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Post by wonkaman on Jul 25, 2024 18:28:34 GMT -5
Five Metro pins from the class of 2026
Nadiya Johnson - Baylor
Caydence Doolan - Marquette
Emma Gardner - Long Beach State
Bryah Breaux - Kentucky
Morgan Williams - Tennessee
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Post by hgavball on Jul 25, 2024 20:20:00 GMT -5
Five Metro pins from the class of 2026 Nadiya Johnson - Baylor Caydence Doolan - Marquette Emma Gardner - Long Beach State Bryah Breaux - Kentucky Morgan Williams - Tennessee And yet this very talented team (arguably the most talented team in the country from a size and athleticism standpoint) barely qualified in Open and only won two games at GJNC (finishing 2nd to last). I once had a coach remark to me that Metro is the worst training gym in the country for the amount of talent they have... |
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ezevb
Sophomore
Posts: 156
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Post by ezevb on Jul 25, 2024 21:57:35 GMT -5
Five Metro pins from the class of 2026 Nadiya Johnson - Baylor Caydence Doolan - Marquette Emma Gardner - Long Beach State Bryah Breaux - Kentucky Morgan Williams - Tennessee And yet this very talented team (arguably the most talented team in the country from a size and athleticism standpoint) barely qualified in Open and only won two games at GJNC (finishing 2nd to last). I once had a coach remark to me that Metro is the worst training gym in the country for the amount of talent they have... found the burner account of Paramount’s club director! |
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Post by wonkaman on Jul 26, 2024 9:09:52 GMT -5
Just goes to show you that colleges are not always results oriented. It will be interesting to see what kind of college careers they have. Hannah Sherman, a quality Metro recruit for Louisville four years back may finally get to start in her fourth year at Louisville (one red shirt year). Players like Jenaisya Moore and Morghan Fingall have had pretty good careers at Ohio State and Tennesse. Those are just three players I can name off the top of my head. And Rhamat Alhassan had an illustrious career with Florida and the U.S. national team. She had minimal experience as a volleyball player starting as a sophomore in high school, but you don't teach 6'5".
And of course Emerson Sellman at Ohio State this coming season.
Granted, their facilities may not be the best but the talent exists. Paramount is also gaining in respect, playing in the triple Crown last year. Talent wise they are giving Metro some challenges. Makes for a more competitive region. Five clubs at the 15 level were ranked in the top 100 by AES (Metro, Paramount, Blue Ridge, Virginia Jrs and MVSA). Don't recall that ever happening.
Keep an eye on 2027 Katherine "Coco" Lewis. She is a game changer that currently plays for Virginia Juniors. Metro and Paramount would love to have her on their rosters.
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Post by jcvball22 on Jul 26, 2024 9:13:57 GMT -5
And yet this very talented team (arguably the most talented team in the country from a size and athleticism standpoint) barely qualified in Open and only won two games at GJNC (finishing 2nd to last). I once had a coach remark to me that Metro is the worst training gym in the country for the amount of talent they have... found the burner account of Paramount’s club director! To be fair, this is not a Paramount-only opinion. Metro always has a ton of talent and looks insanely impressive in warm ups. Hitting lines are quite a show. But the minute they have to pass a ball, it all falls apart. Some of it is they only play against tough passing and serving teams at Qualifiers; there is not a ton of Open-quality first contact going on in that region. |
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Post by seceason on Jul 26, 2024 9:48:55 GMT -5
found the burner account of Paramount’s club director! To be fair, this is not a Paramount-only opinion. Metro always has a ton of talent and looks insanely impressive in warm ups. Hitting lines are quite a show. But the minute they have to pass a ball, it all falls apart. Some of it is they only play against tough passing and serving teams at Qualifiers; there is not a ton of Open-quality first contact going on in that region. I'd also argue that NC Academy team belongs in this same conversation. A setter to Texas, an Opp to Georgia, two big and very serviceable MB's and a group of lefts that bounces every warmup ball over the chairs ...... and they tie for last at USAV. Noting that they had some close matches not go their way and some unfavorable tie breaks. But still, that 'talent' should have them in Bronze at least. |
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Post by jcvball22 on Jul 26, 2024 13:31:07 GMT -5
To be fair, this is not a Paramount-only opinion. Metro always has a ton of talent and looks insanely impressive in warm ups. Hitting lines are quite a show. But the minute they have to pass a ball, it all falls apart. Some of it is they only play against tough passing and serving teams at Qualifiers; there is not a ton of Open-quality first contact going on in that region. I'd also argue that NC Academy team belongs in this same conversation. A setter to Texas, an Opp to Georgia, two big and very serviceable MB's and a group of lefts that bounces every warmup ball over the chairs ...... and they tie for last at USAV. Noting that they had some close matches not go their way and some unfavorable tie breaks. But still, that 'talent' should have them in Bronze at least. The entire MidAtlantic region is still behind significantly on first contact. But it has certainly gotten better as the sport has grown. However, there is still a LONG way to go in many aspects. |
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Post by vbtalk on Jul 26, 2024 14:24:23 GMT -5
To be fair, this is not a Paramount-only opinion. Metro always has a ton of talent and looks insanely impressive in warm ups. Hitting lines are quite a show. But the minute they have to pass a ball, it all falls apart. Some of it is they only play against tough passing and serving teams at Qualifiers; there is not a ton of Open-quality first contact going on in that region. I'd also argue that NC Academy team belongs in this same conversation. A setter to Texas, an Opp to Georgia, two big and very serviceable MB's and a group of lefts that bounces every warmup ball over the chairs ...... and they tie for last at USAV. Noting that they had some close matches not go their way and some unfavorable tie breaks. But still, that 'talent' should have them in Bronze at least. Hell yeah let’s all just put some clubs on blast! A5 is the best club in the country and still underachieves. 6th largest metro area in the country, they are the only club in town, and they not only don’t win every age group every year, they don’t even put 2 teams per age group in Open? Dallas has a similar size metro area and has 5-6 nationally competitive teams in each age group. Kansas City has a third of the people as Atlanta and puts out 3x as many Open teams per age group. Step up your game, A5! Who’s next? |
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Post by VBallLife on Jul 26, 2024 15:33:37 GMT -5
I'd also argue that NC Academy team belongs in this same conversation. A setter to Texas, an Opp to Georgia, two big and very serviceable MB's and a group of lefts that bounces every warmup ball over the chairs ...... and they tie for last at USAV. Noting that they had some close matches not go their way and some unfavorable tie breaks. But still, that 'talent' should have them in Bronze at least. Hell yeah let’s all just put some clubs on blast! A5 is the best club in the country and still underachieves. 6th largest metro area in the country, they are the only club in town, and they not only don’t win every age group every year, they don’t even put 2 teams in Open? Dallas has a similar size metro area and has 5-6 nationally competitive teams. Kansas City has a third of the people as Atlanta and puts out 3x as many Open teams. Step up your game, A5! Who’s next? That may be this last season. A5 always have teams in open in all age groups. Their best player at the 17’s left and that hurt them this last season. |
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Post by exit237a on Jul 26, 2024 15:56:56 GMT -5
Thought it would be cool to revisit our list of top players in the class of 2026 with an update as to who has committed and where. The table is pulled from the second post of this thread. And updating it was super easy because of huskervolleyfan14 's great work maintaining their invaluable 2026 NCAA D1 Indoor Commits thread! Master list of players mentioned in this thread
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Post by vbtalk on Jul 26, 2024 15:59:26 GMT -5
Hell yeah let’s all just put some clubs on blast! A5 is the best club in the country and still underachieves. 6th largest metro area in the country, they are the only club in town, and they not only don’t win every age group every year, they don’t even put 2 teams in Open? Dallas has a similar size metro area and has 5-6 nationally competitive teams. Kansas City has a third of the people as Atlanta and puts out 3x as many Open teams. Step up your game, A5! Who’s next? That may be this last season. A5 always have teams in open in all age groups. Their best player at the 17’s left and that hurt them this last season. I was mostly being sarcastic, but I meant per age group. I will say what Dallas does is pretty remarkable with that many nationally ranked clubs in one metro area. A5 really probably should have at least a couple age groups with more than 1 Open team. |
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Post by hookem1 on Jul 26, 2024 16:00:32 GMT -5
Ella Grimes is committed to Texas for beach volleyball!
Also although Clarke played with a team of 2026s, she is a 2025 I believe, committed to Princeton in their 2029 class.
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ezevb
Sophomore
Posts: 156
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Post by ezevb on Jul 26, 2024 16:02:57 GMT -5
Ella Grimes is committed to Texas for beach volleyball! Also although Clarke played with a team of 2026s, she is a 2025 I believe, committed to Princeton in their 2029 class. Correct about Grimes being committed to Texas for beach. She’s also done with indoor and won’t be playing club going forward. |
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Post by exit237a on Jul 26, 2024 16:06:42 GMT -5
Ella Grimes is committed to Texas for beach volleyball! Also although Clarke played with a team of 2026s, she is a 2025 I believe, committed to Princeton in their 2029 class.
Thanks for the proofread, hookem!
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Post by hookem1 on Jul 26, 2024 16:11:19 GMT -5
IMO Hickman and the Legacy middles are the top players left. And typically the longer they stay uncommitted the more likely it is they’re looking at Stanford. Although I don’t know if they would take two middles since they just took two last class, but I think either Nwabueze or Andrews would be a step up.
Other really good players left I’m looking at are Udoye (Austin Skyline), Northern (Elevation), Jackson (Madfrog/Skyline), and Nguyen (Sudden Impact).
Also Britni Silver is a talented prospect, I think she lead NC HS Volleyball in kills, but she plays basketball too so we’ll see how that works out.
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