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Post by westcoastbias on Nov 5, 2019 15:52:19 GMT -5
Just looking over the pools in 16s "Gold" for Saturday, there's not a "bad" team in the bunch (I guess this was probably helped by deciding to only allow 1st and 2nd place finishers into Gold, which I agree is bush league to do after posting the other flowchart). As a newcomer to the high school divisions, this is a welcomed change as I'm looking forward to watching some really competitive matches so early in the season this weekend.
Even deep into the the 14s season last year, you almost always knew where the easy W was in your pool - there were basically 6 teams who were always battling in D1A, and then a pretty steep dropoff. In contrast, after day 1 of the Qualifier this year, it's become clear we will not see another weak opponent until day 1 of the Holiday Classic. Iron sharpens iron...
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Post by bealzabubba on Nov 5, 2019 16:35:36 GMT -5
Note: They updated the draw for both divisions.
The 16s draw is wrong, in several places - a 2nd place finisher from Q1 that I follow (we know some of the players) was dropped from Gold to Silver, and it wasn't a one to one swap, so there are other errors. SCVA also pulled the flowchart from this version (too late).
It sure feels like a "gang that couldn't shoot straight" issue, so expect another revision.
As with before, the Vegas U teams are all at ASC with the 18s, with the balance of 16s at Momentous.
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Post by bealzabubba on Nov 5, 2019 16:54:57 GMT -5
Just looking over the pools in 16s "Gold" for Saturday, there's not a "bad" team in the bunch (I guess this was probably helped by deciding to only allow 1st and 2nd place finishers into Gold, which I agree is bush league to do after posting the other flowchart). As a newcomer to the high school divisions, this is a welcomed change as I'm looking forward to watching some really competitive matches so early in the season this weekend. Even deep into the the 14s season last year, you almost always knew where the easy W was in your pool - there were basically 6 teams who were always battling in D1A, and then a pretty steep dropoff. In contrast, after day 1 of the Qualifier this year, it's become clear we will not see another weak opponent until day 1 of the Holiday Classic. Iron sharpens iron... In last years 15/16s, most teams between 9-36 could beat each other (an "any given day" issue, really), and give the top 8 a respectable game (i.e. 25-17+ games). Certainly there were favorites and such. Tendencies will emerge for the better teams this year (which we don't know yet), and matchups matter, but the HS divisions have broader (deeper?) competition than 14s. Oh, and: all divisions now have USA, even at Holiday Classic, so - no more "gimme games" if you're playing Open (a good thing, IMO).
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Post by KPI on Nov 11, 2019 10:09:24 GMT -5
Some really good volleyball this weekend. Maybe a few surprises. Be interesting to see what people have to say.
Top Results only for Gold D1
Pool 1: 1. SCVC 18 (3-0 games / 6-0 sets) 2. OCVC 17 Red (2-1 / 4-4 sets)
Pool 2: 1. Coast 18 (3-0 / 6-1) 2. Balboa Bay 18 Blue (2-1 / 5-2)
Pool 3: 1. SG Elite 17 (2-1 / 5-2) 2. Legacy Boys 18 (2-1 / 5-3)
Pool 4: 1. Pinnacle 17s (2-1 / 5-3) 2, OCVC 18 Red (2-1 / 5-3)
Pool 5: 1. Team Rockstar 18 (3-0 / 6-1) 2. Wave 17 Jed (2-1 / 4-3)
Pool 6: 1. Team Rockstar 17 (3-0 / 6-1) 2. Pinnacle 18s (2-1 / 5-2)
Pool 7: 1. MB Surf 18 (3-0 / 6-1) 2. Balboa Bay 17 Blue (2-1 / 5-2)
I’m not familiar with how the ranking for actual age groups works but here’s the list of the teams per age group based on pool order but I’ve updated it to include the new seed. If I guessed correctly if you were a lower seed and beat a higher seed you then take that seed))
18s teams: (1) SCVC (2) Coast (5) Rockstar (7)MB Surf (13)Balboa Bay Blue (12)Legacy (11)OCVC (9)Pinnacle Might be a surprise to see Coast doing so well for some folks based on last year, but they added a lot of talent to that team.
17s teams: (3)SG Elite (4)Pinnacle (6)Rockstar (14)OCVC (10)Wave (8)Balboa Bay Blue SG Elite added a few players that make them a super strong team this year.
15/16s: Pool 1: 1. MB Surf 16 2. SCVC 16
Pool 2: 1. Balboa Bay 16 White 2. Balboa Bay 16 Blue
Pool 3: 1. OCVC 16 Red 2. Coast 16 Chris
Pool 4: 1. Vegas United 16 Navy 2. M B Surf 15-1
Only interesting thing seems to be Balboa Bay White not dropping a single game through the qualifiers.
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Post by bealzabubba on Nov 11, 2019 21:05:08 GMT -5
For 16s: the closeness of competition struck me. That's a good thing.
Many of the pools were highly competitive for Q2, even when the cold results don't look like it.
I'm not a fan of the 5 team pools, particularly with Pools 1 and 2 being 4 teams - and the fact SCVA changed it mid stream is just always going to bug me. Seemed like the upsets came in the 5 teamers pools, where the boys were run ragged (in some, but not all, pools), with a couple pools of death and close upsets. But... the games were good.
[Counterpoint to my own argument on the change in flow: In most of the 5 team pools, one team typically wasn't competitive. If they'd stuck with top 48 in 12 pools of 4, likely there would have been two noncompetitive teams in each pool.]
I'm not sure if last years 15s were weak (possible) and thus this years 16s are as well, but it also *felt* like this years top 15s are stronger that last year. (5 in the top 20 (6 in 21); last year it was 4, with a huge gulf between 4 and 5).
Misc observations:
BB White beating Blue was kind of a hoot. I know at least one HP player dropped to White from Blue (to make room for another HP player that moved from OCVC), and a few were added from last years 14 Blue (exceptions), so it'll be interesting to follow - as much as us non-BB like to rag on the club, in good fun, I'm cool with them having two top teams. Speaks to the program they've developed.
MB Surf continues to win, but just didn't "feel" as dominant as last year's 15s were. The scores are still gaudy, but... just didn't look that way. I still view them as the favorite, but, again, it just doesn't look like they'll run away from the field this year.
OCVC gained a lot of height, and don't feel like the same team from the last couple years. Results are still there, though.
The second biggest good surprise was Vegas United - they didn't field a 15s last year.
The biggest surprise? California VC. Where did that club come from? Initial seed was 74, they finished in 1B (16, by pool, see below).
Here's *my* estimate of the top 21, where pool determines overall finish (i.e. 1st in pool 1 gets 1 overall, 1st in P2 gets 2nd, etc) - covers 1A, 1B and 2A, with the initial seeding.
Finish Seed Team Div
1 1 MB Surf 16-1 1a 2 7 Balboa Bay VBC 16 White - mj6balby2sc 1a 3 3 OCVC 16 Red - mj6ocvbc1sc 1a 4 26 Vegas United 16 Navy - mj6vegas1sc 1a 5 8 SCVC 16 1a 6 2 Balboa Bay VBC 16 Blue - mj6balby1sc 1a 7 4 Coast 16 Chris - mj6coast1sc 1a 8 14 MB SURF 15-1 ASICS MJ5MBSSV1SC 1a 9 9 BB 15-1 1b 10 17 WAVE 16 Cole - mj6wvevb1sc 1b 11 28 Pulse 16 Coleman - mj6pulse1sc 1b 12 39 SMBC West 16 Adidas-MJ6SMBC1SC 1b 13 10 949 15-1 1b 14 31 WAVE 15 Nick - mj5wvevb1sc 1b 15 5 Team Rockstar 16 Rockstar - mj6rstar1sc 1b 16 74 California VC 16 - mj6cavbc1sc 1b 17 18 SG Elite 16 Elite-MJ6SGELT1SC 2A 18 24 SB Coast 16 - mj6sbcst1sc 2A 19 9 A4 15Purple - MJ5A4VOL1SC 2A 20 34 Coast 16 Fiapo - mj6coast2sc 2A 21 11 Team Rockstar 15 Rockstar - mj5rstar1sc 2A
ETA: if someone shows me how to cut/paste from excel into a table on here, I'd be forever greatful.
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Post by VolleyFanFL on Nov 12, 2019 8:28:01 GMT -5
Vegas united is an interesting situation. They played us very tough in 2018 at JBI in 14s, glad to see them finish high.
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Post by bealzabubba on Nov 12, 2019 8:56:02 GMT -5
Vegas united is an interesting situation. They played us very tough in 2018 at JBI in 14s, glad to see them finish high. 99.9% sure it is a different team - "The Guy" (and you know who I mean - literally a man among boys) from that 14s team was an exception and is now in 17s.
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Post by westcoastbias on Nov 12, 2019 11:55:21 GMT -5
The biggest surprise? California VC. Where did that club come from? Initial seed was 74, they finished in 1B (16, by pool, see below).I believe this club/team was started this year by a coach from 949. Their 16s are a mix of kids that played for 949 & A4 14s last year. That is how it started - I heard they also brought over the Balboa Bay 14s setter who had to jump to 16s, which was key. A4 15s pulled over some of 949's players from last year's 14s, yet, 949 15s still appears to be doing well, so guessing they were able to effectively fill those gaps from outside or within (their 14s last year were very deep, with good players not getting playing time.)
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Post by begood on Nov 12, 2019 12:08:06 GMT -5
What about surprises from San Diego. Who performed well and who fell short.
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Post by bealzabubba on Nov 12, 2019 13:29:51 GMT -5
What about surprises from San Diego. Who performed well and who fell short. ETA: if you were asking about 17s/18s, it wasn't clear, and I have nothing to add there. For 16s:Seaside 16's falling to 4b was a huge surprise to me - there's some indication of player losses earlier in this thread that may explain it. They were Open as 15s. The two Wave teams finishing as high as they did was also a surprise, and may be related to Seaside's decline - both teams are a bit "new" if you will. I figured they'd be 2a/2b going in. Wave 16's looked very solid, and the 15-1s again seem like "giant killers" - able to beat teams you don't think they should. [related: The 15-1's coach, Nick Rubacky, continues to impress me. For two years in division with him, he's gotten more out of his teams than one would expect looking at them - super scrappy, never say die, all that, and a good guy to talk to when they are not playing.] Coast was as expected, I think. The 16s played solid, finishing as I expected (top 8) - they will challenge this year, but I'm not sure they can break into the top 4. Their 15's are good/scrappy, but seem to tire in S2 (against 16s) and lack a good block against bigger OH's. I have them finishing at 27 over all (8th 15s team), which seems about right.
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Post by bealzabubba on Nov 12, 2019 18:41:55 GMT -5
So, official standings have been released. They're weird, and I can't figure out what metric they used for positioning in each division. Particularly with the X-over pools in Gold D2 (but those teams will be happy).
here's the official top 10: 1 MB SURF 16-1 ASICS MJ6MBSSV1SC 2 OCVC 16 Red - mj6ocvbc1sc 3 Balboa Bay VBC 16 White - mj6balby2sc 4 Vegas United 16 Navy - mj6vegas1sc 5 Balboa Bay VBC 16 Blue - mj6balby1sc 6 MB SURF 15-1 ASICS MJ5MBSSV1SC 7 Coast 16 Chris - mj6coast1sc 8 SCVC 16 Quiksilver - mj6scvbc1sc 9 SMBC West 16 Adidas-MJ6SMBC1SC 10 WAVE 16 Cole - mj6wvevb1sc
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Post by begood on Nov 12, 2019 20:26:16 GMT -5
What about surprises from San Diego. Who performed well and who fell short. ETA: if you were asking about 17s/18s, it wasn't clear, and I have nothing to add there. For 16s:Seaside 16's falling to 4b was a huge surprise to me - there's some indication of player losses earlier in this thread that may explain it. They were Open as 15s. The two Wave teams finishing as high as they did was also a surprise, and may be related to Seaside's decline - both teams are a bit "new" if you will. I figured they'd be 2a/2b going in. Wave 16's looked very solid, and the 15-1s again seem like "giant killers" - able to beat teams you don't think they should. [related: The 15-1's coach, Nick Rubacky, continues to impress me. For two years in division with him, he's gotten more out of his teams than one would expect looking at them - super scrappy, never say die, all that, and a good guy to talk to when they are not playing.] Coast was as expected, I think. The 16s played solid, finishing as I expected (top 8) - they will challenge this year, but I'm not sure they can break into the top 4. Their 15's are good/scrappy, but seem to tire in S2 (against 16s) and lack a good block against bigger OH's. I have them finishing at 27 over all (8th 15s team), which seems about right. I heard there was some movement so its really interesting to see how the San Diego teams will rank out now. How about the 18's/17's. Is wave 17's a contender or did they hit a ceiling at 18 and under levels. How do the 18's look.
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Post by KPI on Nov 12, 2019 21:05:56 GMT -5
ETA: if you were asking about 17s/18s, it wasn't clear, and I have nothing to add there. For 16s:Seaside 16's falling to 4b was a huge surprise to me - there's some indication of player losses earlier in this thread that may explain it. They were Open as 15s. The two Wave teams finishing as high as they did was also a surprise, and may be related to Seaside's decline - both teams are a bit "new" if you will. I figured they'd be 2a/2b going in. Wave 16's looked very solid, and the 15-1s again seem like "giant killers" - able to beat teams you don't think they should. [related: The 15-1's coach, Nick Rubacky, continues to impress me. For two years in division with him, he's gotten more out of his teams than one would expect looking at them - super scrappy, never say die, all that, and a good guy to talk to when they are not playing.] Coast was as expected, I think. The 16s played solid, finishing as I expected (top 8) - they will challenge this year, but I'm not sure they can break into the top 4. Their 15's are good/scrappy, but seem to tire in S2 (against 16s) and lack a good block against bigger OH's. I have them finishing at 27 over all (8th 15s team), which seems about right. I heard there was some movement so its really interesting to see how the San Diego teams will rank out now. How about the 18's/17's. Is wave 17's a contender or did they hit a ceiling at 18 and under levels. How do the 18's look. Some of the San Diego teams: I got to watch the Wave 17s play Rockstar 18s. They had a chance to take a set but just fell a little short. They look to have gained another setter and didn’t lose anyone from the team last year. They’re tall, pretty athletic, deep bench and seem to have really picked it up this year. Looking at the results from this weekend they beat MB Surf 17, Balboa Bay 18 White and Mamba 18s. Coast 17s looks complete different from last years team that went to nationals. Looks like they setter from Epic 16s and an outside form that same team. Watched last set of Coast 18s vs Balboa Bay 18 Blue. They seemed to have made significant changes and are very solid and should do extremely well. Setter is committed to GCU, A middle to UCSB, another middle to UCI and an outside to UCLA so far.
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Post by begood on Nov 12, 2019 22:14:57 GMT -5
I heard there was some movement so its really interesting to see how the San Diego teams will rank out now. How about the 18's/17's. Is wave 17's a contender or did they hit a ceiling at 18 and under levels. How do the 18's look. Some of the San Diego teams: I got to watch the Wave 17s play Rockstar 18s. They had a chance to take a set but just fell a little short. They look to have gained another setter and didn’t lose anyone from the team last year. They’re tall, pretty athletic, deep bench and seem to have really picked it up this year. Looking at the results from this weekend they beat MB Surf 17, Balboa Bay 18 White and Mamba 18s. Coast 17s looks complete different from last years team that went to nationals. Looks like they setter from Epic 16s and an outside form that same team. Watched last set of Coast 18s vs Balboa Bay 18 Blue. They seemed to have made significant changes and are very solid and should do extremely well. Setter is committed to GCU, A middle to UCSB, another middle to UCI and an outside to UCLA so far. How good is Wave 18 Darrell. It looked like they were seeded 12th overall at the beginning of this seeding tournament, highest of all San Diego teams going into it. Seeing their finish at 32nd (under their own 17's and Coast's 17s), It was my impression they had good players. Was there some upset matches or injuries? I assume they're good but didn't get to watch. It looks like Epics 17's from last year split between both Wave 18's and Coast 18's. That team finished consistently well in 17's last year.
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Post by bealzabubba on Nov 12, 2019 22:34:20 GMT -5
Coast 17s looks complete different from last years team that went to nationals. Looks like they setter from Epic 16s and an outside form that same team. What happened to the AA setter that moved mid-season from Coast 17-2's to Coast 16-1's last year? He was fun to watch - super nasty topspin, to boot.
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