else? Scioto has Topp, but again how much else.

Westerville South could be one to watch. Return stud outside Deion Woodson and two other Gold teamers at Vanguard as well as the starting setter. They may be a dark horse if they can fill some voids at key positions backing up the studs.

Not sure of Eds and Iggy, but Eds lost their two best from a team that was not very good. Iggy returns the Libero Messina, and I do believe adds a stud freshman in Phillip Catanzaro. Remember that name, he'll be a good one.

D2:

WIDE OPEN!!!!

Alter returns Mancz and their backup setter who was solid. Also Erford works magic I believe they'll be among the top teams again in D2.

Fenwick returns a stud outside, but loses a key setter.

St Charles returns Alex Brown and Kevin Gallagher, but need to replace nine seniors and the production of Will Eichel

DeSales returns Hopson and Baird as the studs. Also add a member of the Vanguard 15 Gold roster to the team. Will he be ready for varsity.. Not sure. But the Stallions will be solid

Walsh returns Piazza.. But not much else. Also I believe their JV struggled mightily last year.

Hoban has a new HC, and Gerwig returning.

Mt Vernon loses Levi, and most of their offense.

Roger Bacon and McNick lost most of their production to graduation. No Games or Wilking.

Although I can say this semi safely. D2 level of play will be no where close to the top of D1. Last year the top teams in D2 could easily have made it to the finals, or won in D1(DeSales beat Darby and Centerville.. Walsh played very tight with the GCL squads.. Alter won D2 and plays at another level in the state tournament).
 
X lost a lot from last season, think they'll take a backseat to Elder and Moeller. Darby has to be the favorite though.
 
Darby should be automatic favorite to repeat. Best coaching and talent in state. Cowan is real deal and juniors are studs. Salmons is steady, but not great. Bowling is very talented, but from what I have seen, but can also be unreliable in crunch time. I would take the middles or Brinkerhoff in a tight match.

West. South has greatly improved over the last couple of years. Heard they also added 6'6" setter from West. North.

Beavercreek has a really good libero, but I heard they have little else and may move him to setter.

Pick North has Clark but coach does not know what to do with him.

Not sure what people see in Topp. He can really bomb, but when I have watched him, his serve receive is erratic, serving is inconsistent and he plays zero defense. Hit it to him every time. I saw him get pulled at least twice in HS matches last year. How is he doing in club?

D2 - some individual talent but no great teams. I would expect Desales and Alter based on coaching.

SC will miss Eichel and Sullivan, but other seniors did not offer much. They had 11 juniors last year too. I saw them play last year. Gallagher seems to pick up a lot of stuff and is a reliable server. Brown can leap but is all over the place. If setter does not get called for 20+ doubles a game, they could be OK.

Desales may be better off without Evan. Seemed to force things to him too much. Hopson might be the strongest in the state. Have not seem many of their boys in the club circuit though. That could be a concern.

Alter has a kid named Rose playing for Vanguard 17s, so he could be a key for them.
 
As a coach and parent who knows most of these boys pretty well, I am disappointed in this last post. All of the boys listed in these posts are good hardworking kids. In particular, Bowling and Topp are incredible athletes who have the potential to take over games with their play at the net. I am sure they both - and the comment about SC setter is juvenile and heartless.
 
Darby best coaching in the state? Very good staff, not sure if i'd go with "best" though. They definitely have the most returning talent.
 
CoachSG said:
As a coach and parent who knows most of these boys pretty well, I am disappointed in this last post. All of the boys listed in these posts are good hardworking kids. In particular, Bowling and Topp are incredible athletes who have the potential to take over games with their play at the net. I am sure they both - and the comment about SC setter is juvenile and heartless.
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Give me a break. Get off the PC train. :rolleyes:
 
If West. South added the setter from North.. They could challenge Darby.

Look at Pick North.. Who else do they have? They don't. The best option is to train a setter to grow the ball to Clark and have him pass half the court.. That's their best option.

Topp is solid, not great though. He can take over games, but last year they could lean on him and Spolstra.. Will be interesting what it looks like with just Topp hitting as the primary.

D2:

Agree with the idea about Evan. He was good, but easily forced action through him. Melsop was a stud and should've been utilized so much more. Hard to find an athletic middle who is 6'6" and touches over 11'. Also he could play. Hopson is solid, and they return their setter.

Alter has the best coaching in the state IMO. They take it to another level com tournament time almost every year.

DeSales.. Not so much. Forced too much action through Evan, when they had other talented guys who could put the ball down(Hopson and Melsop). Also didn't capitalize on the talent in 2014.
 
Central OH Football said:
If West. South added the setter from North.. They could challenge Darby.

Look at Pick North.. Who else do they have? They don't. The best option is to train a setter to grow the ball to Clark and have him pass half the court.. That's their best option.

Topp is solid, not great though. He can take over games, but last year they could lean on him and Spolstra.. Will be interesting what it looks like with just Topp hitting as the primary.

D2:

Agree with the idea about Evan. He was good, but easily forced action through him. Melsop was a stud and should've been utilized so much more. Hard to find an athletic middle who is 6'6" and touches over 11'. Also he could play. Hopson is solid, and they return their setter.

Alter has the best coaching in the state IMO. They take it to another level com tournament time almost every year.

DeSales.. Not so much. Forced too much action through Evan, when they had other talented guys who could put the ball down(Hopson and Melsop). Also didn't capitalize on the talent in 2014.
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Let me just say.. Evan was not only good.. He was very very good. Very solid technically and also an above average athlete.
 
If I'm putting together a list of teams this is how I group them

Elite Teams Competing for the D1 Title

Darby
Moeller
Elder

Second Tier D1 Teams and the Top D2 Teams
Centerville
Alter
St Xavier
Beavercreek

Young Teams with Room to Grow
Westerville South
Fenwick
Lasalle
 
Everyone has taken guesses at the top players. Ill take a guess at D1 1st team all state, I would be way off if I guessed at D2

D1 All State
Ian Cowen- POY
Dejon Clark
David Wernery
Either Evan Bretl or whoever becomes the start at Elder
Sam Schindler
Alec Otto
Whoever the North POY is
 
Off the top of my head for D2:

Derek Topp - Scioto OH
Trent Hopson - DeSales OH
Matt Mancz - Alter MH
Paul Collins - Walsh MH


Others ???
 
I assume you mean Scioto and not as koto. Yes, they were D1 last year. They moved to D2 this year.
 
johnnyjohnny10 said:
Any idea of who will the best setter-hitter combos throughout the state?
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In the GMC:

Fairfield - Chenoweth/Phillips
Mason - Wissel/Fago

In the GCL:

Elder - Mallot/Leubbe
Moeller - Mustard/Bruggemann


EDIT: (looks like I should read the whole thread before I put repeats down haha)
 
What will starting lineups look like for the top teams? I can start some if others want to try to fill in the blanks for me

Darby
S - Cowen (Vanguard 18-1)
OH - Bowling (Vanguard 18-1)
OH - ?
MH - Moldovan (Vanguard 18-1)
MH - ?
RS - Brinkerhoff (Vanguard 17-1)
L - Salmons (Vanguard 18-1)

Moeller
S - Mustard (Attack 18-2)
OH Wernery (Attack 18-1)
OH Bowles (Attack 18-2)
MH Bruggeman (Attack 18-1)
MH - ?
RS - McNamara (Attack 18-1)
L - Rickert (Attack 18-1)

Elder

S - Mellot (Attack 18-1)
OH - Hilvert (Attack 18-1)
OH - ?
MH - Weebolt (Attack 18-2)
MH - ?
RS - Luebbe (Attack 18-1)
L - OConner (Attack 18-1)

St X

S - Roberts (Attack 17-2) or Goss (Attack 18-3)
OH - Bretl (Attack 18-1)
OH - Pung (Attack 17-1)
MH - Yates (Attack 18-1)
MH - Hildebrant (Attack 18-2)
RS - Bretl (Attack 17-1)
L - Lovell or Huber (Attack 17)

Centerville

S - Klaus (Air City 18-1)
OH - Harrison (Air City 18-1)
OH - Chico (Attack 17-1)
MH - Schindler (Air City 18-1)
MH - ?
RS - ?
L - ?

Those are in my opinion the top 3 teams. Feel free to add in or do more teams
 
Brambleberry said:
What will starting lineups look like for the top teams? I can start some if others want to try to fill in the blanks for me
Elder

S - Mallot (Attack 18-1)
OH - Hilvert (Attack 18-1)
OH - Koenig (Attack-18-2), Conway (Thunder 17-1)
MH - Weebolt (Attack 18-2)
MH - Whitte (Attack 17-2)
RS - Luebbe (Attack 18-1)
L - OConner (Attack 18-1)

Other options would include:
Stacklin MH (Attack 18-3)
Klusman S/Opp (Attack 17-2)
Schatzman MH (Attack 16-1)
Albers OH (Attack 16-1)
Duke L/DS (Attack 18-2)
Scheiner L/DS (Thunder 17-1)

They could possibly run a 6-2 if Tierney chooses to with Mallot and Klusman, where Klusman would hit when in front row, but we will see. At this time, Mallot has the team in his hands.
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.
 
The thing with Elder is, it doesn't really matter who starts where in the opening match. Many times Coach Tierney plays as many as 10-12 guys throughout the year (not speaking in blowout matches either) based on matchups, rest within a match or even to give the opponent a different look. For example 2014, Ben Luebbe didn't start early in the year but was the starter down the stretch on their way to the Championship.
 
Don't count out Dublin Coffman in central Ohio. Darby is the top team but a top 5 in central Ohio should include Coffman. 6 Vanguard kids on Roster Wiesenbach (middle) 18-1, Harder 18-2 opposite, Sutulu 18-2 outside hitter/middle, Motibito 18 Regional, and freshman setter who is on vanguards national team (I believe 15's). Not caliber of Darby but would say equal to Pick North or any other central Ohio team. Should be a great year for central Ohio D1 boys volleyball. Good teams everywhere!
 
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