Catholic has Knoxville's Top Player

[K2ruth]

Cunningham at Knox Catholic has emerged as Knoxville's top player.  Not yet a senior, she has emerged as a force.  If her supporting cast will step up to follow her leadership no one in East TN will challenge them.  Lack of a top tier setter will limit her to a degree, but she can hit from backrow which will cover the lack of depth.  She will need a teammate to carry her bag and another to bring her water because she is going to be doing all the heavy lifting.  She is a once in a decade type of talent.

[BruinBabe]

I went to the schools web page, is she number 4 in the picture?

[BruinBabe]

We are coming to Knoxville this weekend.  I am looking forward to seeing her play.  Does Catholic have anybody to go with her?  Who are the other top teams in Knoxville?  I see where St Joseph's from South Carolina is coming, they are an experienced team.

[BruinBabe]

Hames is Knoxvilles best player but I would pick this girl as number 2, just nothing around her!

[K2ruth]

I agree on Hames, but did not include her because I didn't think she would play this season because of her USA commitment.  

I think Catholic should do like Berean Christian does with CF and set her all 6 positions.  Catholic does not have any hitters other than OC and it would make sense to just set her the majority of the time like the do Corey at BC and focus on defense. I am afraid the "politics" may limit her touches to a degree.

[K2ruth]

Last week the lack of offense was exposed on Saturday.  Once teams get a look at Catholic, it is not hard to make adjustments.  I realize that a couple of the moms got the coach they wanted hired, but surely they realize that there needs to be some changes and it can't all be about their daughters, can it?  

[KnoxVolleyMom]

I got to watch the Catholic vs Anderson County match last night!  I new people with granddaughters, and daughters, on best sides so it was fun.

AC played great starting 4 freshman, losing 3-1.  I thought the ref was a little biased towards Catholic, but Catholic was an older more experienced team and deserved the win.  Number 4 is clearly their best player and when they quit setting her for stretches they struggled.  It was a well played and competitive match!

[K2ruth]

How did the Catholic coaches not select Betty as the District's top player.  Does one mom have this much control?

[clifford20]

K2, you realize that all the district coaches vote on that....right?    Mom's don't typically get to vote for all district.   Typically you can't vote for your own players either. 

[JMAVU9193]

Clifford speaks the truth. Coaches can only nominate their kids. Or not... you can't nominate your entire team, and some of those 3rd and 4th decisions are not easy.

Once the nominees are on the table, the other district coaches determine how everything shakes out in the end. So I see 3 possibilities:

1. Catholic, it turns out, does NOT actually have Knoxville's best player. In fact, Catholic does not even have AA District 3's best player.

2. AA District 3 coaches are idiots, or there is some political motive against the player or program.

3. Catholic moms control not only the coaches at Catholic, but, in fact, every coach in the District.

 

Not having seen any of the teams or players in question, I defer to the rest of you. That said, if Cunningham is as good as you (and, to be fair, some others) have said, Catholic will make noise in the playoffs, and she'll get her due. I'm sure she'd rather be All-State than AA District 3 PoY.

[K2ruth]

She is fantastic.  And has had a great year.  The problem is that there is a K2 mom, high up the food chain, and who played a key role in getting another K2 coach hired to replace a great coach.  The new guy is a really nice man, but they have daughters on the team and some players are not getting the push they need.  The coaches don't vote for the MVP they let the coach of the district champion select the MVP from his team.

[JMAVU9193]

K2ruth, I have a question for you. Can you be more specific about your complaint regarding this particular player?

Reason I ask... here are her current attacking numbers, according to (another website I am not allowed to name on this forum because they also focus on High School Sports):

239 kills, 126 errors, on 673 attempts, for a hitting % of .168 (across 64 sets)

This puts her 4th in the state in attempts per set, at about 10.5. That is a HUGE volume of attempts, especially considering the somewhat pedestrian efficiency number (.168 isn't very good, really). On paper, anyway, It seems she is getting plenty of love and attention from her setters. And her team is having a lot of success, with a legitimate shot at winning AA.

So I am not sure (from admittedly, quite a distance) what your concern is on her behalf.