Thursday, August 30, 2001
N.Ky. volleyball preview
KHSAA changes mean fewer teams will get shot at state
By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor
It wasn't too long ago — three years to be exact — that the Kentucky state volleyball tournament seemed a lot like the Northern Kentucky Invitational for more reasons than just its home at Ryle High and Gray middle schools.
Back then, no fewer than six area teams qualified for the tournament out of three local regions.
Talk about the good old days. Three years later, only two schools will qualify out of the Fifth Region, into which the Kentucky High School Athletic Association has jammed 29 teams. That ties the Eighth Region for the third-highest number of teams in any of the eight regions. Local coaches consider that a rude way to treat an area that stands with Louisville as one of the state's hotbeds of volleyball.
“We wouldn't be that upset if Louisville got knocked down to one region, too,” longtime Newport Central Catholic coach Jenny Mertle said. “They've got two of 18 each.”
“Louisville and Northern Kentucky have had a stranglehold on volleyball for a long time,” said Highlands coach Jim DeLong, who's in his first year with the Bluebirds after moving over from Beechwood. “Lexington has come a long way, but it's taken them five or six years to come this far.”
The KHSAA revamped the regions to reflect increased interest in other parts of the state. DeLong and Mertle appreciate growth, but they're not sure if teams from those areas are ready to compete with teams such as Louisville Assumption and Notre Dame Academy.
“Last year, one team in the state tournament had two girls serving underhanded,” Mertle said.
“The state tournament this year is going to be a joke,” said DeLong, who has pitched to the KHSAA Board of Control a plan to add a tournament level between the regionals and state to weed out the weaker teams. “Last year, a team came in 30-0 and lost to Boone County, 15-1, 15-0, and we're looking at the same thing for the next several years.”
The tournament is just one of many changes in the local volleyball scene, most of them involving coaches. The Pandas, who lost to Assumption in the state final last season, are under the direction of former freshman coach Bob Wood, who was promoted to replace coach Kim Gunning.
“Everybody thinks our chances are a little better, but that is yet to be seen,” Mertle said. “We scrimmaged them and they're still awfully tough. I know the teams down in Louisville would like to think they're down.”
“Actually, it's not so much that we want Notre Dame to come down,” DeLong said. “We need to get our programs up to where Notre Dame is.”
Mertle's Thoroughbreds are expected to be among the top contenders for the second state tournament slot, if they can overcome a recent rash of injuries that has forced her to insert two sophomores — Tricia Bertke and 5-foot-11 Jenna Ziegler — into a starting lineup that previously featured four returning senior starters.
St. Henry, which fell short of last year's state tournament, already has beaten NCC, and DeLong's youthful Highlands team was 7-1 after losing Tuesday to Louisville Sacred Heart. Despite the loss of three senior starters, Campbell County had gotten off to 5-0 start, as had Beechwood. Simon Kenton and Bishop Brossart both were 4-1.
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