Post by Admin on Jun 11, 2024 17:22:40 GMT -8
I only spent the morning of the first day at CSC watching action, but I got around and saw about 8 or 10 local teams play. Obviously, the NCVC 18-1 Blue team did very well. They have gone through a bit of a transformation since the fall season. Many of the players are back, but there is a significant influx of talent that made them much better. I'll describe what I saw of them a little more as I summarize the action from the NorCal Invitational.
Rage 18 Carl and Core 18 Elite were a couple of the other 17/18 age group teams that are solid. Those teams are essentially the same as they were last fall. For Rage, the main players are outside hitter Frankie Gates and middle hitter Owen Altadonna. Those are the players Coach Carl Wheeler can count on to produce. What contributions they get from players like outside hitter George Ruiz, middle hitter Aidan Patton, and opposite hitter Gage Wimberley are essential to the team's success. Also they need strong performances from setters Primo Estandarte and Kinilo Sumait. Most important for this team is how well they receive serve and can get into system. As for Prima Glorioso's Core team, their strength is with pin attackers Riley Petesch and Dehryn Brown. Those two are as strong a combo of hitters as anyone in this area has. It is great to see Petesch back on the court after having been ineligible for the high school season. It's also great for Coach Glorioso's team to have setter Luke Fredekind back from Washington. He is a solid distributor for this team. This team is also very good in the middle with Mattias Mendis and Conrad Monson.
The team that really caught my attention in the 17/18 age group is another Core team - Core 17 Sac Elite. The NCVC 17-1 Blue team that competed in the fall is no more, and the players from that team have spread out over other teams. A couple of them moved up to the NCVC 18-1 team, part of that influx of talent I alluded to above. But a good chunk of that NCVC 17s team now resides on the Core 17 Sac Elite squad. Those players include some of the best players at their position in the Section, like outside hitter Jack Degraff, setter Jack Reynolds, libero Bryan Lie, and middle hitters Travis Vandeluyster and Kellen Ashford. Ashford wasn't at the tournament, but will be back for the national championship tournaments, which Coach Zeeshan Sevilla-Ahmad said his team would play in both the AAU nationals and the USAV Boy's Junior National Championship. One carryover player from the fall on this team is opposite hitter Nathaniel Wroten, who is a supreme talent. Having these other great players around him will just make him better. All in all, I can see this team doing well, particularly at BJNC.
Another team in the 17/18 division caught my eye for a different reason. That was the NCVC 16-1 Blue team, moving up to compete against the older teams. And they showed their strength by tying for 3rd place in amongst all these tough 17s and 18s teams. The NCVC 16s got better by picking up setter/opposite hitter Dylan Taylor from the former NCVC 17s team. Taylor seems to be growing by the day and has become a dangerous attacker in addition to being a really solid setter. Taylor teams up with the other setter/opposite on the team, Luca McGlynn, to form a formidable hitting/setting duo. They make up one of those rare 6-2 situations where both setters also stay in to hit in the front row. I will say that's not exactly what they did at this tournament, though. Due to injuries to his middles, Coach Joel Miller devised a 4-2 scheme where Taylor and McGlynn played the "middle" positions and both actually set while in the front row. It lead to a lot of "on two" attacks by both of them. After a second place finish in the 16s age group at the recent NorCal Cup, this team could also be primed for some success in the national championships.
In the 16s division, the standout team was Rage 16 Toa, who were the eventual champion of the age group. It would have been fun to see the Rage team face the NCVC 16s, as Coach Toa Fa'ali'i's team seems to be as strong as the NCVC team. The strength of this team is another pair of standout outside hitters, Gabriel Fa'ali'i and Mason Tameling. As sophomores in high school this year, the two were already among some of the best outside attackers in the Section. The team is rounded out by other explosive attackers like middle hitter Bradley Kaji and opposite hitter Alex Alvarellos. The team also has two very good setters, Andre Suico and Luke Dorn. Coach Fa'ali'i was not running a 6-2 when I watched them, but Dorn has stepped up in such a way that it's likely the coach will have to get him more playing time. Dorn is also an accomplished attacker, having played on the outside for Big Valley Christian during the high school season, so having him play all six rotations could be a possibility. Last but not least on this team is libero Dylan Neves, who was among the very best liberos I saw during the entire high school season, despite having been just a sophomore. I'll be very interested to see how this team does this week at the SoCal Cup event.
Other 16s team with some strong players include Core 16 Sac Elite, lead by outside hitter Jake Shipley, setter Aidan Wong, and middles Ian Iyakaremye and Gavin Hetrick (all Laguna Creek players, by the way). Another team is the Dynamix 16 Black, made up entirely by Jesuit underclassmen. Standouts include a couple players who were on Jesuit's varsity team this year, Naryan Banarjee and Julian Santiago. Also, outside hitter Nicholas Hill-Gaston made an impression on me in the short time I watched them play.
Finally, a 14s team worth mentioning is Sanctuary 14-1. This team appears to be an outlet for young athletes who will be attending Ripon Christian. On paper, the team is coached by Chris Van Groningen, but as I watched on Saturday, Chris's son Joel and Lukas. There are two Van Groningen's and a Tameling on the roster. Talen Tameling, I would assume, is the little brother of the aforementioned Mason Tameling and son of Ripon Christian coach Kevin Tameling. It's not hard to imagine all of them starring for Ripon Christian in the very near future.
I wish I could tell you all more. I wish I had been able to stick around longer that day, but with two tournaments in town, I had to spread myself thin. I definitely confirmed my thoughts about some players, while also identifying some new players to watch out for, including a couple I didn't mention here. I'm going to have to see more of them before I say more.
Rage 18 Carl and Core 18 Elite were a couple of the other 17/18 age group teams that are solid. Those teams are essentially the same as they were last fall. For Rage, the main players are outside hitter Frankie Gates and middle hitter Owen Altadonna. Those are the players Coach Carl Wheeler can count on to produce. What contributions they get from players like outside hitter George Ruiz, middle hitter Aidan Patton, and opposite hitter Gage Wimberley are essential to the team's success. Also they need strong performances from setters Primo Estandarte and Kinilo Sumait. Most important for this team is how well they receive serve and can get into system. As for Prima Glorioso's Core team, their strength is with pin attackers Riley Petesch and Dehryn Brown. Those two are as strong a combo of hitters as anyone in this area has. It is great to see Petesch back on the court after having been ineligible for the high school season. It's also great for Coach Glorioso's team to have setter Luke Fredekind back from Washington. He is a solid distributor for this team. This team is also very good in the middle with Mattias Mendis and Conrad Monson.
The team that really caught my attention in the 17/18 age group is another Core team - Core 17 Sac Elite. The NCVC 17-1 Blue team that competed in the fall is no more, and the players from that team have spread out over other teams. A couple of them moved up to the NCVC 18-1 team, part of that influx of talent I alluded to above. But a good chunk of that NCVC 17s team now resides on the Core 17 Sac Elite squad. Those players include some of the best players at their position in the Section, like outside hitter Jack Degraff, setter Jack Reynolds, libero Bryan Lie, and middle hitters Travis Vandeluyster and Kellen Ashford. Ashford wasn't at the tournament, but will be back for the national championship tournaments, which Coach Zeeshan Sevilla-Ahmad said his team would play in both the AAU nationals and the USAV Boy's Junior National Championship. One carryover player from the fall on this team is opposite hitter Nathaniel Wroten, who is a supreme talent. Having these other great players around him will just make him better. All in all, I can see this team doing well, particularly at BJNC.
Another team in the 17/18 division caught my eye for a different reason. That was the NCVC 16-1 Blue team, moving up to compete against the older teams. And they showed their strength by tying for 3rd place in amongst all these tough 17s and 18s teams. The NCVC 16s got better by picking up setter/opposite hitter Dylan Taylor from the former NCVC 17s team. Taylor seems to be growing by the day and has become a dangerous attacker in addition to being a really solid setter. Taylor teams up with the other setter/opposite on the team, Luca McGlynn, to form a formidable hitting/setting duo. They make up one of those rare 6-2 situations where both setters also stay in to hit in the front row. I will say that's not exactly what they did at this tournament, though. Due to injuries to his middles, Coach Joel Miller devised a 4-2 scheme where Taylor and McGlynn played the "middle" positions and both actually set while in the front row. It lead to a lot of "on two" attacks by both of them. After a second place finish in the 16s age group at the recent NorCal Cup, this team could also be primed for some success in the national championships.
In the 16s division, the standout team was Rage 16 Toa, who were the eventual champion of the age group. It would have been fun to see the Rage team face the NCVC 16s, as Coach Toa Fa'ali'i's team seems to be as strong as the NCVC team. The strength of this team is another pair of standout outside hitters, Gabriel Fa'ali'i and Mason Tameling. As sophomores in high school this year, the two were already among some of the best outside attackers in the Section. The team is rounded out by other explosive attackers like middle hitter Bradley Kaji and opposite hitter Alex Alvarellos. The team also has two very good setters, Andre Suico and Luke Dorn. Coach Fa'ali'i was not running a 6-2 when I watched them, but Dorn has stepped up in such a way that it's likely the coach will have to get him more playing time. Dorn is also an accomplished attacker, having played on the outside for Big Valley Christian during the high school season, so having him play all six rotations could be a possibility. Last but not least on this team is libero Dylan Neves, who was among the very best liberos I saw during the entire high school season, despite having been just a sophomore. I'll be very interested to see how this team does this week at the SoCal Cup event.
Other 16s team with some strong players include Core 16 Sac Elite, lead by outside hitter Jake Shipley, setter Aidan Wong, and middles Ian Iyakaremye and Gavin Hetrick (all Laguna Creek players, by the way). Another team is the Dynamix 16 Black, made up entirely by Jesuit underclassmen. Standouts include a couple players who were on Jesuit's varsity team this year, Naryan Banarjee and Julian Santiago. Also, outside hitter Nicholas Hill-Gaston made an impression on me in the short time I watched them play.
Finally, a 14s team worth mentioning is Sanctuary 14-1. This team appears to be an outlet for young athletes who will be attending Ripon Christian. On paper, the team is coached by Chris Van Groningen, but as I watched on Saturday, Chris's son Joel and Lukas. There are two Van Groningen's and a Tameling on the roster. Talen Tameling, I would assume, is the little brother of the aforementioned Mason Tameling and son of Ripon Christian coach Kevin Tameling. It's not hard to imagine all of them starring for Ripon Christian in the very near future.
I wish I could tell you all more. I wish I had been able to stick around longer that day, but with two tournaments in town, I had to spread myself thin. I definitely confirmed my thoughts about some players, while also identifying some new players to watch out for, including a couple I didn't mention here. I'm going to have to see more of them before I say more.