Yup, two starters are injured.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a little surprised Metro 15 didn’t go far at NEQ, especially after beating Paramount 15 at Sunshine and Regional recently. Do they have injured girls on the team?

I was recently at the gym where Paramount practice and they look like they are training hard and the coaches look like they know what they are doing. I think their training is probably the best in the region.

Is this supposed to be some vailed advertisement for Paramount?

I’m a little surprised Metro 15 didn’t go far at NEQ, especially after beating Paramount 15 at Sunshine and Regional recently. Do they have injured girls on the team?

I was recently at the gym where Paramount practice and they look like they are training hard and the coaches look like they know what they are doing. I think their training is probably the best in the region.

Is Paramount VBC 14 Cozad a 2nd/“B” team? They earned a bid to GJNC. Hard to tell which Paramount teams are which by their names. Metro makes it easy because Travel is their top team, all their other teams are called something else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does Metro 16 T not have an open bid yet? They have five players on their team who are 6’3 or taller, and 9 total who are 6’0 or taller.

Metro 15 T doesn't have an open bid either. Is 18's the only Metro team that qualified for open?

CHRVA region teams with open bids so far:

Metro 14 Travel
Metro 18 Travel
Paramount 15 Nick

Anonymous wrote:How does Metro 16 T not have an open bid yet? They have five players on their team who are 6’3 or taller, and 9 total who are 6’0 or taller.

Metro 15 T doesn't have an open bid either. Is 18's the only Metro team that qualified for open?

18 Nationals starts today in Baltimore. CHRVA region has 8 teams competing in different divisions.

Open:
Metro 18 Travel

National:
Columbia 18 Black
MDJRS 18 Elite

American:
VA Elite 18’s
VA Juniors 18 Elite
Renaissance 18 Black DC

Freedom:
American 18
MOJO Elite 18 Black

Agree with the above note about that they are just kids, they have bad days. As for the height issue - you can have all the height you want, but if your back line can't field a serve or get it to the setter to allow the hitter to have a good angle to hit, the height is wasted. Back line is just as important as the front line.

Not a lot of sports fans here weighing in on the performance of 10th graders (and some 9th). Even at the professional level (in every sport) the strongest team “on paper” doesn’t always win. And while Metro 16 Travel is a tall team and the expectation is they should earn an open bid, I don’t think they have ever been considered a favorite to win an open national championship.

And while coaching might be one factor, they’re not robots. They have bad days, feel pressure, and don’t always live up to expectations, just like every kid.

Excuses? I have no affiliation with Metro, my kid plays for a lower level club. I don’t even like Metro but I have no problem giving them credit.

Anonymous wrote:Because they have to go through teams from like Mintonette (OH), Madfrog (NT), A5 (SO), Dallas Skyline (NT). Check out players on these teams. Metro 16 did what they needed to do at CHRVA regionals to get the National bid now they have to go through teams from volleyball strong regions to earn an open bid. They have another opportunity this weekend but I see TAV, Dallas Skyline, Mintonette, etc are also there.

That Metro team has more size and athleticism than a lot of D1 universities… I love the excuses that are made.

Anonymous wrote:Because they have to go through teams from like Mintonette (OH), Madfrog (NT), A5 (SO), Dallas Skyline (NT). Check out players on these teams. Metro 16 did what they needed to do at CHRVA regionals to get the National bid now they have to go through teams from volleyball strong regions to earn an open bid. They have another opportunity this weekend but I see TAV, Dallas Skyline, Mintonette, etc are also there.

That’s not an excuse. Metro 14 T and Paramour by VBC 15 Nick both got their Open Bids, while both teams always have received a lower/poorer seeding than Metro 16 T. I guess having 4 players 6’3” or taller isn’t enough? Do they need 5 or 6? Paramount VBC’s 15s only have one player 6’2” or taller, and from what I’ve seen at tournaments they have an outside hitter who is 5’5 and a middle blocker who is 5’5. Something tells me the training on 16 Travel isn’t quite up to par compared to Metro 14 T and Paramount

Because they have to go through teams from like Mintonette (OH), Madfrog (NT), A5 (SO), Dallas Skyline (NT). Check out players on these teams. Metro 16 did what they needed to do at CHRVA regionals to get the National bid now they have to go through teams from volleyball strong regions to earn an open bid. They have another opportunity this weekend but I see TAV, Dallas Skyline, Mintonette, etc are also there.

How does Metro 16 T not have an open bid yet? They have five players on their team who are 6’3 or taller, and 9 total who are 6’0 or taller.

I posted a few pages back that:

The official USAV document (https://usavolleyball.org/wp-content/uploads/...ns-All-Divisions.pdf) lists CHRVA as having these allocated bids:

U11: 1x National
U12 & U13: 1x National, 1x American
U14 - U18: 1x National, 1x American, 2x Freedom
...

If anything, these bids may be easier to get because the competition is limited to just the CHRVA region. I think we all accept that CHRVA as a whole is not one of the strongest regions on a national scale. Nonetheless, CHVRA could send at least 8 teams to compete in the National division, 7 teams to the American division, and 10 teams to the Freedom division at the USAV championships at the end of the season.

As noted, bids to other championship divisions like Open, USA, and Liberty are typically earned at national qualifier events. I think there are 40 USAV regions and the Open division at GNJC ranges from 24 to 36 teams for age groups younger than the 18s (they have 48 teams). By default, there will be some regions at the non-18s age groups that will NOT be represented in the Open division. Then, we have regions with multiple teams earning Open bids which will increase the number of regions that have zero teams making it to Open.

For this year ... and with one 3-bid qualifier remaining, the 15s Open division already has five teams from NT, four from SC, and three each from AZ and GP, and two each from GW and HA. More than half of the entire 36-team Open field is covered by just six (out of 40) regions! Teams in the remaining 34 regions will only get 17 Open bids at most, pending the Far Western qualifier results. Getting an Open bid is hard, and not earning one should not be considered a sign of a team or club underachieving.