MAPL HAMPTON

[ILMPanther]

I know PittDan was interested in this so I’ll post. First of all, the sacrifice to make this post is not nothing as my daughter, a player, called it “creepy” that I was watching other players. So I’m at the Mid Atlantic Power League (MAPL) in Hampton, VA. Kind of a strange set up with 3 divisions. The divisions are Black (15u-17u), Blue (14u-16u), and another with mostly 14u teams. This is ripe for some mismatches. All teams play in a morning and an evening session in pods of 3 teams.
Some of the players that I’ve seen that are solid D1. I will assume that Pitt at least looks at some of these players. Take my posts with a grain of salt as I’m far from an expert.

Isabelle Bardin: Metro 17 Travel. She’s a 6’2” setter who I think played with Ryla Jones in high school. She’s, from what I’ve seen, a good setter. Her hitters clean up a lot of errant sets. Back setting appears to be a weakness. She’s athletic with quick hands and feet. Should be a good one.

Leni Stanton-Parker: Metro 17 Travel. A spectacular hitter with an apparent 10’6” approach. Easily the best player here that I’ve seen so far.

Britni Silver: East Carolina Junior VC 16u. This is a girl I saw play against my daughter’s high school. A great athlete who has her moments but seems a bit disinterested here. She’s a hitter with a great vertical. When I saw her play in the regular season she completely took over the game. She also plays basketball so who knows how into volleyball she is right now.
I guess it depends on which sport she focuses on but she would certainly be big time in volleyball.

 

[pittdan77]

Tell your daughter it's not creepy at all. I do appreciate it. Metro is just loaded. Not surprised they have some D1 type of players. We were at the Happy Valley Rally (yes, I know) and there were some very talented D2 prospects. Nobody really stood out as being a D1 type on the girls side. There were a couple of boys that I thought could easily make a D1 roster in that division but I didn't catch any names. Just wild watching someone jump that high.

The girls side of the tournament was mixed division and it's tough when your team is at the youngest end of the group. Also doesn't help when you have one player that is not playing well at all and you can't get a decent pass to your setter. They did break teams into age groups for the medals but we were so hosed by then with seeding that we lost in the first round to the eventual champion. Played well on Sunday because that player got benched. Oh well. They have two weeks to get things cleaned up but due to injury and some other things, this was the first they really played as a group and finally have rotations set.

How did your daughter do? Personally and as a team?

 

[ILMPanther]

Thank you for asking. My daughter’s team last year was very good so the 17u team took our best hitter and the 16u team took our other hitter leaving us with no reliable hitters. With a small club, it just kills teams. Tough to play power teams with that. They went 3-3 but the teams they beat were totally incompetent. Going to be a long season until the club comes to their senses.
Personally, my daughter plays DS and is very good in that role. Unfortunately, she has more experience than the others so the coach will put her at MB and RS (at 5’8) with she performs admirably, but it’s not her position, and leaves the back row totally vulnerable. She’s frustrated.
There’s more to the story but it’s long and complicated and the parents throughout the entire club are frustrated.

Anyway, I did watch Taylor Harrington yesterday and she is fantastic. Her team is very high level and she’s flanked by great hitters. Her coach is intense (former basketball player for George Mason) and does not tolerate missed assignments and repetitive mistakes. They clearly respond well to him and it’s something else to watch.

On to Charlotte next weekend then Capitol Hill in a few weeks. What’s next for you?

 

[pittdan77]

Thank you for asking. My daughter’s team last year was very good so the 17u team took our best hitter and the 16u team took our other hitter leaving us with no reliable hitters. With a small club, it just kills teams. Tough to play power teams with that. They went 3-3 but the teams they beat were totally incompetent. Going to be a long season until the club comes to their senses.
Personally, my daughter plays DS and is very good in that role. Unfortunately, she has more experience than the others so the coach will put her at MB and RS (at 5’8) with she performs admirably, but it’s not her position, and leaves the back row totally vulnerable. She’s frustrated.
There’s more to the story but it’s long and complicated and the parents throughout the entire club are frustrated.

Anyway, I did watch Taylor Harrington yesterday and she is fantastic. Her team is very high level and she’s flanked by great hitters. Her coach is intense (former basketball player for George Mason) and does not tolerate missed assignments and repetitive mistakes. They clearly respond well to him and it’s something else to watch.

On to Charlotte next weekend then Capitol Hill in a few weeks. What’s next for you?

We'd love to have her in the back row. We have decent hitters, not spectacular, and our setters are good. Just lacking in passing which is weird for a 15 club team. We were the team that just looked incompetent on Saturday. My daughter is a 5'9" MB but you can't do a whole lot offensively when you can't get a pass to the setter.

Club's home tournament is in two weeks. Hopefully we can get the ship righted and win some games. Competition won't be very stiff. If they don't play well in that one, it will be a very long season. Out to Philly for Prez Day Showdown and then York for the Blue Ribbon Brawl. Will be a long three weeks of travel.

 

[ILMPanther]

I would be interested to hear what kind of players you see in Philly and York. Hopefully your daughter’s team gets it together better and has a couple of nice runs.

 

[pittdan77]

I would be interested to hear what kind of players you see in Philly and York. Hopefully your daughter’s team gets it together better and has a couple of nice runs.

I'll keep an eye out for what teams are going to show up. It's usually easy to spot the best recruits.

 

[pittdan77]

Think I'm going to head down to the Steel City Freeze this weekend and catch some games. My daughter's friend is playing in it for another club and we don't always send teams to that one. Usually a lot of talent so I'll let you know if I see anyone.

 

[ILMPanther]

Cool. Will be looking forward to it. I would let you know about the Queen City Classic in Charlotte but my wife is taking my daughter there. Most of the talent is concentrated around the Raleigh area anyway in this state and this tournament is primarily Charlotte area clubs.

 

[pittdan77]

Cool. Will be looking forward to it. I would let you know about the Queen City Classic in Charlotte but my wife is taking my daughter there. Most of the talent is concentrated around the Raleigh area anyway in this state and this tournament is primarily Charlotte area clubs.

Poured over the rosters of the players I watched and didn't see anyone that had any D1 interest. Probably just unlucky.

Probably the wildest thing I saw as a team from near Akron, Impact Volleyball 14-1. No clue what they're putting in the water out there but there were at least four players at 6' or better and their middle, Alison Linderbaum, was easily 6'3". They ended up winning the 14 open division but it took three straight, 3-set games on Sunday to do it. I think that was an extremely competitive division.

 

[ILMPanther]

Poured over the rosters of the players I watched and didn't see anyone that had any D1 interest. Probably just unlucky.

Probably the wildest thing I saw as a team from near Akron, Impact Volleyball 14-1. No clue what they're putting in the water out there but there were at least four players at 6' or better and their middle, Alison Linderbaum, was easily 6'3". They ended up winning the 14 open division but it took three straight, 3-set games on Sunday to do it. I think that was an extremely competitive division.

That’s a pretty strong 14 yo team, at least height wise. Some of these smaller towns will have years that the planets line up and they get a bunch of tall and talented girls all at once. My friend in Tallahassee had a daughter who played for a small club down there and they ended up finishing 9th nationally in Las Vegas a few years ago. Almost unheard of in volleyball circles to have a team from a town that size make it that far…….but it was just their year. My daughter’s team has a 6’2” OH but the next tallest is maybe 5’10”. Height means so much…….and you don’t even really need to be that athletically gifted to make an impact.
Maybe that Akron team will be in DC 2 weekends from now.

 

[pittdan77]

That’s a pretty strong 14 yo team, at least height wise. Some of these smaller towns will have years that the planets line up and they get a bunch of tall and talented girls all at once. My friend in Tallahassee had a daughter who played for a small club down there and they ended up finishing 9th nationally in Las Vegas a few years ago. Almost unheard of in volleyball circles to have a team from a town that size make it that far…….but it was just their year. My daughter’s team has a 6’2” OH but the next tallest is maybe 5’10”. Height means so much…….and you don’t even really need to be that athletically gifted to make an impact.
Maybe that Akron team will be in DC 2 weekends from now.

Looks like they're staying in OH and IL until Nationals in Vegas.