Live Eye Rankings Through Two Weekends of Play
Throughout the course of the year I’m going to see A LOT of volleyball. With tournaments across Wisconsin as well as stops in Minnesota, Illinois, in Iowa, there are going to be some teams that are really top notch. With…
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Continue ReadingThroughout the course of the year I’m going to see A LOT of volleyball. With tournaments across Wisconsin as well as stops in Minnesota, Illinois, in Iowa, there are going to be some teams that are really top notch. With those top teams, there will also be athletes emerging where they may be new to us or are continuing to climb the radar. With only a couple weeks of matches underway for most teams, here are my top ten teams that I’ve seen live so far….emphasis on so far.
These are teams I’ve seen play through two weekends of the season:
- Northfield (MN)
- Wayzata (MN)
- Lakeville South (MN)
- Lakeville North (MN)
- Appleton North (WI)
- Marshall (MN)
- Minneota (MN)
- Champlin Park (MN)
- Watertown (WI)
- River Falls (WI)
- Sun Prairie (WI)
- Edgewood (WI)
- Chaska (MN)
There are still some top teams in Minnesota and Wisconsin that I have yet to see (which that will change in the next couple of weeks). I’ll be heading down to the Asics Challenge at Mother McAuley in Chicago as well as a tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in October which will feature some big time powers. I’m not dissecting with the strength of schedule, I’m not basing it on the number of commits, I am looking at the spot where I saw them at.
What is the differentiator between these teams?
The top four teams that come out of Minnesota just have a little bit of an extra “X-Factor” being their size and overall athletic ability. These athletes are strong, they have multiple attackers who can put the ball to the floor and they play at such a fast pace. Northfield has a lineup full of athletes 5’10 and above (and yes, their libero Emma Torstenson who is committed to Colorado is 5’10). The balance, depth, and overall strength not only from the athletes who see significant time, but their reserves are really tough to top.
Minneota is a High School in Southwest Minnesota that has 200 students? Maybe? They won the Minnesota state title in Class A last year and lost
River Falls (Gold), blocking at the SWMN Challengetheir setter and middle to graduation. This program just reloads, you can tell these athletes have been trained since they were young and it shows in their ball control and serve receive. They do not make careless errors, they don’t force the issue, they keep the ball off the ground and make sure it goes over with a strike. Watch them play and they show you how simple the game of volleyball can be when you take care of the ball, are under control, and take advantage of their opponent’s mistakes.
A major difference between Wisconsin and Minnesota isn’t necessarily the play, good volleyball is good volleyball no matter where you go. Wisconsin teams play significantly more matches than teams in Minnesota. Most teams in Minnesota have around 30 matches by the time they reach the state tournament. Teams in Wisconsin? Some of them have about 30 matches by the third week of September with a significant number of multi-team events. What I see out of more Minnesota teams is a higher number of three out of five-set matches during the week. The atmosphere is so much different from a competitive dual match during the week with a student section and the whole works compared to the fifth match of a tournament where teams are worn down mentally and physically.
I’ll be checking with various live eye team and player performances throughout the season!