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Graduation losses make preview difficult

Thursday March 25, 2004

By Jim Jicha

Well, it’s that time of year again – volleyball season is upon us. Actually volleyball has two seasons because, unlike most other sports, the boys and girls play at different times of the year.

And if you are willing to travel to Michigan where girls volleyball is still a winter sport your season can extend from late August until the end of May, with a brief respite around Thanksgiving. At the state finals held in Kalamazoo last Saturday some Michigan folks were sad that their season was over, but I was comforted in knowing that six days hence I would be attending the pool play round of the St. Charles Classic.

Getting down to matters at hand, it is difficult to predict who will win this year because many perennially strong programs lost heavily to graduation, and while it’s likely these teams will reload, their success will depend on how quickly their new starters come along.

Adding uncertainty, there are three teams which have never made a state final who, based on comments from coaches and a review of last year’s results, bear close attention, Cincinnati LaSalle, Fairfield and Lakewood St. Edward.

LaSalle has been coming on strong with young players who are now seniors, and they look like the favorite to win it all. Last year the Lancers had trouble beating the powerhouse teams in their league, but in the regional they gave eventual State Champion St. Xavier fits before bowing 13-15, 15-11, 11-15.

They are big and athletic with very strong right sides in 6’5” Alex Welter and 6’3” Colin Flynn, both of whom can also set. The left handed Flynn, who started as a freshman, was point guard on LaSalle’s highly touted basketball team. 

Fairfield has two players who have been turning heads and who could lead them far if their lineup is deep enough. Jason Tobkin, a 6'6" middle hitter, made honorable mention in the tough Southwest Region last year, and is considered one of the top prospects in the state. Setting will be 6’4” Nate Staudt. Adding punch is Todd Ebbing, a 5'9" outside hitter, who made second team in Southwest. 

St. Edward lost twice to Stow last year in matches that went to the wire, and then suffered an untimely exit from the state tourney at the hands of Akron Hoban. The Eagles’ return three of their top starters in defensive specialist Andy Pompei, and setter/outside hitters Conor Martin and Jared Rice. It’s unfortunate that St. Edward lost an extremely promising sophomore hitter who moved out-of-state.

Andy Pompei, by the way, recently qualified for for the Boys Youth National Team tryouts to be held this summer in Lake Placid.

Looking around the regions, there are some changes from last year, mostly caused by realignment. For one thing, the region names are now South, West, North and East.

That’s seems simple enough.

But when you learn that Lakota West is in the West whereas Lakota East is in the South, and Westerville North is in the North while Westerville South, Pickerington North and Northland are all in the East – well, it gets a tad confusing.

Let’s start with the South. To say this region will be strong again is like saying it will snow in January in Alaska. Cincinnati is the volleyball center of Ohio and in addition to LaSalle and Fairfield this region includes perennial toughies like Elder, St. Xavier, Moeller and Roger Bacon.

Elder has several returnees from a team that went 3-4 versus LaSalle, Moeller and St. Xavier, beating each of them once. They figure to be strong as usual at blocking and defense with 6’6” John Bertke, 6’5” Mark Lucas, setter Rob Hyde, outside hitter Kurt Gindling and defensive specialist John Tiemeier. Elder’s JV team tied Moeller last year for the GCL title.

Defending champion St. Xavier has a player of the year candidate in 6’4” senior outside hitter Jason Motz, but will need a lot of new people to step into big roles, having graduated eight from last year. One who might do just that is setter Steve Kehoe, a top sophomore prospect. Andy Pollack should provide defense. Look for the Bombers to ready for a run come tournament time.

Kehoe is said to have court smarts like his sister Bryn, also a setter who led St. Ursula to the national title last fall, was selected Player of The Year by PrepVolleyball.com, and is headed for Stanford.

Moeller lost both middles and their setter but returns everyone else. Its not likely they will replace Player of the Year Nick Meyer, but the Crusaders should have excellent passing and defense so a run at the title is possible. Top returning hitters are Second Team All-State outsides Robbie Klein, and Mark Wimmers who was third on last year’s team in kills. Nick Engel is one of the top liberos in the state. And look for junior Chris Lovett to be one of the best small setters to come out of Ohio in a long time. 

Roger Bacon is a contender again, led by outside hitter Chris Reder who can pound and block from the both sides and setter/outside hitter Ryan Bedinghaus. 

Cincinnati Sycamore also looks to be in the running. They are led by Andy Reed who at 6'7" should dominate in the middle, and outside hitter Chris Grannen who may be their best all-around player.

Finally, Purcell Marian will try to make some noise this year led by all region Honorable Mention Max Holt.

Turning to the West, Centerville could be very strong again. The Elks, who lost the state’s top setter in Reed Chilton plus their top hitter, have several returnees so finding a replacement at setter should be their ticket to success.

Centerville's top three are 6’2” outside hitter Greg Caylor, 6’3” middle blocker Dan Cullis and 6’5” middle hitter Tyler Jolley. Caylor and Cullis were selected for the 2003 17's Club National Tournament All Tournament Team, and Caylor was MVP.

Fairmont returns all of their starters from last year's 11-13 team. A year of experience has helped and they are playing consistently, but only time will tell. 6'0" Marc Huelsman will handle the setting. Josh Brock, a 6'1" senior outside, and Kyle Richey, a 6'4" middle, have outstanding potential.

And Middletown could be a sleeper with Steven Wright, an extraordinary setter/outside hitter who should merit all-state consideration, along with Ricky Carpenter.

Chaminade-Julienne might also contend, with Sean O’Neill back for his final year. The Eagles are looking for a setter, and may have one in outside hitter Alex Treadway.

Fairborn will be led by one of the best setters in the area in 6’0” Dan Holloway.

Vandalia Butler is strong outside with sophomore 5'11" Andy Weddle and 6'2" senior Matt Koons, who was Honorable Mention All-State. Weddle also sets.

Beavercreek will rebuild around two returning starters, 6’6” middle blocker Eric Buschur and outside hitter Sean Rice. Senior David Smith and newcomer Greg Clark will have to bring a lot of offense for them to be competitive.

Archbishop Alter has a returning Honorable Mention from the region, senior Brian Jasper. So does Tri-Village with sophomore Dan Foreman.

In the East several teams will be in the running and there is no clear favorite. This group may not shake itself out until state tourney time.

The early word was that Kilbourne and Darby might be the strongest two this year. But in a scrimmage between Kilbourne, Gahanna, Westerville South and Delaware, all of whom have several experienced players, the teams all split two game matches.

Westerville South has the most players returning, including middle hitter Josh Chiero, setter Jess Chiero, outside hitter Dustin Powers who has a killer serve, and setter/outside hitters David Brodine and Rob Woudneh. South should have good passing, but they lack height; none of the above players was listed over 6’1” last year.

With all-OCC returnees Matt LeVan and Brian Johnson, Dublin Coffman may return to glory. Dublin Scioto will have a tougher time. Setter Willie Hundley is back, but their stellar attack duet has graduated.

The Hilliards, Darby and Davidson, lost to matriculation but are still touted as contenders. The Panthers will be led by 6'5" middle blocker Ben Willford, along with outside hitter Jason Martin. Davidson will counter with 6’0” outside/middle Michael Clifford, who was honorable mention All-State last year.

Worthington Kilbourne made the Final Eight last year and could do so again with outsides Alex Kamenetsky and Chris Warner, and 6’3” middle blocker Nick Baehr.

Gahanna will be led by right sides Landon Bentz and Kyle Murray.

Pickerington Central, which is the original Pickerington left over from the split that created Pickerington North, is also touted as a contender. They will be led by setter Brandon McDonough, an excellent play caller, and Jason Cipley, a thin but talented 6’2” middle hitter who as a sophomore last year was stopping seniors.

Unfortunately for Central, junior Eric Cardinas wound up on North after the split. Cardinas is considered one of the most talented outside hitters in what was the Central District, but his team will be very young.

St. Charles, led by outside hitter Joe Gruber, should be tough again. And you always have to respect Bishop Watterson who last year started off slow and then snuck up on some folks. Joey Albright is back for the Eagles.

Delaware could be a darkhorse contender this season with five seniors who were on a JV team in 2002 that went 21-1. The Pacers only won five matches last year but had lots of three game and close two game matches. They will be led by middle hitter Jason Berwanger who played club last year with Cap City, and outside hitter Billy Rupe, also with Cap City. Other players of note are outside Pete Rose, middle Bradley Shaw and setter Bob Matthews.

Turning to the North, where most of the teams hail from the old Northeast region, we have already discussed St. Edward. Their obvious challenger is Stow, with All-State 6’7” middle hitter Ben Spurlock and setter Justin Hengle.

But several teams have potential. Kent Roosevelt has two solid seniors in setter Robbie Hodge and outside hitter Ben Childers, plus a promising sophomore prospect in outside hitter Jacob Vanags.

Akron Hoban, Walsh Jesuit and Uniontown Lake all have good senior outside hitters in Steve Wise, Kevin Payne and Kyle Glasgow, respectively.

And then there is Mt. Vernon from the old Central Region with four solid seniors in setter/outside hitter Nick Orsborn, Trent Kochis, Allen Culbertson and Wade Laughery.

Things may clarify somewhat after the St. Charles tournament this weekend. At least we’ll have some basis for comparing the contenders.

Many top teams from the state will be at Kilbourne’s tournament in mid-April. The following week Centerville will hold its Elite Eight. By then hopefully we’ll know something.

If not, we’ll just have more fun figuring it all out this May St. John’s Arena.