smdad

In 5 separate trips with 2 daughters (and 2 different schools) over a 7 year period, I saw the tourney run 4 different ways. They finally settled on this goofy format. IMO the best format was one year where there were 2 pools of 4 teams and round robins were played on wednesday, the teams were seeded based on the pool play, and then played single elimination. The worst may have been the next year when only the top 2 from each pool played in the single elim tourney. In one pool three teams went 2-1, and one went 0-3 . They flipped a coin to see which team was eliminated (not my daughter's school, but our rival).

This most recent format started 3 or 4 years ago. The coaches must be ok with it because it hasn't changed, but I think it is silly.

DS, sorry your school is out. Always great to see your play. Hope you can get to the BORO.

Trust me PH, DS's team is definitely going to State.

The Ads are in after a gritty 3 set sweep of Morristown West.

25-19

25-22

25-22

 

Farragut takes a 52-4 season record to Murfreesboro.

How can that be? K2ruth said you Farragut would never make it. I thought his/her words were always true.

Congratulations on a good year.

Red Bank beat Signal in 5: 15-25, 25-22, 25-16, 22-25, 15-10. A good hard fought match with a lot of fans, but a tough way to have the season end.

East Hamilton beat Notre Dame 3-1.

SM, as far as I know unless you know something I don't, we still have the sections to go, the sub State. As far as I know, siegel has to play Ooltewah and Riverdale has to play Soddy. All other Regions have the same format.

I guess you hadn't heard they had cancelled the Substate round (just kidding).

If you re-read what had been posted, I noted I was not going to be correct on all 8 picks for AAA state, and this was because of the fact that Soddy and Riverdale were going to have to play each other in ... wait for it... Substate. I also noted that both Signal and Red Bank could not advance to AA State because they were going to have to play each other in . . . wait for it . . . Substate.

It is crunch time and I think SD is deep, and GPS is athletic. SD is 2-1 against Baylor and GPS and SD are

1-1 against each other and GPS is 2-1 against Baylor. So I could go either way with Soddy and GPS. I think the teams are really tough in AAA with Ravenwood. So I think GPS, Baylor, Sale Creek, and Signal Mt are the schools with the best chance for bring something home from the boro. I pull for all Chattanooga teams, but like GPS since he is the only Male coach in the group at a all girl school.

 

1. Soddy-Daisy:

2. GPS:

3. Baylor

4. Ooltewah:

5. Signal

6. East Hamilton

7. Sale Creek

8. Red Bank

9. Notre Dame

East Hamilton beat Red Bank tonight & Sale Creek Beat Boyd, Signal Mt beat ND

No arguments with your list at all. I've said it before, but to make Junior happy I'll say it again: Soddy is head and shoulders above everybody on this list. Good luck to all of the Chattanooga teams named above (including Red Bank, even though I really want SMHS to win and go on to State), and Boyd Buch needs to be added as they will also play in Substate on Thursday night. That's a nice list with 10 out of 10 from Hamilton County going on to Substate. 2 of the 10 will knock each other out, but it would be great to have 8 County teams going to State.

It's going to be tough for any of the Chattanooga teams to bring back the Gold. AAA will have some really strong teams, AA has Page and Goodpasture (and I have read some good things about CAK, but have never seen them), A has Friendship Christian and DII has two tough teams in St. Agnes and Ensworth, plus GPS has to travel to Memphis just to make it to State.

Prediction Time:

 

AAA:

 

Sullivan South

Farragut

Soddy Daisy

Riverdale

Ravenwood

Independence

Collierville

Houston

 

 

AC could replace one of the top two, siegel or Cookville could take Riverdale's place, and Brentwood could take the spot for Indepndence, but at the end of the day I think it will be Ravenwood with the Championship

 

I think I can get 7 out of these 8 to State. Congrats to Siegel on beating Riverdale and getting to host, even though I'm rooting for Ooltewah to pull the upset at Siegel. Way to go Soddy - roll on into State.

 

AA:

 

CAK

Stone Memorial

Red Bank

Signal Mountain (Homer Pick)

Page

Goodpasture

Dyersburg

Crockett County

 

Really don't know the teams from the West, so this is a complete guess. If Signal Mountain doesn't make it, I think it will be Notre Dame, but wouldn't be completely suprised if it is Hixson. I think Page most likely repeats, but this weekend in Nashville someone told me they thought Gooodpasture would win it all.

 

I'm not sure about these other than seeing CAK won its Region. One of these Chattanooga teams won't be advancing, as East Hamilton upset Red Bank tonight, so Signal will host Red Bank with the winner going to State. Signal beat Notre Dame in 4.

A:

 

I don't know all of the teams, and early in the year said that Sale Creek would win it all. After watching Friendship Christian over the weekend, I am revising my prediction. I think Friendship wins, Sale Creek comes in second and Summertown comes in third.

 

Div II

 

Ensworth

GPS

Baylor

St. Agnes

 

A good chance St. Agnes takes the crown.

Prediction Time:

AAA:

Sullivan South

Farragut

Soddy Daisy

Riverdale

Ravenwood

Independence

Collierville

Houston

AC could replace one of the top two, siegel or Cookville could take Riverdale's place, and Brentwood could take the spot for Indepndence, but at the end of the day I think it will be Ravenwood with the Championship

AA:

CAK

Stone Memorial

Red Bank

Signal Mountain (Homer Pick)

Page

Goodpasture

Dyersburg

Crockett County

Really don't know the teams from the West, so this is a complete guess. If Signal Mountain doesn't make it, I think it will be Notre Dame, but wouldn't be completely suprised if it is Hixson. I think Page most likely repeats, but this weekend in Nashville someone told me they thought Gooodpasture would win it all.

A:

I don't know all of the teams, and early in the year said that Sale Creek would win it all. After watching Friendship Christian over the weekend, I am revising my prediction. I think Friendship wins, Sale Creek comes in second and Summertown comes in third.

Div II

Ensworth

GPS

Baylor

St. Agnes

A good chance St. Agnes takes the crown.

After the AA's in Chatt beat up on each other they will play some of the Nash teams. Page & Goodpasture will not be friendly when you play them. Your team has beat some big teams this year. Red Bank, SM, GPS, and ER a nice list. I hope all Chatt teams make it to State

. We haven't seen your daughters team at State in a while.

Page and Goodpasture are both really good, but thankfully the Chattanooga teams won't have to see them until State. They are Region 5 teams. I still think East Hamilton might make some noise in District 6, but agree it probably is Hixson and RB.

I also agree it will be very difficult for Chattanooga to have two teams from Single A go to State after watching Friendship Christian in the MidTenn this weekend, but hope Boyd or Silverdale will get there.

A bittersweet night last night as Signal Mountain celebrated senior night, and my direct involvement in high school volleyball for seven of the last eight years nears a close, because my youngest daughter is a senior this year. It was a good night as Signal shook of some poor play from earlier in the week, and beat Baylor three games to one. A shout out to all of the Eagle seniors, who came in as freshman and have played since the beginning of the program: Callie Hildebrand, Laura Powell, Allie Jennings, Carly Jonakin and Maggie Garth.

With the regular season coming to a close, I had thought about an updated Chattanooga top 10. After the top team (Soddy in a landslide), it gets really tough:

1. Soddy-Daisy

2. Baylor

3. Red Bank

4. Ooltewah

5. Notre Dame

6. GPS

7. East Hamilton

8. Signal Mt

9. Walker Valley

10. Hixson

Next week is District Tournament Time. Even though upsets are always a possibility, the most interesting tournament should be 6-AA, as one of Red Bank, East Hamilton and Hixson doesn't advance to Regionals, and that three way contest is to close to call.

Almost halfway into season in Chattanooga. It depends on what a team has been eating that week to see who is the best. Soddy can play and has beat GPS, Ooltewah, WV, Red Bank, but hasn't beat Baylor. GPS can beat Baylor, Farragut, South, but hasn't beat Soddy. All of them have beat Ooltewah, but Red Bank has beat both DII schools in one week. So what does this mean?? Soddy-Daisy has depth so they get the #1 from me. Baylor has a great outside and a nice middle to boot. Reading the paper and watching the playdays, Tournaments, and reading SMDad, DS4L, COACH Jr it is a fun stab.

 

1. Soddy-Daisy

2. Baylor

3. GPS

4. Ooltewah

5. Red Bank

6. Signal Mt

7. Bradley Haven't heard that in years

8. Walker Valley

9. East Hamilton

10. Sale Creek

Here goes a stab on an update of the area top 10 - most of the weekend tournaments are over, and teams are trying to finalize rotations. Signal tried a new one tonight, but still lost in 4 to Red Bank 25-20, 25-15, 20 24 and 25-23. Red Bank's middle is just a junior and plays better every time I see her. As for the Top 10, how about this:

1. Soddy-Daisy

2. Baylor

3. GPS

4. Ooltewah

5. Red Bank

6. Walker Valley

7. East Hamilton

8. Signal Mt

9. Notre Dame

10. Sale Creek

It's going to get real interesting in a couple of weeks when District and Region play start, especially in AA. Out of District 6AA only two of Red Bank, Hixson and East Hamilton go to Regions, and East Ridge showed last year they could sneak in there as well, but they will have to start playing a lot better to get there. In District 7AA it should be Signal and Notre Dame, but CCS pulled the upset against Signal earlier this year.

In District 5A it is wide open, as I saw where Silverdale beat Boyd last night. In District 6A, Sale Creek is the clear favorite.

Almost halfway into season in Chattanooga. It depends on what a team has been eating that week to see who is the best. Soddy can play and has beat GPS, Ooltewah, WV, Red Bank, but hasn't beat Baylor. GPS can beat Baylor, Farragut, South, but hasn't beat Soddy. All of them have beat Ooltewah, but Red Bank has beat both DII schools in one week. So what does this mean?? Soddy-Daisy has depth so they get the #1 from me. Baylor has a great outside and a nice middle to boot. Reading the paper and watching the playdays, Tournaments, and reading SMDad, DS4L, COACH Jr it is a fun stab.

 

1. Soddy-Daisy

2. Baylor

3. GPS

4. Ooltewah

5. Red Bank

6. Signal Mt

7. Bradley Haven't heard that in years

8. Walker Valley

9. East Hamilton

10. Sale Creek

I'm glad you created the top 10 list, because I was struggling with it (and I didn't want Coach JJ to get mad at me). I think it probably is about right, except that East Hamilton probably needs to be ahead of Signal after the thrashing they gave us this week. Also, Hixson is really close to being on this list.

I'm not sure if you are a GPS follower, but Signal and GPS had a great match tonight - lots of hard hitting and 3 close games. We had GPS on the ropes by winning the first game 25-22 and jumping out to a lead in game 2, but GPS fought back to take the second game 29-27. GPS had played Hixson earlier in the night, so the teams played a best of 3, but played the third game to 25, and GPS jumped out early and held on to take it 25-22.

This should be a fun weekend at the Tandem, with most every team from Hamilton County and Bradley County participating; unfortunately, SMHS is sitting this one out after playing in tournaments for the past 3 weekends.

Congratulations to GPS for the win at the Choo Choo. GPS has made huge strides since the preseason playdays. With that victory, the top ten has an entirely new look:

1. GPS - Even though Soddy beat them earlier in the week, the Choo Choo win moves them to the top for now.

2. Baylor - A toss-up with Soddy for this spot, but their head to head win at the Choo Choo puts them one spot up.

3. Soddy-Daisy - After a great start to the season, a little hiccup with the loss to Baylor, and two losses to Farragut. I expect them to regroup and move back up the list.

4. Ooltewah - Still haven't got to see them play, but they made it to the Gold Round of the Choo Choo.

5. Walker Valley - Made it to the Gold at the Choo Choo, but lost in the first round to GPS.

6. Signal Mountain - Defeated Red Bank at the Choo Choo, but suffered a District loss to CCS earlier in the week.

7. Bradley Central - Also made the Gold Round at the Choo Choo.

8. Hixson -

9. Sale Creek - Even though they didn't make it to the Gold at Choo Choo, they had a nice win over Red Bank.

10. Red Bank

Just got back from the first round of the Choo Choo Gold Bracket. Signal went 4-2 in pool play (2 games in the hot box yesterday), and qualified for the Gold Bracket. The Eagles lost in the first round of the Gold to Sullivan South. Signal led in the first game 24-20, but couldn't finish the game, and SS cruised in the second game 15-25. In other Gold Bracket action, Baylor defeated Walker Valley in 2 straight, GPS beat Father Ryan in 3 games, and Dobyns Bennett defeated Bradley County. Didn't stay around to get any other scores. The word was GPS was playing very well in the tournament.

In pool play this morning, the top seeded teams at Red Bank played some fantastic volleyball, with Farragut coming out on top over Baylor, Soddy and Sequoyah (out of Georgia). One of the best matches was Baylor vs. Soddy. Soddy jumped out to a 13-0 lead in game 1, but Baylor won game 2 decisively, and then took game 3 in a thriller to hand Soddy its first loss of the year.

Look forward to getting more reports from the tournament.

A bit of a slow week in Chattanooga area volleyball as far as match-ups between the top tier teams, at least until the weekend and the Choo Choo kicks off. Tonight's games include a lot of district contests such as Ooltewah at Bradley Central, Grace at Boyd Buchanan, and Signal at CCS. Wednesday provides the best slate of matches as the top teams in District 6AAA take on Division II, when Soddy goes to GPS, and Walker Valley goes to Baylor.

Last night Signal defeated Silverdale in three straight sets, and Sale Creek knocked East Hamilton from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Congratulations to Soddy on winning the Early Bird in Knoxville. The Trojans looked really strong in the final game of the tournament, with fantastic front court play, defense and setting. After the first week, a common thread among the top teams has been an experienced setter. Soddy has at least one in Olivia Holden (I'm not sure who else sets for them, but some of the time they were running a 6-2), Ooltewah has one, and Walker Valley has one.

Updated top ten based on the first week of play, with an emphasis on head to head matchups:

1. Soddy-Daisy - Strong week with wins over Ooltewah, Walker Valley and Anderson County.

2. Walker Valley - Finished in the top 4 at the Early Bird, with wins over GPS and Signal. Senior Setter Caitlyn Geren had a great match against Signal.

3. Ooltewah - Haven't got to see them play, but they beat GPS during the week. They also have a senior setting for them (Loren Bennett), which should add stability to their team.

4. GPS - Showed a lot of heart by defeating Baylor in Knoxville after dropping the first game 25-12.

5. Baylor - A good first week, including going undefeated in pool play at the Early Bird, but the loss to Baylor drops them for now.

6. Signal Mountain - A fun match with Notre Dame early in the week, but a couple of disappointing losses in the gold bracket at the Early Bird. Another highlight was beating last years AAA runner up, Dobyns Bennett.

7. Hixson - Won a 5 game match with Sale Creek early in the week, and was the only team to take a game off of Soddy at the Early Bird.

8. Sale Creek

9. Red Bank

10. Notre Dame

This week concludes with the Choo Choo tournament hosted by East Ridge and Red Bank. There is likely to be a reshuffling in the Top Ten based on the results of the Choo Choo.

As for East Hamilton, it is a AA school in its third year of existence. It is coached by Christy Lenoir, who had been at Boyd Buchanan before starting with East Hamilton 3 years ago. East Hamilton has a lot of girls that have played club ball, but being a new school, do not have many seniors on the team.

Watching Ooltewah at Brentwood they have a nice setter, and some good middles. A really tall libero. I'm shocked that Soddy-Daisy handled them with easy. SMDAD can you or another Chattanoogan give us Top 10 Baylor normally at State, RB, Signal, Boyd, Soddy, CCS, GPS, Sale Creek.

The win by Soddy was not a big suprise. With the exception of Baylor, I don't think any team from the Chattanooga area will beat Soddy this year, and I'm not sure Baylor will beat them. They're pretty big across the front lines, and the couple of times I've watched them play they've been very consistent with their passing game. After those two teams I think it will be a toss up this year for how the rest of the teams will finish. I have not had the chance to see Ooltewah play this year, but I do know they are relyihng on several girls who have not had a lot of varsity experience. Of the teams you listed, Boyd and CCS are down quite a bit from where they were in the past two years. I think the teams that should be added to your list are Hixson and Notre Dame.

Soddy, Baylor, GPS, Signal, Hixson and Walker Valley are all playing in the Early Bird this weekend, and I know a lot of the other local teams are playing in the Bradley Bash (by the way, Bradley Central beat Cleveland last night, and I can't recall that happening in the past few years). I may try to re-rank teams after this weekend's action.

I hope this schedule is readable:

Early Bird Tournament Schedule

Farragut High School Oak Ridge High School Hardin Valley High School

Pool A - Court 1 Pool B - Court 2 Pool C - Court 3 Pool D - Court 4 Pool E - Court 1 Pool F - Court 2

1Farragut Karns Soddy Daisy Anderson Co Blackman HS Baylor

Heritage HS GPS Oak Ridge Dobyns Bennett HVA Morristown West

Franklin Walker Valley Hixon HS Signal Mountain Webb Alcoa HS

Powell HS Lenoir City HS Gibbs HS Kingston Central HS Hancock Co

Friday

4:30pm 1v4 1v3 1v3 1v3 1v3 1v3

5:30pm 2v4 2v4 2v4 2v4 2v4 2v4

6:30pm 1v2 1v2 1v2 1v2 1v2 1v2

7:30pm 3v4 3v4 3v4 3v4 3v4 3v4

Saturday

9:00 AM 1v3 1v4 1v4 1v4 1v4 1v4

10:00 AM 2v3 2v3 2v3 2v3 2v3 2v3

Monday Night Scores:

Hixson won a 5 game thriller over Sales Creek, 25-22, 21-25, 20, 25, 26-24 and 17-15

Soddy defeated Red Bank in 4 games, 25-24, 12- 25, 25-17, 25 - 15.

East Hamilton defeated CCS in 3 games

Signal defeated Bledsoe County in 3 games

Baylor defeated Boyd in 3 games

Tuesday Night's lineup is highlighted by GPS at Ooltewah and Cleveland at Walker Valley, and also includes the following matches:

East Ridge, Howard at Brainerd

Tyner at East Hamilton

Silverdale, Baylor at Hixon

Signal Mountain at Notre Dame

Marion Co. at Sale Creek

Rhea Co. at Soddy-Daisy

Cleveland at Walker Valley

Red Bank at Boyd-Buchanan

The season kicks off tonight with several good matches around the area. Having had girls playing at the varsity level since the fall of 2004, it's a bittersweet start as my youngest takes the court to begin her senior year.

Tonight's slate includes several good matches, highlighted by Soddy at Red Bank. Other matches include:

Boyd-Buchanan at Baylor

Sale Creek at Hixson

East Hamilton at CCS

Bledsoe Co. at Signal Mountain

After viewing pre-season play, and thinking about the strenghts of the various teams, including the return of injured players, following is a Chattanooga area top ten based on where I expect the teams to finish by the end of the year. In updating the top ten, the key criterion will be head to head matchups.

1. Soddy-Daisy - dominated the pre-season playdays. Should be a top 4 team in AAA.

2. Baylor - some inconcistency during the playdays, but waiting on a couple of players to heal. A great chance to win it all in D-II.

3. Signal Mountain - I'm a homer. They move up to AA, but should play in Murfreesboro.

4. GPS - If the defense and passing come around, they will be very strong. They have hitters.

5. Sale Creek - The favorite to be A Champions.

6. Ooltewah

7. Walker Valley

8. Red Bank

9. Hixson

10. Notre Dame

Five of the teams from this group will compete in the Early Bird Tournament in Knoxville this weekend, and I imagine all of them will be in the Choo Choo the following weekend. This list will sort itself out in a hurry.

Observations from the GPS Playday:

Eight teams attended - GPS, Baylor, Soddy, Signal, Boyd, East Ridge, Notre Dame and Walker Valley. It was a lot of fun to see most of the girls from the club team, but wish Ooltewah had been there as well. The format is a little bit different, as the matches are only 30 minutes long. Every thing seems to move fast, and it's over with by 2p.m. It was a nice way to run a playday.

Soddy played the best, and the reason was ball control. Soddy certainly has some girls that can finish a point, but in the games I saw them play they didn't have the ball control issues that plagued a lot of teams on Saturday. Baylor played well at times, and are still short a couple of players due to injury, but in several games they also had passing issues. GPS is also struggling with their passing game, but when the Bruisers and the Red Raiders squared off, there was a lot of excitement on the court. I believe Baylor came out on top. Signal did a poor job of serve receive all day, which forced them to play from behind in numerous games. Walker Valley looked okay, but seemed to lack any power hitting. Notre Dame certainly seems improved from last year, and even took a game against GPS. Boyd is in something of a rebuilding year, having lost 3 really good players to graduation. Signal did not play East Ridge, so I really didn't get to see much of the Pioneers, but I can say there is no one that works harder than East Ridge's #2, Daisha Jackson. She is all over the court.

Chattdaddy, I'll try to post on the action from GPS over the weekend. By the way, which team do you follow?

As for Sale Creek, Coach Hill is in her third year as the head coach of volleyball. They're not doing anything different, as I believe they had the 3rd best single A team in the state last year - they just had the unfortunate luck of being in the same Region as Signal Mountain and Boyd Buc, who were 1 and 2. They return most of the players from last year's team

As to pre-season injuries, the three girls I know about had nothing to do with too much play or too little strectching - two of them were twisted ankles from landing on girls coming under the net, and one was a broken finger on a pancake attempt.

PH, if I'm going to attempt to do a pre-season Chattanoog ranking, you're going to have to give me an honest assessment of Ooltewah from their play this weekend.

Looking forward to the first weekend of tournament action, when we travel to the Early Bird at Farraguta to see which of those teams are contenders and pretenders.

I got the chance to watch quite a few matches at the Choo Choo Playday. Based on what I saw, and from reading the posts in the East Tennessee topic, the theme for the day was nobody was playing their starting lineup. Sul;livan South was clearly the best team at the Playday. I was not impressed with Anderson County, but according to K2, they were without several starters. If that were the case, they could be a very different team. It will be interesting to see how they look at the Early Bird. The second best team at the Playday was Sale Creek, whose day included wins over Anderson County, GPS and Signal Mountain. GPS was missing Tory Kemp, who is a game changer, and two other players. I will be suprised if Sale Creek does not win the A State Championship. Signal was missing Callie Hildebrand (who hopes to return from an ankle injury this week) and two other starters. Based on what I heard and what little I saw because we did not scrimmage either team, the two teams that seemed to exceed expectations were Notre Dame and Silverdale.

This Saturday GPS hosts a playday with Baylor, Soddy-Daisy, Walker Valley, Notre Dame, Signal Mountain and Boyd Buchanan. I know that one of Baylor's OHs is out for several more weeks, but it will be good to see what they have, along with Soddy Daisy and Walker Valley. After that Playday we can take a stab at preseason rankings for the Chattanooga area.

I had hoped to see several matches this week and provide some input on other teams from my daughter, but unfortunately she twisted her ankle during one of yesterday's games, so I haven't seen as much action as I had hoped. It's always a little tough during the Choo Choo to evaluate teams because you don't know what players are still on vacation, but here's a quick summary of the Chattanooga area:

AAA - Soddy Daisy finished last year as the best team in the area, and they should be the best team again this year, and should make it back to Murfreesboro. They will be led by 6'1" MH Rachel Shaughnessy, but have several other seniors returning including Rebecca Johnson, Sara Davis and Olivia Holden. Ooltewah struggled in the game I saw them play at Choo Choo, but I think there were missing at least one starter (and maybe more). They also will be led by their MH, Kianna Delaney and S Lauren Bennett. Cleveland also does not look as strong as in years past, but Bradley Central may be improved.

AA - Signal Mountain moves up to AA and has a chance to be the top team in the area with five seniors returning, including the MVP from last years A State Championship, 5'11" OH Callie Hildebrand, and will be adding two front row players at 6"2" and 6". Red Bank has controlled this classification for the past two years, and will be led by OH Danielle Moore and S Ansley Helton, but will have to replace All Stater Kalyn Helton. East Hamilton continues to improve and had most of their girls playing club ball. Coach Neely will have East Ridge ready to go, and I think Hixson will also have a chance to make some noise.

A - Sale Creek should be the top team in the area and will probably bring the Single A crown back to Chattanooga for the third year in a row. Boyd has to replace a lot of players.

DII - Baylor will be very good and should have a chance for the State Title, with 6 3" Nicole Sumida leading the way and support from OH Rachel Travis, who will be slowed for a while recovering from a broken finger. GPS will also be good, and if you get a chance, go see OH Tory Kemp put on a highlight show.

It will be a fun year in Chattanooga.

Choo Choo team camp going on this week at Red Bank and East Ridge July 18-21.

Many Chattanooga teams are playing. Who is looking good?