Page/Centennial Classic predictions

[hillmen]

Anyone know how Columbia Central did?

[PageMan]

hillmen, all I know is that Columbia Central went 1-2 in pool play Friday night. I do not know how they ended up in the Saturday pool play or the bracket play at Page. Sorry.

[PageMan]

I have added the matches for Saturday's pool play & bracket play at Centennial to all the teams' schedules. I will update with scores as soon as the matches appear on their schedules. All added matches must be approved by CoachT which will probably be sometime later today.

[KYdigsTN]

Thanks to all for the hospitality shown to our team. This tournament is one of my all-time favorites to attend. The 7 match guarantee and the overall quality of the teams makes it a top notch tournament. I will miss not coming back here as my last daughter is now a senior.

 

Overall Lafayette played pretty well. They played poorly in most game two's and brilliant in a couple games against Centennial and Independence. Especially the championship match. Centennial to my eye was the best overall team we faced even though the scores may not reflect that. Our girls simply played harder and better against them.

 

This is Lafayettes second straight gold championship. They are definately off to the kind of start I was hoping for.

[ComPassion]

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.

Edited September 4, 2005 by ComPassion

[PageMan]

ComPassion, I saw that the Lafayette girls were quicker to the ball with everyone ready to make the play or the next one. While they did not have great height, they had good vertical jumps. Their OH #1 reminded me of Laura Brock - good jumping and strong killing. They really didn't do anything different than TN girls, they were just quicker on offense and defense. Their weak point was serving, as mentioned previously, where they had several net serves.

[PageMan]

All the scores have been updated from the Centennial site for Friday & Saturday. There are a couple of duplications that should be deleted soon. Click on the teams' schedules to see how they did in all their matches.

[KYdigsTN]

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.

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It was clear to me that the TN teams that had a fair number of club players were the better teams. I'm told Independence and Centennial have a good number of club players and it showed. Ball control skills like serve receive, passing,and setting just takes repetiton to master and the girls that play more are simply better at it. Every player for Lafayette but one is a multiple year club player. That one girl is a softball player and fantastic athlete, but she only plays front row as her passing skills are not as strong as the others. Lafayette went 3-4 in this tournament just last year. The team this year is almost exactly the same team as last years team less one key player. Last year Centennial, Page, East Ridge, and Goodpasture all beat Lafayette. They were good close matches, but we were to young and inexperienced. In the club season three of our girls played in 16 tournaments, 100 matches, and practiced twice a week from Dec-July for Louisville club teams KIVA and MAVA. The rest practiced the same amount, played in 9 tournaments to total about 55 tournament matches for a club based here in Lexington called BAVA. Basically all our girls worked their butts off to get better and did. They still have much to improve on, but overall they just made themselves better players.

 

In KY, if the majority of your girls dont play in the off season they simply cant compete with the ones that do. Lafayette would have no chance of advancing out of district without club volleyball. With that said, probably only the top 50 teams have ANY club players. The bottom 200 teams with no club players are not even in the same league as the top 25 that do. I'd be willing to bet that most teams in Eastern KY are worse than the very worst teams in TN because at least TN plays a longer season and more matches. Eastern Ky volleyball is among the worst volleyball played ANYWHERE.

Edited September 5, 2005 by KYdigsTN

[KYdigsTN]

ComPassion, I saw that the Lafayette girls were quicker to the ball with everyone ready to make the play or the next one.  While they did not have great height, they had good vertical jumps.  Their OH #1 reminded me of Laura Brock - good jumping and strong killing. They really didn't do anything different than TN girls, they were just quicker on offense and defense.  Their weak point was serving, as mentioned previously, where they had several net serves.

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It's interesting you thought #1 was our best hitter. She's very good, but overall I would say she is our third best offensive weapon, but our very quickest and best passer. She does leap out of the gym though at about 5'7". Extremely athletic girl! Statistically our strongest hitters are #9, the lanky blond MB and then #7, the other OH. Against Centennial and Page #1 played amazing, while all three were hitting against Centennial. If our girls get in a passing rhythm like they were, our two setters can lay the ball on a platter to those hitters. All three were just killing the ball against Centennial. Best match our girls have played all year.

[rhsvball07]

I saw the championship match between centennial and layfette and they both had great hitting. Centennial's passing was a little off and I saw very little subbing on their side of the net. I also noticed from thier program the people sitting were the passign crew. Why doesnt Coach Rhinehart sub in them for the passing since tehre hitters passing is not very strong for any of them? It was a great match and Centennial has a very good chance of getting out of districts if they play liek that all the time. One more thing why did layfette take a picture with the score board?

[KYdigsTN]

I saw the championship match between centennial and layfette and they both had great hitting. Centennial's passing was a little off and I saw very little subbing on their side of the net. I also noticed from thier program the people sitting were the passign crew. Why doesnt Coach Rhinehart sub in them for the passing since tehre hitters passing is not very strong for any of them? It was a great match and Centennial has a very good chance of getting out of districts if they play liek that all the time. One more thing why did layfette take a picture with the score board?

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Just to commemorate how well they played. No disrespect was intended.

 

Centennial used lots of combinations in that game two to try to improve their passing. I saw several substitutions, but nothing seemed to help. The key to that match in my opinion was a point early in the game on perhaps the toughest, longest, hardest fought volley I have ever seen that Lafayette won. After that Centennial just didn't look the same and Lafayette played just about as good as they could possibly play.

[thecoachk]

Perhaps because not a one of us has seen every last team listed so far this season. But, knowing the history and tradition of most of these teams, I'll humor you, Digs.

 

1. Spring Hill

2. Culleoka

3. Briarcrest

4. Columbia Central

 

Ok, ok, so I can't finish the post without being serious. Here's an inkling from me:

 

Spring Hill- Were ok last year. They're a decent A-AA program (knocked down from AAA last year)

 

Briarcrest- Took Division II state a couple of years ago. They have down years and then great years. Not sure what to expect.

 

Smyrna- Decent AAA program. Have had some rather solid teams in recent years.

 

Page- They're Page. 'Nuff said.

 

Ravenwood- Young, respectable program stuck in the roughest district in the state, regardless of class. Heard very promising things. Would like to see them in person.

 

David Lipscomb- Still looking very good after last year's state title. Losing players like Karen Dorris hurts, but they're not weak by any measure.

 

Independence- Solid AAA program, stuck in the same tough district as Ravenwood. Will be stiff competition for all.

 

Lafayette, KY- Made a good showing last year, and, according to our friend from KY, is still rollin'.

 

BGA- Good program that needed to be taken to the next level. Now that they have Tracey Berry as coach, they can get there. Question is, will they? I've seen them briefly, but the jury is still out. BGA is my dark horse.

 

Karns- Respected East TN AAA program. Fielded some good teams in the past, sent a few girls to college on scholarship. No idea about this year.

 

Lebanon- Respectable local AAA program. Played decent ball @ Brentwood last weekend.

 

Columbia Central- Heard they're playing well. This remains to be seen by the all-knowing volleyball fans of this site. Jury is out, but won't take long to render a verdict.

 

Culleoka- On and off program from a decidedly weak A-AA district.

 

Nashville Christian- No solid info out. Did ok last year @ the Classic.

 

Hillsboro- Struggling AAA program- same district as Independence/Ravenwood. When they're on, they play decent ball. When they're off... enough said.

 

Centennial- Solid, respected program from the same district again! Setter (Class of 2005) playing at Samford University in Birmingham. Haven't had a good look this year, but they won't be steamrolled by much of anyone at Page.

Take from it what you will. Enjoy!

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