Girls Volleyball Top 10: St. Lucy's takes a tumble; South Hills moves to the top; playoffs next week

No one should want a bye in the first round in my opinion.
St. Lucy's vs. Bishop Amat should be a fun match with a huge crowd! Then Walnut if they pull through. That kind of stinks for us because we get SGV teams knocked out by each other.
Ganesha has a tough road, but that's what it is all about. I think San Dimas has a shot of going to the finals if they can get past Pasadena Poly.

Don't know much about CIF All Academic Team chances?

St. Lucy's will not get a bye in the first round. They are ranked 6th, and there is no way they are going to give out that many byes. Besides you dont want a bye. Play an easy first round game to get the jitters out.

Which school is going to win CIF All Academic team Award this year for Girls' volleyball?

Diamond Bar got the best chance always and the best GPA... Ghigh can you confirm which school is going to win?

Sorry, St. Lucy's did make the Quarterfinals last year and have traditionally done very well.

What teams from the SGV are in Div. 5?

I agree vbl that the div. 3 & 5 teams have a better chance of going further. St. Lucy's has a big advantage in that we have seen two of the top contenders in Beckman and REV who we played very tough. You are correct in that they can not have a let down, and in fact, must play better then they have all year. Getting within one point of winning a match won't matter if they lose. Hopefully the coach will make sure the young team is mentally prepared. They should get a bye for the first round.

GHigh, last year St. Lucy's went as far as any of the other schools, losing in the qtr finals as well.

vbl: Interesting picks and I hope you are correct. Definitely think Bonita and Los Altos could go far.
San Dimas I think actually has the best shot of making a final because of their size and improved defense. Next would be La Puente and Gladstone because they are in D. 4. That's pretty much how it played out last year with the lower division teams going the furthest, but hopefully our upper division teams will make a run this year as well.

Yes G High has it right. Good luck tomorrow because that is the most important day of the season. The draw. Without a good draw our local teams dont have a chance. These are the local teams I feel can put together a magical run maybe to the semi's. No disrespect to the teams not listed.

1.Bonita- must play defense and pass, offense is strong.
2. St. Lucys-must stay away from the top 4 seeds in the early rounds and not have any let down matches like they had against LA and Ayala.
3. LA- talent is there they need to get hot and have a good draw
4. S. Hills playoff experience from last year and has won some tight matches this year.

The only reason I am picking LA and Bonita over the other DII schools(Walnut, Ayala, Glendora, etc) is that DIII division is much weaker and both those schools have the talent to make a run to the semis.

Unfortunately I dont see anyone making a final this year, but I have been wrong in the past and I hope I am wrong this year. Good luck to all the teams in the SGV.

p.s Diamond Bar will get in.

If it's like last year all teams that take 4th in a 5-6 team league and have an above .500 record make playoffs as an at large. DB may have to play in a wild card game on Monday night, but it's all about getting to the dance.
Unfortunately Pomona didn't have the above .500 record so they won't be in it-Northview made it last year as the 4th place in VVL.
Good Luck Tomorrow!

With Diamond Bar recent uprisings, we should get the at large 4th place seed for Cif...we also have an over .500 records. We hope it is convincing enough.

Ayala beat Glendora again in 5 games and finished 2nd place...looks like Ayala had made many upgrades with new coaches on staff and many new offensive plays...and convincingly makes the playoff this year.

Good luck to them in playoff since they beat St. Lucy at their place and Glendora twice but lost to us. Hopefully our good faith will get us into the dance too.

Diamond Bar beat Chino hills in 4!

Diamond Bar is out. It will be St. Lucy's, Glendora and Ayala. They were the top 3 in the Sierra League. Unless there is an at large...

I feel you gman! I thought Los Altos was in Hacienda Heights? I can't afford to live there, but if I had a daughter I'm pretty sure I could afford to send her to St. Lucy's.
Playoffs: San Dimas 1st in VVL, then Ganesha and Northview. Gladstone, La Puente, then I think Duarte and Bassett in Montview. Pretty sure Glendora and Diamond Bar, then Diamond Ranch also qualified. Walnut, South Hills, and Rowland or West Covina in the San Antonio.
Good Luck to All-can't wait until Sunday! This is what makes all of the hard work and drama worth it!

GHigh, you are absolutely correct, however the point was that it has nothing to do with SL's being a private school, and more to do with the socio-economics of the city, i.e. Corona Del Mar, Redondo, etc. If you look at the top 10 teams in each division of CIF, roughly only 10-20% are private schools. LA Fan needs to pull his head out and quit being so biased.

By the way, tootney, good to see you make an appearance back on the blogs. Hope your daughter is doing well!

So who is all in for play offs?

St. Lucys
Bonita
Los Altos
Ganesha
La Puente

WHO ELSE?????

Tootney?
Really? I know not everyone at St. Lucy's is wealthy, but most are doing way better than the families in our area. Here a teacher is considered to be rich!
Just look at the CIF rankings in volleyball and tell me what schools are predominantly from low income areas? For one, volleyball isn't that popular in these communities, but they also don't have the opportunities to play club.
Nothing against St. Lucy's, I'm sure many public schools have wealthier families, but I just want us to be realistic. You are correct though in that middle class families are often left out of top private schools because their kids don't qualify for financial aid and the schools are simply too expensive. $200,000 for a college education is getting pretty ridiculous!

RE: Recents comments as to why SL socio-economic perseived status affects the continued success of their program. My daughter attended SL not for the Volleyball program, In fact we wanted her to go to a closer school that had a excellent tradition. The CIF would not allow our daughter to transfer to this school, they have a program which she wanted to pursue in College and is now pursuing this program at the university level. Mind you she's not attending a "A" college because frankly we could not afford the big schools. People keep it real!

What happened with Chino Hills vs. Diamond Bar? Did DB qualify for CIF?

Anything on the Glendora/Ayala game?

bonita beat walnut in 3!

Did Bonita beat Walnut?

This had to be a good game!

Bonita @ Walnut tonight. No league implications but still a big game between two of the areas best.

I'm don't know if St. Lucy's is overrated or not. However, speaking for the parents of St. Lucy's we are proud of our girls and what they have accomplished. Winning League is a tremendous honor. We are proud of our coaches and we are a great group. I am so excited we get to do this again next year.

For CIF, there are so many talented teams out there. In our own league, Miramonte and San Antonio. Ghigh is right, lets support the SGV.

I can only speak for myself, but just because I choose to send my child to a private school, doesn't mean I am better off than anyone else. To the contrary, we make huge personal sacrifices to send our kids to SL's and more than likely have less disposable income than most families with kids attending public school. The SGV has many affluent cities and have public schools with just as many club players as SL's. The only advantage private schools USE to have was that they were not limited by geographic boundaries. As we have seen with all the athletic transfers recently, that is no longer the case.

LA Fan, you continue to cause issues in whatever school/club you transfer from. Quite embarassing yourself, and more importantly, your family.

It is always mind boggling when LA Fan speaks.

How does SL have the highest payroll? I am sure their coach would like to know about that. That is comical. SL does not offer scholarships and not all families are well off. SL has lost players due to the ecomonic climate.

Most of these area teams have heavy club influence including LA. Have you met the players at LA? Your starting lineup all come from great area clubs and all of these girls have had privates at one time or another. Not sure LA Fan how you came up with that. Most of the St. Lucy's girls are in the same clubs with your athletes.

As for being overrated? This is the second year in a row they have won the Sierra League under coach Douglas. Each year they make it to the CIF quarterfinals in DIV II. If that wasn't enough, SL has been ranked by CIF and has never fallen out of the rankings this year. Last year, SL wasn't ranked at all. Walnut/South Hills/Glendora were the favorites.

Why are you discrediting your own athletes? There are some great kids at LA. LA had a quality win over St. Lucy's and rather than giving them any credit you continue to bash them. Week in, week out.

The parents at LA have to be thankful your daughter is graduating. You have really made that team look bad in the course of the year and inspired other teams to rally against your team over your ill informed comments.

You have a great coach and team. Stop putting your foot in your mouth and move it forward in supporting your team in CIF. Good luck.

By the way, GHigh makes a good point. The Yankees won the World Series. Overrated or not.

Not sure if that makes St. Lucy's overrated though. As much as I can't stand the Yankees, they still won the World Series.

Any big games left tonight? Can Diamond Bar still get an at-large bid?

Interested to hear opinions win CIF brackets come out Sunday.

There is a somewhat truth to what LA Fan said, the success of a high school volleyball program is usually weighted heavily on social-economic make up of the players. If parents can afford their kids to play club and private lessons, the program should benefit from it and winning title is absolutely a must.

year in year out...

St. Lucy got the highest payroll just like the yankees...always overrated.

Robert: They don't give Letterman patches to "Really we beat the 1st place Sierra League Team" either. Good effort though.

How many times have we seen "Robert" post on these blogs. Pot meet Kettle.

Good luck tonight. Glendora will win; you can be the wild card.

Good luck to all SGV teams in CIF. Keep us posted.

Nice Robert! Not sure how many of us have even attempted to play volleyball, aside from the occassional company picnic...

RANKINGS, RANKINGS, RANKINGS
They mean absolutely nothing. In all my years, I have yet to see a Letterman's patch with "No.1 on Nov 3, 2009-Steve Ramirez, San Gabriel Valley Tribune". Rankings are posted so the adults can relive their pathetically failed athletic careers through their daughters causing the adults to write messages at all hours of the day and night. The sport has a play-off system (all they way to the State). That's what really matters. The blog is great for "sharing" opinions (and an occasional fact now and then)-nothing more.

No chance in the world that Steve is going to do two seperate rankings. There are only 32 teams in the coverage area to begin with. These guys have enough on their table with all fall sports(mainly football) to spend any more time on researching volleyball records and rankings. Good idea G High but not realistic.

Congrats to South Hills on their League Championship. They have gone 5 sets a lot this year which is great practice for the pressures of CIF.

I also think the difference last year was that there were many highly contested battles for 1st place in league between the 3 way tie in Sierra, Bonita and LA, SH & Walnut. Not as much parity this year from what I see.

Truth be told this blog is the only outlet for SGVHSVB fanatics. Rankings don't matter (fun to discuss/argue), just opinions.
Last year we had a lot more interesting opinions, and more hits.

Everyone is correct, which is why I should stop blogging and start my ceramics career.

My point is, SLVBFAN, that many players and programs deserve recognition and if we only focus on the upper divisions many deserving programs/athletes will go unnoticed.

I know from previous posts most would agree. I would prefer two top fives (or tens) next year so more athletes from more schools get recognized (and more blogging!). Win, Win, Win.

I think there should be at least two separate rankings by upper/lower divisions. Yes, rankings mean something, but in reality they are mythical.
In my opinion the top teams in each division should get the bulk of the press. Teams that may be better, but not so well in terms of their division or league, shouldn't get preferential treatment.

By the way-Ganesha always loves just being in the conversation.

By the way, SL's beat Diamond Bar in 3 tonight. They host winless Chino on Thursday to lock up sole possession of the Sierra league title.

I get what you are saying GHigh, and ultimately I agree, but then what is the point of even producing a top 10 if no one cares? It is all just to give us something to think about in between matches and every once in awhile, push someone's button. My point is, if you are going to do it, lets put something out that has some credibility, otherwise people will just tune out, much like what has happened this past week...

Read my name, enough said.

I see your point G High. But lets not make it sound like the blog rankings have no significance. People care where their teams are ranked. I seem to remember a little while back someone begging for their team to be allowed in the SGV coverage area so they could be considered for the rankings. And the pestering worked, they are now considered for the rankings. In fact they are ranked 8th this week.

Gee-someone has some issues!
San Dimas def. Ganesha tonight soundly 25-18, 25-19, 25-14. They deserve to be at No. 5 and have improved consistantly this season.
I'm surprised everyone talks so much about these rankings like they matter. If I was at LA I'd be happy that CIF is giving the league respect.

No scholarships are offered from the blog nor any BLOG titles! Good luck to all in CIF and let's see if someone can bring home a title that counts. I will be there supporting the team(s) that make it the farthest, regardless of their blog ranking.

SL VB Fan

you seam surprised....

Remember this : L.A. OMG they went 5 with Diamond Ranch... Guess What Bonita also went 5 with Diamond Ranch.

Diamond Bar beat Ayala, and Ayala beat St. Lucys.

etc.

It happens more often then not... but if Los Altos fans would be so bad in the blogs they would be ranked higher. Who knows if they had a GHIGH los altos would be No. 2.

Unfortunately not enough research is done by these guys to know who should be ranked where.

they go by the blogs and max prep. WHICH IS PRETTY WEAK!

but what can you expect they get their glory through football.

Not sure how much credence to give these rankings. Steve stated he does rankings similar to how college football does theirs based on how they did the previous week. What he doesn't take into account are power rankings, coach rankings and strength of schedule rankings. If you are only going off one week, well then I am sure there are plenty of teams that won both matches last week. Why not put them in the #2 slot since SL lost one. How can SH's be ranked above SL's when they have beaten them twice? Just doesn't make any sense to me. Then you have San Dimas above Glendora and LA? That is ridiculous. Top ten's should be based off their entirety of work.