Tribune Top 10: Girls Volleyball

GOOD LUCK TO SL AND DB TOMORROW AS THIS MATCH WILL DECIDE ALOT FOR THE FUTURE OF BOTH TEAMS.
POST RESULTS ASAP!

St. Lucy posters are keeping things in perspective. A big game this Thursday. Hopefully, the coach continues to have one setter (doesn't matter which one). You could see the difference on the court last night. The front line was connecting much better due to the consistency but there are still lots of opportunities to improve. Good luck tomorrow.

The St. Lucy's posters are quiet. That was a good win last night, probably guarantees a playoff spot. We dont want to just hear from you after losses. You have a huge match tomorrow night.
my top 10
1. Walnut
2. Glendora
3. Bonita
4. South Hills
5. Charter Oak
6. Diamond Bar
7. Bishop Amat
8. St. Lucy's
9. San Dimas
10. La Puente

I don't really care that much about the top ten, I just wish volleyball got more coverage. Walnut definitely has a case, and Charter Oak is starting to make a statement. The fact that they won a tournament with Gabrielino, Westridge, Maranatha, Monrovia, etc. was pretty impressive to begin with. Now they are winning in one of the tougher leagues as well. Bishop Amat's win over La Salle should probably keep them in, but they are still in danger of not making CIF. South Hills, Glendora, and Diamond Bar should be close to the top as well.

We can come up with our own top 10 predictions. Whos the new number 1? I think you can make arguements for a couple of teams. Any teams that should be dropped out or added to the new top 10?

Covina beat Baldwin Park, Northview beat Pomona, Bishop Amat beat La Salle, Charter Oak beat West Covina.
Are the new rankings going to be posted this week? Would be nice to start a new blog since this one is so far down.

St. Lucys beat Ayala last night. Glendora beat Chino. Diamond Bar beat Chino Hills.

Congratulations to Walnut and San Dimas. What are some of the other results from last night?

Time for a new number one. Walut beats S. Hills in 5.

Ganesha lost in 5 to San Dimas. 25-9, 21-25, 25-20, 24-26, 16-14. Great game-San Dimas definitely came ready to play-real heartbreaker for GHigh. We'll come back stronger!

I agree. I am positive some parents were involved, however since it was still in the preseason, it wasn't anything to do with wins/losses. SL's is still an academic school and athletics comes second in the eyes of the administration. I know this still invokes a lot of passion with some parents, but releasing the coach last year was a mistake by the AD and sent the wrong message. Even a bad coach is better than no coach, which is what happened. The biggest losers were the seniors and juniors who lost an entire season of stats since no one was there to keep them.

Responding to comments in regard to former coaches being let go at SL. Not true that (parents) were instrumental in release of former coach, some might have been involved but to suggest that "parents" meaning i assume all were responsible is just not true. The former coach just wasn't up to coaching at any school in several peoples opinion.

Go Regents:

Didn't the parents at SL forced the school to release the last year coach due to the lack of wins? Wasn't the bottom line at SL is to win at all cost since they are already well conditioned from their club trainings? It just sounded suspicious on who is really blogging here. Every other schools in the valley wish they have that kind of talents every year. It is ashamed SL still doesnt dominate at the highest level.

I'm not sure if a home court advantage is a gain for anyone with Glendora.
They went down to Capo Valley and played in OC gyms against the top teams in Southern Cali and took 5th place with teams like Laguna Beach, San Clemente, Riverside Poly and their only loss coming from Santa Margarita.
What are the Sierra match ups this week?
SL-DBAR thurs?

AMAT lost to Bishop Montgomery in 4. The games could have gone either way as they were close. Should be an interesting league.

I would agree that this week is the single most important week overall for the Regents. Post-season play will be determined by what happens this week and what we can do with home-court advantage against Glendora. Hope to see some changes in positions and line-up and a fire in the eyes of these girls. I hope they know they can't wait until Thursday to turn it on-DB always a tough place to play! Good luck to all!

Well Regents fan, another game tomorrow. I know we are all curious if any changes were made regarding our line-up. I guess we will find out tomorrow. We all know Aguilera is a great player but she still needs help. We have that missing link, we just need to utilize it. Well Regents,GOODLUCK tomorrow and parents I hope to see some chages tomorrow. If not.....see you next year.

Non,

I do not hear any SL's bloggers dogging on teams they have lost too. Quite to the contrary, I think all of the posts have been humble to the fact that SL's was obviously outplayed in their losses. The point is that some of those losses could have been wins with the right adjustments. Rosary and Upland were just straight out better teams and even on SL's best day, they could not beat them. SH's and Glendora played fantastic games and are great teams, however as their records indicate, they are beatable. SL's has the weapons to win, however through either coach’s decisions or just players not playing to their potential, those weapons are not being utilized successfully in the tough matches. As spectators, we can only sit back and discuss theories among other enthusiasts. That is the point of the blog. It is not meant as disrespect to the other teams. At the end of the day, we don’t make a bit of difference…

Just some comments re: St.Lucy's season thus far: Coach has the players in very good physical condition, however this alone does not make a player or a team. I do agree that the back row needs support, but this is a coaching only decision and the players can have imput but utimately the coach makes the call as to how he/she plays offense or defense. St.Lucy's does not want to see a situation like last year where a player made the coaching decisions.

Ganesha is 2-0 in league and plays at San Dimas (also 2-0) on Tuesday. The Giants are finally healthy for the first time this year and are coming together. We will definitely have to bring it against the Saints who always seem to play their best against us.

Everyone writes about how great Glendora is but I think we should look at Bonita as a better team. They did beat Glendora. The only team so far. I think they are the team beat in the valley!

Your absolutely right about lack of desire and that is the coaches fault. From what I can see and have watched for the past 15 years is that Coach De La Vara does his best work when he has good leadership from within the Senior class. Coaches are supposed to bring out those leadership qualities. That is not a knock on the players but the coach. They have some great talent on this team and they should be doing so much better Their middle should be dominating the games and their setter is average at reading the defense and distributing the ball to all the right hitters and the right time.

It sounded like similar situation compare to St. Lucys. But why is Los Altos critics are more bitter...it is still early in league...both teams will make playoff but both team just wont go very far.

cneal,

Your absolutely right about lack of desire and that is the coaches fault. From what I can see and have watched for the past 15 years is that Coach De La Vara does his best work when he has good leadership from within the Senior class. Coaches are supposed to bring out those leadership qualities, he never has been able to do that on his own and yes it seems his time outs are KAOS. That is not a knock on the players but the coach. They have some great talent on this team and they should be doing so much better Their middle should be dominating the games and their setter is average at reading the defense and distributing the ball to all the right hitters and the right time. I have heard through the circle that this is his last year because his daughter is graduating, this is a good thing for LA because there is a lot of talent in that school. I hear that they have a very good young setter on the lower level team and she should complement their two young hitters and with another year for the tall sophomore they should be soild next year. You look at the three sophomores (Russell, Gano, and Brown) they are loaded with talent then you have Macias and Filatoff with that groug as Seniors next year. LA should be solid as long as the coaching brings out the best in them. Last years team graduated three players playing college (Esquivel-Outside Hitter at Fullerton JC, Mora-DS Outside Hitter at Cerritos and Carrillo-Setter at Whittier College) I can see that Sophomore and Junior class with players like that. Players that want to succeed at the next level and have the desire to succeed. Players that are potential leaders and hopefully ready to step up.....

volleyballfollower,

You are absolutely right about the Los Altos girls playing better last year. I don't think they lost their talent, but they did lose their desire. The girls don't play with heart. I really don't blame them. Although I was not at the SH/LA game I have been to others and notice that during time outs the coach does not direct the girls, but yell at them. Maybe they figure they are going to be yelled at so might as well give him something to yell about. They need a coach that cares about the game and the girls and not just himself. I don't see them winning any games this year. Hopefully LA will look for a new coach that has the girls best interest in mind.

SL's loss to Glendora was not expected. I think we all wanted to see a good volleyball game, but all was very disappointed. SD really needs to make some adjustments with the line up. What do you do from here? Who will be the right setter for the job? Who will help your Libero in the back row? Which girl has the heart to play? Who will start? Who will ride the bench? Will SD keep the same lineup and wait to see if they improve? There's a lot of questions that SD needs to answer. SD, I think you are doing a great job, but it's time to make changes. No parent or player should complain because their daughter is not playing. If they do, then they deserve not to play. They are not in it for the game or team. They are only there to make themselves look good. To be known as "I'm in the varsity volleyball team for SL". Just like senator Obama said "CHANGE". The girls needs to hear something positive from you. Spark them up and let them know what SL VB is all about....Go Regents!

VB Coach get off the soap box about all the hours, you do it for the passion of the game or your supposed to.

I went to the South Hills - LA game and came out very disappointed. The players on LA that were on the team last year played much better against South Hills as younger players then they did this year. LA is really missing a leader. Very disappointed!!!!!!

Wow, does there always have to be an excuse for a SL loss? Why can't it be that ONE year they aren't the big dogs in sierra? Becuase the excuses and coaching comments are getting old, and i thinks its time we all accept the fact that SL just doesnt have it this year.
All these SL parent are bagging the teams that SL looses too and finding another excuse as to why it happened. Did yall ever consider the fact that those teams are straight up better?
Especially last night, I dont think you parents respect Glendora and the performance they had last night. If it the loss last night was for one of these excuses MAYBE the game would have been to 4 or 5 but it wasnt. Glendora made easy money of SL and showed little weakness.
I don't mean to bash SL, but i think its time we all just let the girls play the game and what happens happens, lets not forget why our girls play this beautiful sport.
Good Luck to all in next weeks games.

VBCoach, you hit the nail on the head. I have heard first hand that the girls have difficulty adjusting to the different setters. Both are great players in their own right, but have different styles. We would be better served with one as a starter and then possibly work the other in on easier matches. I would also like to see Macy get worked more into the back row. She is a good defensive player but will not see much time as a setter (at least the rest of this year). The injury to Frazier impacts the team as well. There are limited options when someone isn't playing to par.
All in all, Glendora just played better than us last night and minimized the errors. SL's beat them over the summer and I believe can beat them again, however they will definitely have to be on their best game to do it. Congrats to Glendora. We will see you again soon!

Those arent attacks on St. Lucy players or coaches. The previous poster was trying to find something or someone to blame. "a" said something to the affect of "St. Lucys parents werent paying for them to be average". As Ghigh posted its a little disrespectful to other programs to just assume that St. Lucys has better players, so something must be wrong that they are losing to public schools.
I have nothing but love for all the players and coaches(and most other parents) in the valley. You will never see me post something negative about a program or its players. Keep working hard. That being said the finger pointing after each St. Lucys loss is getting redundant, just like last year.

La Puente beat Gladstone in 4 yesterday. Looks like they are in the running for a league championship.

VBL: I am not sure about your attacks on SL. I think the only dignified reponse is that Glendora, Upland, Walnut, South Hills and Rosary are all reputable programs and have tremendous players. They deserve the success they have worked so hard for. We in turn, are working hard to produce success ourselves. For your comments about our players. Don't hate the player; hate the game.

VBCoach: Although I don't like to admit these things...You're right. Mercado and Schuman are great (so is up and coming Macy) but it would help the hitters a lot to have consistency (One setter). We saw a lot of inconsistency last night. I know some people might be upset but I think being a team player is playing where your team needs you most. We definitely have hitters (Dalton, Prater, Miller, Callen and Gasparo-when she comes back.) This may be the change we need. Aguilera needs some back row help.

SD is doing fine. I have much respect for him and his vision. He will get us there.

Much respect to Glendora and their coaches. Great job & great program.

perhaps Glendora has better volleyball players(and so does Walnut, Rosary, Upland, and South Hills.

Once again, it sounded like there were no in-game adjustments from the SL coach after they lost the first game and the lack of motivation to battle from the players led to another loss to SL.

Then, we should talk about the positive things that the Glendora coach had done. The Glendora coach motivated those Glendora players and made adjustments that led to the victory over SL and a great start to capture the league title this year.

People are use to think SL volleyball is like USC of college football. USC fans went crazy with one loss. Just imagine with 5 losses to ranked teams at USC just like SL's current record, what would the medias, the fans, the athletic director, the broad of trustees will do? Maybe it is time to upgrade the starting lineup, or upgrade the bench, or upgrade the coaching staff, or upgrade the practices, or upgrade the conditionings, or just be an avgerage team. But being an avgerage is not what parents are sending their kids to private school for.

justafan: well if you were there to witness the massacre, then you would of witnessed the lack of defense. Since really this is a gossip page here's my take. If SL was running a 5-1, there would be chemistry with the setter and the hitters. Instead you have 2 setters going in and out. You have Mercado can block and you have Schuman who could play defense and was a DS at club. Since SL lacks defense, why not put Scuman as DS and see how this rotation goes. If it doesn't work then try something else. The hitter are having trouble adjusting due to the fact that 1 set would be fast and 1 set would be high and out. Do you see what I mean, the sets are not consistent. If Mercado can't do the job then take her out and put Schuman. If Schuman doesn't work then put Macy. SL does have 3 setters.They need to work on being more consitent and specially work on defense. I think Schuman would be a great DS and would help SL a lot. Aguilera is an awesome player but there's only 1 of her. Someone needs to help her out in the back. Having Gasparo and Frazier out really hurted the team. Hope both can recover from their injuries and illness. For SD, there's a lot of work to be done. What ever it takes to get get your girls back on track and re-claim what Regents Volleyball is all about. And for the SL parents, just because your daughter is a senior and you think she should be playing because it's her last year. No, that's not being a team player. I don't care if your a freshman or sophmore. If your talented then you desserve to be on that court. Regents don't give up. Last night you did....

I appreciate your optimism St.Lucy's fans but you should have expected it. A few weeks ago some of you were talking CIF finals and league chapionships. That just isn't realistic. Glendora beats Walnut in 4. Walnut beat you in 4. You struggled with Los Altos who hasnt won a game. The most even match for you guys in the Sierra league is Diamond Bar. That match will tell a lot. Glendora will probably walk away with that league. You will battle with Ayala & DB for the 2nd and 3rd.

Just my opinion(though I haven't been wrong yet)

I, for one, did not expect
SL to lose to Glendora! I hoped for a 3 game win, but honestly thought it would go to 5. After game 1, it looked like that would be the case, as this one game was as good a game as they come. Beyond that, I and those sitting around me were wondering why SD did not go to the bench like he has in the past with some good results. Sometimes just a quick switchup causes the other team to scramble and play out of system. We were too predictable and played slow and flat. I don't think any disrespect is meant to any teams out there by lamenting a loss. Everyone I know, seems to agree that the strength of the league and the valley in general has improved tremendously- SL has to win next week against Ayala and DB. Play hard Regents!

so Glendora takes the early lead in the sierra league. It looks like Diamond Bar and St. Lucy's will battle it out for 2nd and 3rd. It will be interesting if CIF will take 4 out of that league as they have been doing the last couple of years. If the 4th place team is Ayala, they dont have any wins I cant see them getting a wild card.

South Hills-Los Altos wasn't close I heard. Anybody have any info on this game?

Diamond Bar won in 3

A couple notes on all of the coaching talk. First of all, it takes years to develop a program (even if they all play club) as well as teach a positive culture. Secondly, all of the talk that St. Lucy's should beat every team they play is a little disrespectful to the teams they lost to, and the teams they beat.

so Glendora defeats St. Lucy's as expected. S. Hills beats Los Altos as expected. Who won the Ayala Diamond Bar game?

VBcoach! I'll bite! What would a 5-1 have done for the Regents yesterday against Glendora? I'm going to agree with the last post that this was a team loss. Hate to see these girls underperform this early in the season. My take: run a faster offense and everyone play some defense! Glendora is the team to beat this year in Sierra league.

I don't think it was the coaching on this one...

Bottomline is Glendora came to play and St. Lucy's didn't. I sure hope I do not see blogs of this person stepped up and this person didn't because that was just a team loss all they way around. The simple truth is Glendora had almost no mistakes and St. Lucy's had a lot of unforced errors. The team needs some fine tuning.

The girls are talented and well conditioned but this is a team sport. If each person isn't playing their position; the rest doesn't matter.

It is only one loss and there is still hope for the girls to rally together and make this work for them for the rest of the season. We eventually will get home court advantage as well.

St. Lucy's needs a major attitude shift towards their future. As for the coaching, I think Sean is the right thing for St. Lucy's. It's rebuilding time for all involved.

Congratulations to Glendora who more than deserved to win last night.

It was an all time low for SL. To get destroyed by their cross town rival without even winning a game, it should reopen the question of how was the coaching. With all those talented and well conditioned players from playing club, maybe it is time to get another coach. What were the scores last night at Glendora?

Glendora powers through St. Lucy's in a quick 3 games.

Is St Lucy's at Glendora being covered?
Thats going to be the match of the Sierra League I beleive.
A great game of volleyball in the Tartan gym tonight.

Todays big games- South Hills-Los Altos, Diamond Bar-Ayala, Glendora-St.Lucys.

post results as you get them.

I think all the coaches in the valley should be fired. They barely spend any time coaching, practicing,or playing games in summer leagues and during the season. Now with the new CIF rule they probably wont spend anytime in the offseason coaching their girls either. Plus they make so much money doing this, like 25 cents an hour. They probably hate being teachers and mentors to their student athletes. And as an extra bonus they get to be questioned on every decision they make and called out on a public blog. Where do I sign up for this cake job?

League just starting up for everyone so let's take it easy of the players so they can perform to the best of their abilities, parents,outsiders notwithstanding.

logic,

lets set this straight. Los Altos is returning an all league setter (a senior), 2 all league middles (one senior about 6'1" and the other a sophmore that can leap out of this world and hit with the best of them), a all league outside hitter (a Junior about 6')and a right side that played a lot on varsity as a freshman. I know there is some youth but all teams have youth. Not many teams have that many returning all league selections. Only two all league selections from LA left. One was an outside hitter and league MVP and the other was a ds that could play front row when needed. As I said before, DeLaVara needs to find a way to get his setter to distribute the ball to all three of the big hitters. Russell should be used in the way the two seniors were used. They could attack from the front line or back row effectively. Russell has the ability to be a special player if handled correctly. Coaching is the difference between Los Altos and South Hills, it's not the players.

I am guessing *Logic* is the Los Altos coach.

I'm sure Los Altos has upcoming emerging players and we all know they lost a few too. But I don't agree with downplaying the talent the team currently has. Jazmin has been written about almost as often as Jade was. Nigeria has a mean hit and is a threat at the net. Your setter is one of the better setters in the valley. I don't think it is the out of shape, non-peppering parents that are the problem here. But of course this is just my opinion. The opinion that is coming from sipping on my Starbucks extra creamy latte while sitting on my extra (wide) cushioned computer chair...

CO is 9-0! Go chargers!

Intresting!!! parents bashing on Los Altos. Parents who have not played ever (maybe even way to out of shape to pepper with their daughters), and dont know whats the difference between defense and serve receive, or a hut and a 4 ball, or even a bad pass from a good pass.

Los Altos lost, thier libro, both starting outsides (who are playing college ball) there left back and one of there starting setters(all who made 1st or 2nd team). Yet they are still hanging in with the best. If u look at there schedule, they have not played one single easy team (max prep.com). They are all well coach and RANKED teams. At times Los Altos has 1 senior, 1 junior, and 4 sophmores in the court, AND YES THEY ARE STILL KEEPING UP WITH RANKED TEAMS. So just give them time. FYI, their JV has some solid players that are playing year round ball (there are more Junior in JV then in Varsity). SO yes it might be a building year, but it happens. There is a big difference between Wilson after they won CIF and Los Altos after Losing major Key PLAYERS. Los Altos tries to coach and move the ball around as oppose just playing the two man game.

GOOD JOB LOS ALTOS.

AND good job to all those coaches in the San Gabriel Valley.

Congratulations to Jennifer Silva for winning player of the week honors. She is having a great year for Walnut.

Bonita beat Los Altos in 5. Thought we would beat them easily because of their record but Megan and Jasmin really stepped it up. They're great players.

I agree that the coach needs to utilize his players more wisely. His two best hitters need to stay on the court. I can't believe he takes them out...They will not win until the setter gets better instruction on setting those two players.

so it can be done, even at the highest levels. If you have the personnel it could be a good idea.

Stanford running a 6-2 this year with Lichtman and Evans. Have not done so since 1995. Both Oregons running a 5-1.

sgvolley-thanks for the compliments for Ganesha. Stanford runs a 6-2 this year for the first time in Dunning's career. Kiraly was talking about how difficult it can be. They tried to run a 6-2 with Karch and Dvorak for the Men's national team and it didn't work, so they switched to a 5-1 and won the Gold. A 6-2 can work, but it's awfully difficult and you better have 6 awesome hitters and two great setters. With St. Lucy's depth they could probably make it happen, but it takes some time.

sgvolley: I agree with you, but if you watch the SL game and their rotation it looks like a 6 2 but it's not. Yes, a 6 2 can be very effective if used the right way.

I believe Esperanza won a CIF title a few years ago running a 6-2. And somebody in the Pac 10(Oregon?) runs a 6-2 also. It can be done effectively.

G High your persistence has paid off. Next stop-top 10.

About SL. Im sorry, but as long as the rotatation is somewhat close to a 6,2 they will not dominate. This doesn't work against teams like upland or a big contender....You need to go 5 1.

Walnut beat West Covina in 3 last night.

Any news on other matches? Northview and Covina?
Don't know about Los Altos, but these things often work in cycles and it's hard to stay on top all of the time. Looking forward to seeing how Charter Oak does against Bonita!

what happened in the Los Altos-Bonita game. My prediction of Glendora over Diamond Bar in 4 was right on.

I have seen many of these teams and your top ten is pretty on. I think in the end St. Lucys will be in the top 4. Glad to see Charter Oak getting some respect, League will be interesting for them.

Once again, it is sad to see what is happening with Los Altos. I have been following the SGV volleyball scene for 15 years and with that talent there is no way that they are not in the top 5. Three reasons why LA has slipped.
1. Coaching.
2. Attitude.
3. Team is not cohesive.

Or it could go.
1. Coaching
2. Coaching
3. Coaching

Great to see La Puente in the top 10! Coach K has done a great job with those girls and deserves a lot of credit.