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Post by Scott Zanni on Aug 19, 2016 7:15:14 GMT -5
The 2016 is well underway as teams have finished tryouts and are starting scrimmages. As in past years we welcome all players, fans, parents and volleyball enthusiasts to visit this discussion forum to promote and discuss MCPS Girls Volleyball. Over the next two weekends there are numerous scrimmages and scrimmage tournaments where teams will not only get to work on their games, but get a good look at many of their future opponents.
The 2016 season starts officially on Friday, September 2nd with a handful of matches. Over the course of the next two months teams will play 14 or 15 regular season matches with nearly 20 schools participating in a regular season tournament. As in past years, MPSSAA is counting/tracking all matches in regular seasons and tournaments for an overall record, but since not all teams play tournaments and not all tournaments are the same, only regular season records are used for playoff seeding.
In the regular season MCPS's 25 high schools are split into 3 divisions. The divisions are based on school size and geography (to some degree). There are 4A Divisions (largest schools in the state) and one 3A Division (2nd largest). All teams play their division opponents once and the team with the best record wins their division title.
When the playoffs arrive in early November, MCPS schools participate in 4 different playoff regions. Most of the 4A schools are in 4A West, but three participate in 4A North with many of the Baltimore area schools. The 3A schools are split between 3A West (along with Frederick/Carroll, etc.) and 3A South (southern tier of MD).
Finally, starting tomorrow we will post short previews for each school. Probably two/day. In some cases the previews will have more detail than others, but I encourage anyone to add to these. This is a great way to promote some of the talented players we have in MCPS.
Have questions? Feel free to ask away!
Best of luck to everyone involved with the 2016 season. Coach Zanni
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Post by Scott Zanni on Aug 22, 2016 17:00:11 GMT -5
As I (quickly) writing previews/questions for each team a few interesting storylines are running through my head.
Each of the last 3-4 years there have been major coaching changes at the varsity level. Just this year Whitman, Paint Branch, Springbrook, Watkins Mill and Seneca Valley all have brand new head coaches, while Sherwood and Kennedy have new coaches with previous head coaching experience. This continues the trend from the past two years. Slightly more than half of the coaches in the county have less than 5 years experience at their school. I have no idea what it all means, but it's certainly different than 10-15 years ago.
The natural ebb and flow of sport means all programs go through some peaks and valleys. Volleyball is certainly no different. So every year there a big games or big matchups, but true rivalries have to last longer than 2-3 years. With the major changes last year in divisions and state alignments (much bigger than ANY I've seen in recent memory) AND the natural ebb/flow of teams success, it seems some of the traditional rivalries have been disrupted. So I'm left wondering...what are the major (long standing) rivalries that exist in the county, or are most "rivalries" now a year to year (or few years) event?
Hoping this provokes some discussion.
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Post by mocovb on Aug 29, 2016 15:02:51 GMT -5
As a newcomer, I was surprised by the rivalry between Whitman and BCC. The battle for the middle of the pack! Hopefully the battles will be for more meaningful positioning this year!
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Post by temartin on Aug 30, 2016 8:08:09 GMT -5
As a newcomer, I was surprised by the rivalry between Whitman and BCC. The battle for the middle of the pack! Hopefully the battles will be for more meaningful positioning this year! I think many of the longstanding rivalries (at least from the kids' perspective) stem from the proximity of the schools as much as anything else. (Wootton vs Churchill and Gaithersburg). Hence B-CC and Whitman. In years when the teams are strong and/or see each other in later playoffs it can get pretty intense. As Scott states - the strength of teams ebbs and flows, no one is ALWAYS the team to beat. So there may be a "long-distance" rivalry for a few years between, say Wootton and Northwest, but Wootton and Churchill will always be rivals, even if they aren't both playoff teams.
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Post by Scott Zanni on Sept 1, 2016 6:20:39 GMT -5
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Post by Top 10 on Sept 2, 2016 13:18:45 GMT -5
Northwest Wootton Sherwood Damascus Churchill Magruder Blair Gaithersburg Quince Orchard Walter Johnson
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Post by Scott Zanni on Sept 2, 2016 20:54:05 GMT -5
The first matches are tonight. Blake defeated Gaithersburg 3-0, RM defeated Poolesville 3-1, Damascus defeated Clarksburg 3-0, Sherwood defeated Seneca Valley 3-0 and Whitman defeated Watkins Mill 3-0. Each team has their own thread. It would be great if someone from each school could post a little about their match tonight. Highlights, kids who played well, amusing moments, etc.
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Post by GuestV2 on Sept 3, 2016 6:06:32 GMT -5
Northwest Wootton Sherwood Damascus Churchill Magruder Blair Gaithersburg Quince Orchard Walter Johnson Northwest is such a prohibitive favorite, it looks like it'll be a competitive season for second by everyone on this list. The list should also include BCC.
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Post by GuestV2 on Sept 6, 2016 11:00:36 GMT -5
And if the list were to include private schools, Holy Cross should be a close second.
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Post by Newbee on Sept 7, 2016 20:46:57 GMT -5
Well one rivalry down - Churchill lost first set to Wootton and then took the next 3!
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Post by Scott Zanni on Sept 14, 2016 10:01:41 GMT -5
Thanks again to Bill for running the rankings system. I know it's a unique part of this site that people enjoy. As most know, Bill's system tracks only MCPS results against other MCPS schools and does so by sets. Today I posted results (as I have them) for all 25 MCPS teams that include all their match results for the overall season (tournaments, regular season, playoffs, etc.), regular season only and division records. Here's the link: www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/magruderhs/athletics/volleyballgirls/index.aspx
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Post by Scott Zanni on Sept 26, 2016 7:32:13 GMT -5
MCPS records were again updated online. Link is below.
Teams are moving into the main part of division play right now.
In the RED DIVISION, Churchill and Sherwood are the only teams without a division loss.
In the WHITE DIVSION, Gaithersburg, NOrthwest, Quince Orchard and Wootton are all 2-0.
In the BLUE DIVISION, Damascus, Magruder and Poolesville are all 2-0.
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Post by AR on Sept 28, 2016 13:35:25 GMT -5
Anyone at either the Sherwood Churchill or Magruder Blake matches last night and can post a summary?
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Post by Scott Zanni on Oct 14, 2016 9:05:14 GMT -5
Finally got around to posting updated records online today. All MCPS teams have had their overall, regular season and division record updated online (see link in above posts).
Division play is basically over. There are a few matches left in each division, but the champions have been determined. Sherwood, Northwest and Damascus have won their county division titles.
Two weeks left in the regular season.
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Post by Scott Zanni on Oct 17, 2016 9:37:56 GMT -5
The regular season has two weeks left which means teams have 3-4 contests left in the regular season. Over the next day or so I'm going to post the latest standings for the regional/sectional playoffs. A reminder that while all matches count towards overall record ONLY regular season matches count towards playoff seeding (that means the playoff results also don't count towards seeding advancing teams).
Here's what I have so far:
4A West Section I (the #1 seed gets a bye in the first round of the playoffs) 1. Churchill 10-1 2. BCC and Blair 7-3 4. Richard Mont. 6-4 5. Walter Johnson 5-6 6. Whitman 4-6 7. Northwood 2-9
4A West/Section II (#1 seed gets a bye in the first round) 1. Northwest 10-0 2. Wootton and Quince Orchard 8-2 4. Gaithersburg 7-5 5. Clarksburg 4-6 6. Kennedy 3-8 7. Einstein 0-10
3A South (Seeds #1-#3 get a bye in the first round) 1. Magruder 8-2 2. Blake 8-3 3. Rockville 5-5 4. Watkins Mill 1-9 5. Wheaton 1-10
3A West (Damascus, Poolesville and Seneca Valley) and 4A North (Sherwood, Paint Branch and Springbrook) to follow.
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