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Division I Region 1 – Hudson Austintown-Fitch is the favorite to win the Stow District. The Falcons lost four matches early when Maggie Case was injured. With Case back they have been on a roll, beating Boardman twice and Stow once. They lost early to Canton McKinley and Massillon Perry but avenged those losses. Even without Case they looked strong defensively against Toledo St. Ursula. Solon should win their district, but Brecksville could be a problem. The Comets beat #4 seed Nordonia twice, and also have wins over Hudson and Chaminade-Julienne. Brecksville and Solon lost to Elyria by similar scores. Solon's other losses include Magnificat, Mentor and Vandalia-Butler. Mentor, led by 6'6" Megan Skouby, is a heavy favorite to win the Euclid District. The Cardinals can be stopped as Kenston proved last week at Stow, but I don't see anyone in the district stopping them. In the Barberton District, Canton McKinley is a slight favorite, with Massillon Perry, North Canton Hoover and Wooster close behind. McKinley beat Perry this tear, and split with Hoover. Hoover and Perry also split with each other. Possible Regional Pairings: Austintown-Fitch vs. Solon Mentor vs. Canton McKinley
Region 2 – Norwalk This regional includes two teams apiece from the Cleveland area and the Northwest District. Magnificat is the favorite to win the North Royalton District. The Blue Streak’s chief competition is likely to be the winner of the #2 seed North Royalton and #3 seed Parma Normandy, in the District final. Magnificat has played a strong schedule and lost to teams like Ursuline, Sylvania Northview, Notre Dame Academy (Ky.), Mentor and Walsh Jesuit. They beat Mother of Mercy, Louisville Holy Cross, St. Henry (Ky.), Amherst Steele and Mansfield Madison. Amherst Steele gets a slight nod over Elyria in the Grafton District. Amherst beat Fairview twice, a team Elyria lost to. Amherst also beat Norwalk, Norwalk St. Paul and Walsh Jesuit. However, Elyria beat Mentor, Solon and Brecksville, and they have won eleven straight, so I won't be surprised if the Pioneers make another trip to the regional. Toledo St. Ursula is a heavy favorite in the Perrysburg District. The Arrows have already beaten their chief competition, Northview and Toledo Central Catholic. They are nationally ranked, second in the state and beat Cincinnati Ursuline. Their only loss is to Cincinnati St. Ursula. The Findlay District is a tossup. Findlay is 21-1 and they are at home until the final which is at nearby Liberty Benton. Their only loss is to Bowling Green at BG and they avenged that loss last weekend. Findlay is likely to face Perrysburg in the semifinal and the winner of BG-Mansfield Madison in the final. I'm picking Mansfield Madison to win the district, in part because of their six losses: Orrville twice; West Holmes; St. Henry; Toledo St. Ursula; and Magnificat. Five of those losses are to teams ranked first or second in the state in their division, and some were in three games. Possible Regional Pairings: Magnificat vs. Amherst Steele Toledo St. Ursula vs. Mansfield Madison
Region 3 – Hilliard Davidson On the surface the top seeds in the districts that feed Hilliard Davidson look very similar. That's if all you look at is won-lost records. Watterson is 20-2, Ursuline and Westerville South 19-3 and Dublin Coffman 18-4. But look deeper and you find that records can be deceiving. Watterson is certainly the strongest team from Central District, based on records and results. They have beaten both Hilliards, Darby and Davidson, and they have notched two wins over DeSales. In the last weekend of the season the Eagles beat Westerville South and Big Walnut, then handed Centerburg their only loss of the regular season. It is interesting that they are only seeded #3 in Central. They should win the Sunbury #1 District. Coffman is seeded #1 in Central. However, they lost to Centerburg, Davidson and Newark (twice), and struggled with some other teams Watterson beat. I'll take them to win the Sunbury #2 District, but they will probably have to beat Davidson to do it. Westerville North looks like the strongest team in the Sunbury #3 District, but South is more likely to win. That's because North will probably have to beat Newark, Lancaster and South to win, while South has to get past Darby and North. It’s harder to win three tough matches than two. North has beaten Newark twice, who beat Coffman twice. But Coffman beat North twice, so those results don't tell us much. South beat Newark and split with Davidson. They were hammered by Centerburg and lost to Watterson. A North - South final would be interesting because these neighboring schools did not meet in the regular season. And that brings us to Ursuline, and here is where records are really deceiving. The Lions have lost twice to Cincinnati St. Ursula, who is ranked ranked number one in the nation. They also lost to nationally ranked Toledo St. Ursula 13-15, 15-13, 13-15. And the Lions are nationally ranked themselves. As for how they compare to Central District teams, Ursuline beat Westerville North 15-6, 15-1. The Lions also beat McAuley and Mt. Notre Dame twice each, decisively, and those teams beat Watterson. Ursuline’s chief threats in the Dayton #5 District will be a young Walnut Hills squad, Mason and Team Z hitter Nicole Britenriker, and McAuley. Possible Regional Pairings Watterson vs. Cincinnati Ursuline Dublin Coffman vs. Westerville North
Region 4 – Vandalia Like we said last year "this regional will be packed with powerful teams". This year Cincinnati St. Ursula joins the field. The Bulldogs are heavy favorites to win the Dayton#2 District. They will probably face either Fairmont or Centerville in the District Final. The Dayton #4 District Championship should come down to Chaminade-Julienne and Vandalia-Butler. C-J will need to get past Beavercreek first and the winner of Dayton Carroll/Springboro in the Semifinal. A C-J/Springboro match would pit Stephanie Ross against Brandie Molnar. Cincinnati Mt. Notre Dame is the favorite in Dayton #1 District, if Danielle Meyer is healthy. Without Meyer they have lost several GGCL matches, plus to Fairview in Stow’s Invitational. If Meyer cannot play, Lakota West or Piqua could win the district. Dayton #3 is the hardest to pick with Mother of Mercy, Oak Hills and Seton all about equal. Mercy beat Oak Hills who beat Seton. But Seton split with Mercy, and beat Walnut Hills who beat Oak Hills. I’ll go with Mercy in a squeaker, but I got burned last year going against Seton. Possible Regional Pairings: Cincinnati St. Ursula vs. Chaminade-Julienne Mt. Notre Dame vs. Mother of Mercy
Division I State Final Four Possibilities Austintown-Fitch (Region 1) Toledo St. Ursula (Region 2) Cincinnati Ursuline (Region 3) Cincinnati St. Ursula (Region 4)
Division II Region 5 – Stow-Munroe Falls We can expect to see Walsh Jesuit versus Beaumont and Trinity versus Kenston in the Beachwood District semifinal matches. Kenston won Beaumont’s Invitational, defeating both Trinity and Beaumont in two. Kenston then won the Stow Invitational, beating Mentor and Fairview in the process. Walsh Jesuit beat Beaumont earlier in three. They also beat Magnificat and played NDCL and Lake Catholic tough in losing efforts. I’ll go with Walsh over Kenston in what could be a highly contested and entertaining final. The Youngstown District is hard to pick this year. Top seeded Salem split three game matches with third seeded Poland Seminary and lost in three to #2 Hubbard. Hubbard gets my vote based based on their past tournament experience. Lake Catholic is a slight favorite at Jefferson. The Cougars should meet Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin in the final and those two have split in three game matches. The Cougars have one problem, however, because they will probably meet 21-1 Cortland Lakeview in the semifinal. Lakeview was 3-0 versus Hubbard and Poland Seminary, but was trounced by Austintown-Fitch. Its too bad these three teams are all in the same district because they could probably all win districts if they were separated. Fairview gets the nod at Olmsted Falls, based on their strong showing at Stow where they knocked off Mt. Notre Dame. Although MND hitter Danielle Meyer was injured, the win was still impressive.
Possible Regional Pairings: Walsh Jesuit vs. Hubbard Lake Catholic vs. Fairview
Region 6 - Wooster Mogadore Field looks like the strongest team in the Tallmadge District. They are the only team to beat Newark Catholic this season. Their losses are to Hubbard and Windham. St. Vincent-St. Mary does not have as big a win as Field, but like Field they have lost to strong teams, specifically Dalton, Regina and Walsh Jesuit. However, SVSM struggled to beat Highland, a team Tallmadge trounced twice. So with all that said, I'm going out on a limb and picking host Tallmadge to win their district. Carrollton is the #1 seed at West Lafayette 1 District. They split with Canal Fulton Northwest and Louisville, and lost big to Tuscarawas Valley. I’m taking them although Maysville looks about equal in strength. The Canton District is a tossup between Louisville and Canal Fulton Northwest, who in addition to splitting matches with the favorites at West Lafayette 1, also split with each other. Finally, we get to West Lafayette 2, and I don’t have to strain about picking West Holmes. Not that someone else can’t win, but the Knights are clear favorites. They played eight matches against state-ranked teams, and handed Orrville, Tuscarawas Valley and Kidron their only losses. I won’t argue with those credentials.
Possible Regional Pairings: Tallmadge vs. Carrollton Canal Fulton Northwest vs. West Holmes
Region 7 – Ontario Mark your calendars for 2:00 PM October 25 at Hilliard Davidson High School. If all goes as expected Canal Winchester will take on St. Francis DeSales for the District Championship. These teams feature marquee players in Alisha Dials (Canal) and Talisa Kellogg (DeSales). The teams have similar results against common opponents, and I rate a match between them a tossup, with DeSales getting the nod based on overall schedule strength. In the Plymouth District Bellevue gets the nod based on winning their league. But Galion, Norwalk and Tiffin Columbian all are capable of beating them. Clyde is a darkhorse, and I don’t know anything about Eastwood this year. If you go to see the Hilliard 1 final, you might want to stay for the #2 District Final at 4:00PM. That could feature a rematch between Big Walnut and Granville, won last year by Big Walnut 15-12, 15-17, 15-10. Granville has a better record, but Big Walnut has played a stronger schedule. This is another virtual tossup. And, finally we get to the Findlay District, where any number of strong teams can win. I’m going to go with Celina. Even the Sectional finals should feature some interesting match ups. Possibilities are St. Marys-Ottawa Glandorf, Elida-Celina, Fostoria-Maumee and Defiance-Holland Springfield.
Possible Regional Pairings DeSales vs. Bellevue Big Walnut vs. Celina
Region 8 – Wilmington I really have no idea who to go with in the Richmond Dale District. Unioto nipped Athens in three at Unioto, and they also beat Westfall once, so they get the nod. The Dayton #2 District is considerably easier. The first team listed in the bracket is Kettering Archbishop Alter, and since I consider them the best team in Division II, I’ll stop right there. Alter was fifth at the Nike Challenge and they beat Roger Bacon twice, plus a host of other strong teams. In the Dayton #3 District, Roger Bacon is the favorite, although it would be nice to see Benjamin Logan break into the limelight. The Raiders need to get past their tough rival Indian Lake, whom they beat 15-6, 20-18 during the regular season, before they thinking about Roger Bacon. The Spartans may be the second best Division II team in the state. They clobbered Chaminade-Julienne, and beat Seton, McAuley and Oak Hills. The Spartans almost beat Mt. Notre Dame (with Danielle Meyer) and gave Alter all they wanted in both of their league matches. McNicholas looks like the favorite in Dayton #1. They beat Eaton in three, and beat Badin twice. Badin beat third seeded Norwood.
Possible Regional Pairings: Chillicothe Unioto vs. Kettering Archbishop Alter St. Bernard Roger Bacon vs. Cincinnati McNicholas
Division II State Final Four Possibilities Lake Catholic (Region 5) West Holmes (Region 6) Celina (Region 7) Kettering Archbishop Alter (Region 8)
Division III Region 9 – Barberton Possible Regional Pairings: Columbiana Crestview vs. Girard Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph vs. Orrville
Region 10 – Ontario Possible Regional Pairings: Huron vs. Archbold Lutheran West vs. Genoa
Region 11 – Byesville Meadowbrook Possible Regional Pairings: Tuscarawas Valley vs. Newark Catholic Williamsport Westfall vs. Nelsonville-York
Region 12 – Wilmington Possible Regional Pairings: Bishop Fenwick vs. Versailles Tri-County North vs. Marion Pleasant
Division III State Final Four Possibilities Orrville (Region 9) Huron (Region 10) Newark Catholic (Region 11) Marion Pleasant (Region 12)
Region 13 – Hudson Possible Regional Pairings: Windham vs. Norwalk St. Paul Kidron Central Christian vs. Ashtabula Sts. John & Paul
Region 14 – Elida Possible Regional Pairings: Liberty Center vs. Riverdale Ottoville vs. Old Fort
Region 15 – Lancaster Possible Regional Pairings Wellsville vs. Centerburg Frankfort Adena vs. Beaver Eastern
Region 16 – Vandalia-Butler Possible Regional Pairings: Houston vs. Sidney Lehman St. Henry vs. Russia
Division IV State Final Four Possibilities Kidron Central Christian (Region 13) Old Fort (Region 14) Centerburg (Region 15) St. Henry (Region 16)
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