New club team

[RutherfordCoVolleyball1]

The Showdown in the Smokies tournament just ended, and here’s how Ethos, TPV, and Alliance fared:

 

12s – No club participation

 

13s – TPV Zulu (4-2) beat TPV Yankee (3-3) and won Open Silver. Alliance Mizuno (2-4) played in Open Consolation bracket and lost to TPV Yankee during pool play.

 

14s – Alliance Mizuno won Open Silver. Ethos Adidas (2-3) played in Open Silver. TPV Zulu (4-1) played in Club Gold. TPV Yankee (1-4) and Foxtrot (2-3) played in Club Silver.

 

15s – Alliance Mizuno (4-1) played in Open Gold; Alliance Molten (1-4) played in Open Silver. Ethos Adidas (1-4) played in Open Silver. TPV Zulu (0-4) played in Open Consolation. TPV Yankee (2-3) played in Club Consolation. 

 

16s -Alliance Mizuno (4-2) and Alliance Molten (3-3) both played in Open Gold. TPV Zulu (1-4) played in Open Silver, and lost to Alliance Mizuno during pool play. Ethos Adidas (2-3) played in Open Silver, and lost to Alliance Molten during pool play. TPV Yankee (2-3) played Club Silver.

 

Now, my personal opinions:

This was the first opportunity to see Alliance, TPV, and Ethos at one location. Tennessee Performance Volleyball is definitely better and deeper at the 13U level than Alliance. Many open players left Alliance and are playing on the TPV 13-1 and -2 teams this year.

 

14s is simply a weak talent pool in mid-Tenn. Both Alliance Mizuno 14U and TPV 14U Zulu had injuries to key players, but neither team has performed well this year against National-level competition.

 

Alliance is clearly better than the other mid-Tenn clubs at 15U and 16U. Ethos is stronger than TPV at 15U and likely at 16U as well.

 

Final observation, K2 Adidas placed into Open Gold in every division. Middle Tennessee volleyball is still lagging behind K2, KiVA, A5, Munciana, etc.

[TeeterTot]

I talked to 3-4 parents that left Alliance for TPV and they are not happy with the program.  With the exception of this tournament and Bluegrass, TPV plays the same teams over and over again in tournaments.  TPV 13's (who are supposedly their strongest age group) took 3 long sets to beat a weak Alliance 13 team.  Outside on the 13 age group, TPV had only 1 win in the Open division.

The Alliance 18-1 went to USAV Junior National Championships in Anaheim this past weekend and won the Gold Championship.

Overall, Alliance has the better talent and teams in mid-Tenn but as Camper said, they currently struggle in National tournaments with the exception on this 18's this past weekend.    

 

[clifford20]

I do agree that Alliance is way behind KIVA and Munciana, however I don't think they are behind K2 top to bottom.  K2 is not at the M'ana or KIVA level either.   K2 and Alliance 15's beat Munciana-both in 2 sets fairly easy.  I would have loved to see K2 and Alliance 15's play.  Alliance beat them badly last year.  Alliance 15 lost to Kiva red 23 and 22.   It was a good match.   I do like K2's club a lot.   I always come away being impressed with their athletes.  It's impressive what they have built.

 

Top alliance teams just can't complete with top 20-30 teams consistently.  Just too many holes in their line ups.  The overall skill of their athletes just isn't there.  

 

Speaking of the 18's alliance team.   I heard that Logan will be enrolling at Texas this summer and graduating early.  Big news for the 2-3 other teams in the state that actually have a chance at beating them in AAA.  They will still win the state easily IMO. 

[TeeterTot]

She is enrolling early.  Brentwood will still start 6 D1 future players, just not the top high school player in the country next year.

[SummaryJudgment]

19 hours ago, TeeterTot said:

I talked to 3-4 parents that left Alliance for TPV and they are not happy with the program.  With the exception of this tournament and Bluegrass, TPV plays the same teams over and over again in tournaments.  TPV 13's (who are supposedly their strongest age group) took 3 long sets to beat a weak Alliance 13 team.  Outside on the 13 age group, TPV had only 1 win in the Open division.

The Alliance 18-1 went to USAV Junior National Championships in Anaheim this past weekend and won the Gold Championship.

Overall, Alliance has the better talent and teams in mid-Tenn but as Camper said, they currently struggle in National tournaments with the exception on this 18's this past weekend.    

 

That was the TPV 132 team that beat the Alliance 131s in three. And while I agree that I've heard some rumblings about having to play the same teams over and over, Alliance did the same thing a few years back when they were in the Power League. I heard lots of complaints then about playing Choo Choo and Southern Performance over and over. What will be interesting is to see if TPV tries something different next year.

[SummaryJudgment]

18 hours ago, TeeterTot said:

She is enrolling early.  Brentwood will still start 6 D1 future players, just not the top high school player in the country next year.

I had heard it was going to be after the fall; didn't realize it was this summer. Wow.

[SummaryJudgment]

19 hours ago, clifford20 said:

I do agree that Alliance is way behind KIVA and Munciana, however I don't think they are behind K2 top to bottom.  K2 is not at the M'ana or KIVA level either.   K2 and Alliance 15's beat Munciana-both in 2 sets fairly easy.  I would have loved to see K2 and Alliance 15's play.  Alliance beat them badly last year.  Alliance 15 lost to Kiva red 23 and 22.   It was a good match.   I do like K2's club a lot.   I always come away being impressed with their athletes.  It's impressive what they have built.

 

Top alliance teams just can't complete with top 20-30 teams consistently.  Just too many holes in their line ups.  The overall skill of their athletes just isn't there.  

 

Speaking of the 18's alliance team.   I heard that Logan will be enrolling at Texas this summer and graduating early.  Big news for the 2-3 other teams in the state that actually have a chance at beating them in AAA.  They will still win the state easily IMO. 

I think things are going to improve drastically at Alliance with Ann running the show now. She's doing a masterful job with that 181s team as well.

Speaking of that Alliance 181s team....They won gold in the National division at USAV. Logan was the tournament MVP. Garrett and Tori were named to the all tournament team. Good to see Garrett back and playing well.

Edited May 1, 2018 by SummaryJudgment

[TeeterTot]

18 minutes ago, SummaryJudgment said:

That was the TPV 132 team that beat the Alliance 131s in three. And while I agree that I've heard some rumblings about having to play the same teams over and over, Alliance did the same thing a few years back when they were in the Power League. I heard lots of complaints then about playing Choo Choo and Southern Performance over and over. What will be interesting is to see if TPV tries something different next year.

And Alliance got out of that league for that precise reason......I'm pretty sure TPV was the ones organizing and promoting it.

[SummaryJudgment]

7 minutes ago, TeeterTot said:

And Alliance got out of that league for that precise reason......I'm pretty sure TPV was the ones organizing and promoting it.

Actually no. Alliance was kicked out due to directorial issues. TPV is not organizing anything. They joined the SAVL in order to guarantee some quality competition to play against. The problem is the top clubs in the SAVL don't send their top teams to those power league tournaments. Again, why it will be interesting to see what they do next year.

Edited May 1, 2018 by SummaryJudgment

[clifford20]

It will be interesting to see how Alliance changes with Ann.   Another big issue will be the facility next year.  

[mama2two]

I saw the Tennessean posted an article nothing the facility is still not closed yet. I thought the deadline was yesterday, but it seems there's been an extension granted. 

I do wonder what the future holds for the mid-state clubs. Oh if I had a crystal ball.

[mama2two]

So the headlines read that the building sold...TPV is telling their members that they'll be moving over to A-Game soon and Alliance is telling their members that decisions haven't been made. 
I guess it's time to worry about school ball again and wait to see what happens over on the club side when decisions are made. 
I wonder how many will stay where they are, how many will move around, what it will look like next year. I hear that this happens time to time with clubs - I'm just too new to have personal experience. It's enough to give me a panic attack.