Countdown to Preseason Play

[PHargis]

And all right, what about that high spirited AA Division. Pageman earlier got on here and predicted "Page would be in the State this year". Pretty bold. Can District 1 come up with a team to give it a try and can that GREENE District2 make a showing. or will last years State Champion District 6 Red Bank again power their way to the State. Chattanooga Christian and Notre Dame may fight itiei out for District 7 but with a new coach can ND do it? Can the new school in Murfreesboro, Central, break in to the tough District 8 lineup. And who is going to come out of a very competitive District 8, Greenbrier, Goodpasture, Macon or others.That will be hard to call. And then there are all of those good AA schools around Jackson. Can someone knock Crocket off> Or will Chester of Lexington be at the State this year? And who will come out of Memphis? AA looks to be an interesting year.

[PHargis]

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[smdad]

Some thoughts on Chattanooga Volleyball:

 

I think the top 5 in the City will be, in no particular order: Ooltewah, Boyd Buchanan, Soddy-Daisy, Baylor and Red Bank. Ooltewah has to replace at least three seniors from last year, but they do have Alex Martin, the Chattanooga player of the year, returning to handle the middle, as well as several other players with club experience. Defending 1A Champion Boyd returns 3 outstanding seniors, including all-state OH Rachel Harper, who may be the best all-around player in the City. Soddy is going to have a lot of size in 6' senior Hayli Raines and 6'1" junior Rachel Shaughnessy. Baylor has an emerging power in 6'2" middle Nicole Sumida, and also returns OH Rachel Travis, who made all-state last year as a freshman. Defending 2A state champion Red Bank returns all-state OH Kayla Helton (who looked fantastic hitting the ball at a recent Clinic hosted by Choo Choo City that featured UT Head Coach Rob Patrick), but will have to rely on several younger players.

 

The next 5 are probably, again in no real order, Signal Mountain, Chattanooga Christian, GPS, East Hamilton and East Ridge. SMHS will have everyone back as it has seniors on its team for the first time in the school's 3 year history, and will feature two All-State players in Senior S Georgia Paturalski and Junior OH Callie Hildebrand. CSC hopes to improve on its 3rd place 2A finish last year, and feature two fine seniors in Anna Snipes and Kelsey Lochstampford. The key for GPS and East Ridge is their coaching, as there are no better high school coaches in the area than Paul Brock and Catherine Neeley. Even though East Hamilton will only be in its second year of competition, they had at least 10 girls on club rosters, so it will be no surprise if they emerge as one of the better teams in 2A District 6.

 

We just received the schedule for the Choo Choo preseason event, to be held at East Ridge and Red Bank from July 19 - 22. There will be 25 teams participating, including the 3A defending champion, Dobyns-Bennett, and perennial state power Brentwood. Other than the hot gyms, it should be a lot of fun.

[Coachwo]

And all right, what about that high spirited AA Division. Pageman earlier got on here and predicted "Page would be in the State this year". Pretty bold. Can District 1 come up with a team to give it a try and can that GREENE District2 make a showing. or will last years State Champion District 6 Red Bank again power their way to the State. Chattanooga Christian and Notre Dame may fight itiei out for District 7 but with a new coach can ND do it? Can the new school in Murfreesboro, Central, break in to the tough District 8 lineup. And who is going to come out of a very competitive District 8, Greenbrier, Goodpasture, Macon or others.That will be hard to call. And then there are all of those good AA schools around Jackson. Can someone knock Crocket off> Or will Chester of Lexington be at the State this year? And who will come out of Memphis? AA looks to be an interesting year.

[Coachwo]

Hey Phil, dont forget about those scrappy Sycamore girls who took 3rd in district 8 and gave Goodpasture all they wanted in the District semifinals. They lost 2 seniors and are hungry to get better this season as they seem to have caught the v-ball bug. Several of the girls played club ball and all went to hitters, setters camps this summer. They may not be very big but they have big hearts!

[PHargis]

Hey Phil, dont forget about those scrappy Sycamore girls who took 3rd in district 8 and gave Goodpasture all they wanted in the District semifinals. They lost 2 seniors and are hungry to get better this season as they seem to have caught the v-ball bug. Several of the girls played club ball and all went to hitters, setters camps this summer. They may not be very big but they have big hearts!

Coach, appreciate you reminding me of that. You know, the players around Pleasant View have got an advantage. They can just drive over to the Interstate and go just about anywhere there is a club. Where does the club meet around there? I would figure its Alliance. Who coached it this year? It is true, the v-ball bug is flying this year with players swatting it all over the court.

District 9 seems to be good for this coming year. A couple of days ago, when the new coach at CPA was announced, it changed the whole atmosphere of AA in Middle Tennessee. Most of you are going to have to watch the elephant in the room down at Page because they are loaded. Pageman has already made the statement they are going to State. Greenbrier, White House, Sycamore, Goodpasture, Westmoreland and Macon County will make things interesting in District 9 and with club starting to bloom you never will know whats going to happen. I believe I remember a playday or Tournament at Whitehouse I think and maybe enough from 9 can be in it to see who is the best. Who do you think will be good in 9?

Edited July 17, 2010 by PHargis

[PHargis]

And while I'm at it, lets go on to District 11 and 12 and Region 6 who has been dominated by Nicole Smith, recent signee at Notre Dame and the rest of the Region took a big sigh of relief only to see another player step up, a sophmore this year and another solid team emerge and a very large elephant seemed to reload to make an attempt at another state run.

But don't think District 11 with Cheatam Count, harpeth, Creekwood, Montgomery Central at Cunningham, Camden Stewart County and Waverly won't have some good matches even with the high water in their memories.

District 12, IMO will be a sleeper District this year and while page is an odds on favorite to win it, its possible that matches will not be so easy as they have been and Marshall County Fairview, East Hickman at Lyles, Hickman county at Centerville, Lewis county Giles county and Spring Hill wont give Page better matches this year. The pageman is looking over his shoulder. Even with all of that and the general improvement of the Region, its difficult after seeing many of their players that Page will not come out of Region 6AA

[PHargis]

And while we are looking at AA lets make a visit up the plateau and down the Mountain a little tward Chattanooga and pick up and look at Region 4, District 7 and 8 and see what is going on there. District 8, on the Plateau has York over at Jamestown, Cannon county in Woodbury, Smith county in Carthage, Upperman at Baxter, Dekalb in smithville, Livingston Academy and a new startup AA school who eventually could be a AA powerhouse when fully loaded Murfreesboro Central. It is difficult to know which of these schools will come out of District 8 and hopefully someone will post who seems strong and who would be picked. I can quess that Cannon, Upperman and Livingston Academy will be strong but with the size of the schools, I would guess the schools would have 2 sport athletes filling a lot of the spots.

 

District 7, across the mountain and down tward Chattanooga is filled with 5 schools and the interesting situation again is Notre Dame has again reached out and has a new coach. Chattanooga Christian will certainly be good and Bledsoe in Pikeville, Grundy county in Coalmont and Sequatchien County over in Dunlap make up that District, While someone might have information on the strength, Chattanooga Christian, might have the edge in the District.

Edited July 17, 2010 by PHargis

[PHargis]

The most interesting Region and Districts to me in AA is in Chattanooga in Region 3 and Districts 5 and 6. District 5 brings Mcminn Central in Englewood, Sequoyah in madisonville, Collegedale, Meigs Co at Decatur, Polk County @ Volleyball District, no one can be discounted around Chattanooga as volleyball seems to be second nature to everyone in the area. We do need some reports from the District.

District 6 is the most Legendary and the District with the most tradition in Chattanooga arguably in AA. Its the home of the current AA State Champion, Red Bank, after reclassification moved the school from AAA to AA last year because of number of students. Tyner, Chattanooga Central, Howard, Brainard, East Harrison, Katherine Neeley's East Ridge, Hixson and Red Bank. Everyone in the State enjoys the tradition and personalities and tournaments held in Chattanooga in an area that seems to be in continuous change with school consolidations. We get some great reporting and commentary out of the schools there.

[PHargis]

Club play will have an impact in some areas. Sumner and Wilson county (9AAA) have long had a low participation rate in off-season play. This seems to have changed with Alliance working north of Nashville. I saw several players from Wilson Central, MJ, Portland and Lebanon traveling to Cool Springs to participate as well as Gallatin, Beech and Hendersonville players at Alliance North. These schools also had players at RC Jrs.

 

This will even the playing field within that district and I don't anticipate that any one (or two) teams will run away with the district this year.

 

There have not been a lot of coaching changes in this district however, some teams will definitely take hits due to graduation. I think Hendersonville lost the most seniors (5). WC lost their setter and an outside hitter to graduation. MJ may have new coach again this year. Portland didn't lose a single player to graduation. Paula Jackson is making big strides in Lebanon. I've heard there have been players lost to other sports (i.e. basketball) at a couple of schools.

[PHargis]

Club play will have an impact in some areas. Sumner and Wilson county (9AAA) have long had a low participation rate in off-season play. This seems to have changed with Alliance working north of Nashville. I saw several players from Wilson Central, MJ, Portland and Lebanon traveling to Cool Springs to participate as well as Gallatin, Beech and Hendersonville players at Alliance North. These schools also had players at RC Jrs.

 

This will even the playing field within that district and I don't anticipate that any one (or two) teams will run away with the district this year.

 

There have not been a lot of coaching changes in this district however, some teams will definitely take hits due to graduation. I think Hendersonville lost the most seniors (5). WC lost their setter and an outside hitter to graduation. MJ may have new coach again this year. Portland didn't lose a single player to graduation. Paula Jackson is making big strides in Lebanon. I've heard there have been players lost to other sports (i.e. basketball) at a couple of schools.

P4K< I guess you read the Dickson News that was posted on CT Home page about Dickson and Rossview being pretty good in District 10AAA this year. Since they are in your Region, have you heard anything else about any other Schools being good in District 10AAA?

[PHargis]

While we are in AAA, lets work our way down from Region 1 District which last year said they were the best Region and Districts in the State in AAA and who could argue as Dobyns Bennett with Coach Shaeffer took the big trophy home but the rest of the District gave DB a fit. It includes Daniel Boone in Gray, David Crockett in Jonesboro, Sullivan South in Kingsport, Tennessee high in Bristol, Science Hill in Johnson City, Sullivan Central in Blountville, The Volunteer and DB. The last few years its been the Kingsport teams who have been the Strength coming out of District 1 but they are going to have a lot of competition this year from Science Hill and Tennessee High. After seeing a lot of their players this summer in Club, DB still is the favorite.

 

District 2 has Morristown East, Morristown West, jefferson County in the oldest town in the State Dandridge, Seymour, South Doyle in Knoxville, Sevier county at Serierville, Cherokee at REogersville and Cocke county at Newport. The strength in 2 has been with the Morristown Twins but South Doyle and Sevier county could be in the mix. District 2 generally has sucombed to District 1 and this year could be different.