ComPassion

-Baylor beats CCS in 2 -Baylor beats Notre Dame in 4 -GPS beats Notre Dame in 3 (3/5) -Red Bank beats Oowa in 5 -Red Bank beats Boyd, but not easily. -Oowa beats Boyd in 3 (2/3)

..and maybe Merrol can find that other bum hyding in the White House, they both need to go!

As you see GPS Wins it. Random thoughts: -GPS deserved it. Girls played with passion and played to win the tourney, lost maybe 3 games, lost no matches. Two wins vs. Father Ryan, two wins vs. ER. The final was actually pretty easy for them, their speed of attack and good defense wouldn't let ER get into their flow. Many girls played very well, but it was especially cool to see a kid named Jennifer Laughlin BECOME a VB player this wkend. -Father Ryan is a good tm, it was hard to see why they ended up losing the matches they lost. Some final piece is not in place ..but the piece is in there somewhere ..maybe just swap two players in the lineup ..something simple like that ..I hope they can find it. They are very good and most tms won't have the blking or digging skills to hang with them. -ER played very good most of the time, much more consistently than earlier, 'happy for them that things are smoothing out. -Baylor is improving alot. Ooltewah knocked them out, and no offense to Oowa at all, but I think Baylor "should" beat them, at least at this point in the season. We heard that Baylor had a bad gm 1 and then gm 2 was very close. Having a starting setter out with a mild injury didn't help this wkend ..they too are searching for one more piece to come together ..I would not want to play them and still haven't seen a blk that can stop Scoggins when she wants to not be stopped. -Oowa is strange this year. So very different. And, they keep winning! ..made it to the semi's here. But, it's strange. They are still looking for about 3 pieces to come together ..so they are doing quite well considering how raw they are. I wouldn't want to play them either, they have weapons that are very tough too and I hope they find their high level groove. -Notre Dame had a very good Friday and a good Sat morn, beating who they should have beaten and beating some equal tms ..but losing to Bradley ..ouch ..I know Bradley is loving it ...and yes Bradley, that was torture for those of us with ties to those kids ..congratulations, that was a big time coup ..you win that one. ND has improved greatly and will continue to do so it appears. -Everyone respected Sullivan South, two tough losses to knock them out of contention. It took GPS's absolute best to beat them. -Red Bank is doing pretty well. The Oowa/RB matches to come will be interesting and no one could possibly know who is the favorite at this time. Jerry, the concession king at ER just got cleared from a cancer bout ..we missed the ice cream! and are glad he is doing better. As a VB fan I thank John Wilson, owner/operator of Chattanoogan.com who personally covered the tourney himself ALL day ..see their site for real reporting. http://www.chattanoogan.com/sports/home.asp Jaime from the paper covered it too, I don't know if you have to be a subscriber to get it online or not, but the site is http://www.timesfreepress.com/ Good luck to all.

A few results from ER. -GPS beats ER in a good 3 gm match. You could tell the players on both tms were playing for pride, very hard fought. -ER beat Father Ryan in a good 3 gm match. Ryan had it in the 3rd but ER came back. -Oowa has a very easy pool, will win all 3. -GPS just beat Blackman, ER will beat them next. At Red Bank I heard Notre Dame beat Red Bank in two. Baylor beat ND in 2 good games.

Looks like Chattanooga tms on top in 5 of 8 pools. Congrats. And, they still are not playing THAT good ..I think their fans would agree to this, the ones I spoke to do. More up and down than usual. BUT, they ALL are improving every wk and tracking to be just fine in a month or so. Some of the Sophs and Jrs are really improving rapidly. Good job coaches! This season, more than others in the last 6 yrs, looks to be about who will keep improving technically and maturing athletically more than who has what superstars. CowboysUp, sorry I didn't get to talk ..I had a paw paw for you. Good luck to all tomor.

I am sure PageMan will get the real results up soon but until then here is a little bit from Red Bank. -Baylor undefeated to win their pool, toughest match against Overton. Meaghan Sledge and Jesse Hildebrand hammered a few personal bests. -Notre Dame undefeated in most balanced pool. So, they are first. Good 3 game match V. Oowa. Oowa had them 14-11 in gm 3. Good 2 game match against Page. ND again overcame deficits to win. Keri Partridge played as good as she ever has. Setting much improved. Oowa's hitting % is improved. Both tms still will improve greatly as the season rolls on. -Oowa beat Page in a good match, they said Gatewood had a good match ..and everyone beat Warren Co. -Red Bank had a pretty easy pool and won it, toughest match against Ravenwood I think. Emily Lawson and Bailee Chastain blasting the ball. http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_72288.asphttp://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_72288.asp Above is Boyd Buchanan's story on the Chattanoogan.com

...just getting PageMan's work into this string for easy viewing. VBDaddy, hard to argue against any of your picks. Will be interesting to see the Grace/Bradley match however ..I guess it will be interesting. Your pool stinks, 3, maybe 4? of you deserve to be up top on Sunday. Good luck to all. At East Ridge: Pool A - Bradley Co., East Ridge, Grace Academy, Ridgeland, GA Pool B - Farragut, Ft. Payne, AL, GPS, Sullivan South Pool C - Blackman, Chattanooga Christian, Dobyns Bennett, Lookout Valley Pool D - CAK, Hazel Green, AL, Father Ryan, USJ At East Ridge: 3 PM - East Ridge vs Ridgeland, Bradley vs Grace 4 PM - East Ridge vs Grace, Bradley vs Ridgeland, CCS vs Lookout Valley 5 PM - East Ridge vs Bradley, Grace vs Ridgeland, Lookout Valley vs Blackman 6 PM - CAK vs Father Ryan, Hazel Green vs USJ, CCS vs Dobyns Bennett, Sullivan South vs Farragut 7 PM - Lookout Valley vs Dobyns Bennett, CCS vs Blackman, GPS vs Farragut, FT. Payne vs Sullivan South 8 PM - CAK vs Hazel Green, Ft. Payne vs Farragut, Father Ryan vs USJ, Blackman vs Dobyns Bennett 9 PM - GPS vs Sullivan South, CAK vs USJ, Hazel Green vs Father Ryan At Red Bank: Pool E - Hixson, Ravenwood, Red Bank, Summertown Pool F - Notre Dame, Ooltewah, Page, Warren Co. Pool G - Baylor, Central, Eagleville, Overton Pool H - Boyd Buchanan, Cookeville, Cordova, Soddy Daisy At Red Bank: 4 PM - Red Bank vs Hixson, Ooltewah vs Notre Dame, Baylor vs Central, Soddy Daisy vs Boyd Buchanan 5 PM - Warren Co. vs Page, Boyd Buchanan vs Cookeville, Summertown vs Ravenwood, Central vs Overton 6 PM - Red Bank vs Summertown, Soddy Daisy vs Cordova, Ooltewah vs Warren Co., Central vs Eagleville 7 PM - Baylor vs Overton, Page vs Notre Dame, Cookeville vs Soddy Daisy, Hixson vs Ravenwood 8 PM - Red Bank vs Ravenwood, Baylor vs Eagleville, Boyd Buchanan vs Cordova, Ooltewah vs Page 9 PM - Hixson vs Summertown, Notre Dame vs Warren Co., Overton vs Eagleville, Cookeville vs Cordova

I predict 7 bowls of home-made vanilla in small styrofoam bowls with a white plastic spoon ..that's all I know will go for sure.

PageMan, thank you for the time you put into informing everyone. Does PageMan wear a cape, just what are your superhuman powers?

GPS beat Baylor in a very odd match. Baylor beat the crap out of GPS in the first two games 25-20, 25-18, the score does not show the domination that Baylor held. Then GPS beat the crap out of Baylor in the last 3 games. 12,21,10. Commenting on another string's comments about if most points come from errors or are they earned ..we saw tonight that the majority were from errors. This match's 3 dominant kill leaders (Scoggins, Boydston and Laughlin) all had only 14 kills each (my stats, prob. within 1 or 2 of being accurate). The dominant aspect of the game was great defense. Both tms use hand digs well and are used to digging each other and digging other hard hitters, so the great defense more than anything led to most pts ending in an error. For GPS Cayce ran 20 ft a few times to read and dig and Camille collapsed and dug a monster hit by Scoggins ..to name a few. For Baylor Helton and Sledge read and dug very well. The other dominant aspect of the game was aggressive, at times very aggressive, serving on both sides. A soph for Baylor, Sam Everette, almost brought Baylor back at the end of gm 4. I think this aggressive serving shows the respect both tms have for each other ..both know that if they just serve in then the other tm's passing and offense are tough to beat. It was exciting for the big crowd but I didn't like the match, way too emotional and inconsistent. The good news is that both have young players who are playing very well. Baylor's first yr setter Meaghan is doing well and their soph Whitney looks great. Sounds like Harpeth, Father and a few others are solid ..but, at the end of the yr have no doubt that either of these tms can beat anyone when they are on. Good luck to all.

Thank you BeCool. Good point that is further demonstrated by Huntsville's dedication to volleyball by the city itself. They have a great park and rec dept (the military "demands" that) and the city shows it's dedication to growing VB by giving alot of good gym time and resources to the clubs. Our city could care less and many of the AD's still view VB as an irritant that hurts the win/loss record of their BB and SB coaches. ..and NASA tends to put their best coaches with the young ages, most of the rest of us dummies aren't willing to do that ..and predestine ourselves to keep losing to them. Maybe our press is better than other areas but the paper has one part-time reporter assigned to VB and only gives her one small article to cover the 15 matches or so ..so that they can have plenty of room to cover the interesting details about sorry UTC's football PRACTICE ..and of course leave a full page for how best to shoot a deer. When Paul and I sat with reps from the Greater Chattanooga Sports and Events Committee about bringing 1500 kids and their families to the convention cnter for Regionals it was ONLY about money ..they were willing if the USAV would be willing to lose money while they raked in 10's of thousands or more for their center, hotels and restaurants. There was no talk about kids' growth, something positive for the community or sport development. So, yes, where you put your $, coaches and press says alot.

Here is the article from Chattanoogan.com GPS Finished Second in Harpeth Hall Tournament posted September 4, 2005 The GPS volleyball team won every game except the final this weekend at the Harpeth Hall tournament in Nashville. GPS finished first in their pool play and then beat Notre Dame in the first game of bracket play. In the championship game, GPS won the first game against Harpeth Hall then lost to battles in the last two games including a 32-30 final game. GPS def. Clarksville 25-6, 25-11 GPS def. Boyd-Buchanan 25-14, 25-11 GPS def. Brentwood Acd 25-15, 25-17 GPS def. University Schools 25-18, 25-15 GPS def. White Co 25-7, 25-14 GPS def. Notre Dame 25-18, 25-15 Harpeth Hall def. GPS 22-25, 25-17, 32-30 Emily Boydston and Camille Campbell were All-Tournament. GPS is now 14-3. GPS Stats: Emily Boydston 68 Kills, 65 Digs, 8 Aces, 3 Blocks Melyn Thompson 50 Kills 75 Digs 22 Aces, 4 Blocks Jennifer Laughlin 32 Kills, 31 Digs, 5 Aces, 14 Blocks Camille Campbell 78 Assists, 38 Digs, 12 Aces, Cayce Gearrin 66 Assists, 27 Digs, 10 Aces Whitney Bell 57 Digs, 2 kills Marissa Thompson 18 Kills, 14 Blocks, 8 digs Hannah Shadrick 10 Kills, 12 Blocks, 17 digs Denise Rawlings 8 kills, 3 blocks, 22 digs, 3 Aces Heather Parman 7 kills, 1 Block, 8 digs, 2 Aces Jasmine Brown 6 Kills, 1 Block, 9 digs, 2 aces Tyler Haskins 4 kills, 1 block,

Thank you all for the reporting. For those of you there please give some specific insights about how Lafayette is better. What do the KY girls do differently or better than our TN girls? What do we need to do differently to be able to keep up? Thanks.

Congrats to Baylor. I dig that Scoggins #3 had more digs than kills, not bad for 6' 1 1/2".

So who won the GPS-Bwood match? The Chattanoogan said GPS won.

Red Bank is back in business this season. I guess most would say they are the strongest at this point. 2 of the top 4 OH's in town with Lawson and Chastain. So, to rephrase your question- who are the tms to challenge R. Bank? Both R. Bank and Ooltewah have young talanted players in the mix and would be expected to improve hugely as the season progresses. Both of these tms have tougher schedules than Bradley, we'll see. Cleveland beat N. Dame in a preseason scrim, I heard they are athletic. good luck to all.

Thanks engineer, esp. thanks for the hitting percentages, that tells so much. Hopefully others will include that too. Baylor beat Red Bank in 5. Good match, I saw 10 points of it and heard the rest from the cafeteria PTA meeting, fun imagining what was going on. Don't know everyone's name yet, no offense to those not mentioned. Bailee Chastain was setting great, Erin Massman was solid in reception for R. Bank. Emily Lawson, as everyone knows is solid, solid, solid. Baylor- Megan Sledge jumping 3 inches higher, good hitting %. Lynne said Brittany Scoggins had many blks, maybe 7 in gm one. As the 6'1" MB she leads the tm in digs too. Liz Helton had 23 digs. Sophomore Baylor setter Whitney Anderson looking very together for a youngun.

Wow. I would have lost a moon pie on both of those matches! Good start for an exciting season.

Great that you have this attidude about coverage! Here is an idea for radio: Players and parents want to hear the girls' names much more than who won or some stats. So, what if you let listeners call in with nominations for "Dig of the day", "Roof of the week", "Hardest Kill in Cumberland Co.", "Match of the week" ....etc. When they call in you record them saying it then play a few every day at a preset time so VB fans know when to listen. Accuracy doesn't matter, just let as many kids/parents/fans as possible hear their names on air! This should create a stir and talk in your community ...and a loyal listener segment. Of course also- if you "train" fans to call in results right at the end of the match AND if you announce it, you will get more listeners on match nights. Good luck. OH, better still. Put your listeners in the gym (like the hospitilized dad in Hoosiers) by allowing fans to call in during the matches with their "Dig of the Day" nominations, or predictions on outcome.

Again Cowboy is right on. Colorado HS Boys VB had its origin from one lady mostly. Nancy Holm was a past pro player, national official, club coach and mom of a boy who played Jr. Olympics and wanted HS ball. What she did is how I have heard boys ball has started in other states too. 1. Get some boys playing somehow, somewhere. There has to be an interest. She started this venture after coaching with Dig To Win (boys version) in Colorado Springs. We had 4 tms so there were boys from HS's all over town who would be the anchors at their school for the formation of a HS club team (like chess club, that kind of club). 2. Nancy got multiple HS's to have a club and set up a little schedule. Low cost, informal at the start. 3. They showed that there was legitimate interest then went to Nat. Federation in Colorado and pleaded their case with a proven record that it works. If Title IX permits it is an easy sell to the schools, the equip. already exists and the other expenses are minimal. The girls players love having a boy's team in their school, both programs benefit from the mutual stir of interest and support. *There were 3 boys tms in this region last season, one was OK, one was good and one would have beaten most all girls tms in the state ..so, if anyone is really interested there is a structure in place. Contact Brenda at www.srva.org

Here is a start on the Chattanooga/N. Georgia list: -Taylor Minor, North West Whitfield OH- Berry -Kristy Walker, Ringgold S/OH- Shorter -Amanda Trent, Ooltewah OH- Tusculum College -Jessica Menzer, Ooltewah S/Rt- UTC -Anjelica Partridge, Notre Dame MB- Georgia -Lara Newberry, Baylor S/OH- UTC -Laura Nethery, Notre Dame MB- UTC Congrats to two of the state's best VB players who will play SB in college: -Lillian Hammond, GPS OH- UT Knoxville -Christina Haskew, East Ridge- Chattanooga State (really strong SB program)

Well, we've got quite an impressive list from our area ...if you count softball scholarships!

Judge, since no one else is playing.. Officials like their job the most when: -you weren't sure if it was a net, then she looks up at you guiltily so you can blow it confidently -you realized you should have called the carry then that team hits it out anyway. -nothing really happens but a volleyball game and the kids had fun. Officials don't like their job when: -they forgot how to rule on BB goals partially raised and the ball hits it on match point! -another know-it-all who has seen vb outside of Murfreesboro suggests that the game is meant to be played, not officiated. "Who do they think they are telling me I shouldn't deem 30 things illegal in one match?? We play with my local rules, good ole 1950's rules, around these parts! And, I don't know what this new fangled backrow attack thing is either, just give me my $60 and leave me alone, you're messin with my show of force!" ...OOPS, my pet peeve showing! Why do so many TN officials get an attitude when it becomes apparent that they Will NOT read the book? If you'd just read the little book you wouldn't feel so threatened ..don't you feel guilty taking your check knowing that you WILL NOT become familiar with the rules and modern ball handling traditions? Praise to all officials who: 1. do read the rulebook 2. try to get a feel for what the current national standards are for ball handling. 3. don't view vb officiating as their op. to exert power over players who just want to play and coaches who actually read the rule book and expect them to do so as well.

Go to Georgia Tech if there is room to get in. The most inspirational coach in the south, the girls think he's hot so they listen! Very innovative ideas that are fun for players ..and work! Great staff. Coaches, find and go to one of his coaching clinics, the absolute best presenter in VB I have ever heard. Technical, but clear. Outstandingly compassionate view on how and why to coach young people and a great example of having a "program", not a team.

Mature & Sportsmanlike on and off the crt. Respectful to her players, other players, coaches, fans. What a great role model for all of us for the good that is in youth athletics and for the fact that maybe it's not all about rubbin it in the face of people in other-colored shirts. You know ..really. Taylor, I wish I had of been like you!