Chris Tobolski

With the high school season underway this week, teams are taking their first steps toward their championship aspirations. Below, we check in on nine state champions from last fall and see where they stand in hopes of finishing on top of their respective divisions once more. Assumption KY Coming off their 23rd state title last fall, the Rockets are going to be right back in the mix in hopes of adding to the program’s collection. Gone is last year’s kill leader in outside Charlotte Moriarty, as well as outside Chloe Smith, who finished third in kills. However, Assumption has plenty back, including 5-star Wisconsin commit and libero Kristen Simon. Joining her is three more seniors in 3-star setter Emilee Fuller, 3-star right side/middle Bailey Blair (Ohio) and pin hitter Emma Barnett. For Assumption to bring home another state title though, it’s likely going to have to rely on underclassmen to contribute. Among them is a pair of freshmen outsides in 4-star Brooke Codey and 3-star Taylor Price. Codey played up on KiVA 15 Red this past club season, while Price was part of KiVA 14 Red. Another underclassman who could play a contributing role is sophomore Emily Poteraj, a 3-star middle who was also on KiVA 15 Red. Bishop Gorman NV The defending 5A state champions from Nevada return the best player in the state in junior Ayanna Watson. The 5-star outside is a Pitt commit and was Vballrecruiter’s Sophomore Player of the Year last fall. Watson averaged 5.7 kills per set and hit .392. Watson is joined by another Pitt commit in 3-star setter Trinity Thompson. The junior directed the attack a year ago and averaged 10.6 assists per set. Another returner the Gaels are expected to lean on is senior middle Brooklynn Williams, who was third in kills and led the team in blocks. Two spots Bishop Gorman will need to fill are at outside and libero with seniors Leilia Toaloa and Tatum Thompson having graduated. Sophomore Allie Breitling, a 3-star outside, could be one to help fill in offensively. Carrollwood Day FL Last season’s 3A state champs in the state of Florida, the Patriots went 31-2 and return a lot to position themselves to once again be a top contender. The main loss was setter Naomi Chinchar but that’s about the only area of need. The top four kill leaders are back, including 5-star right side and sophomore Lydia Chinchar. She was Vballrecruiter’s Freshman Player of the Year a season ago after averaging 6.3 kills per set and hitting .428. She’s joined by senior MB/OH Sarah Dibbs-Frantz – a VCU commit – junior RS/OH Elena Dibbs-Frantz and senior middle Lorelei Church. Also returning is senior libero Mattea Casale, a 3-star Purdue commit. One big change to the schedule for the 2024 season includes Carrollwood Day set to attend the Durango Fall Classic in Las Vegas in September. Cleveland TN One thing Cleveland needs to overcome if it hopes to capture another Division 1 Class 3A state championship is the loss of setter Kinslee McGowan and libero Addison Brock. The good news though is the Blue Raiders return a pair of outsides who combined for nearly 1,200 kills a season ago. One is senior outside and 4-star recruit Lauren Hurst. The other is junior Gunny Brock, a 3-star recruit. They’ll once again power the attack. Grand Oaks TX It’s a mixed bag for the Grizzlies in terms of departures and returners. However, working in Grand Oaks’ favor as the program chases a repeat bid in 6A is having arguably the top outside duo in the country. The pair features senior Samara Coleman – a 5-star Pitt commit – and junior Halle Thompson – a 5-star Wisconsin commit. They teamed up for more than 1,000 kills in 2023. The overall attack, however, doesn’t figure to be as potent as 5-star middle Jaela Auguste (Florida) graduated, as did 3-star right side Caelyn Emmerling (Texas State). Another player who is back though is junior Cali Reece, a 3-star defender who led the team in digs as last year’s libero. One half of the setting duo in junior Samantha Sampson also returns. Mater Dei CA Last season’s national champions as well as the CA Open Division state champions saw its share of talent graduate. It includes losing senior pin hitters Isabel Clark (San Diego) and Cymarah Gordon (Michigan), as well as libero Malyssa Cawa (Stanford) and setter Julia Kakkis (Brown). Not all is lost however. Among the returners is junior outside Layli Ostovar, a 5-star USC commit. She’s joined by older sisters and L/DS Kayla Ostovar and setter Ayva Ostovar. Other contributors from last season who are returning feature junior 3-star middle Addison Coady, sophomore 4-star middle Emma Kingston, senior 3-star pin Preslie Saunders and senior L/DS Sydney Raszewski. While Mater Dei is facing turnover, working in its favor is depth. Though she won’t be eligible until the halfway point, the Monarchs picked up sophomore transfer Westley Matavao, a 4-star outside who helped Forza1 North 16 One to a fifth-place showing in 16 Open at USAV nationals. The team can alos use junior setters Sam Capinpin and Soraya Dennis, as well as freshman Abby Moffett, a 3-star S/RS who suited up for Tstreet 14 Tara. O’Connor AZ Like others, the Eagles have things to overcome as well as components working in their favor. The defending 6A state champions welcome back last year’s kill leader in senior Devyn Wiest, a 4-star outside committed to Utah. Both starting middles also return. One is junior Leylah Duran. The other is 4-star sophomore Kristen Sheehy. Also back is senior middle Maggie Paulsen who missed most of the season last year with injury. While one half of the setting duo is gone in Shannon Sheehy, O’Connor does bring back 3-star senior S/RS Addison France. One area of work is replacing graduated libero Kinsley Singleton. Plant FL The Panthers went 25-3 a season ago en route to finishing on top of the Florida 7A state playoffs. That bad

Outside of the Ann Kang Invitational taking place in Honolulu, most of the stronger high school tournament action in the first few weeks of the season is concentrated in Texas. One of them is the Battle of the Rock set for Aug. 15-17 at both Rockwall and Rockwall-Heath high schools. It’s one of three big tournaments taking place in the state, with the Pearland John Turner Classic and KISD/CFISD events also going on this coming weekend. Below, we take a look at the Battle of the Rock with a brief outlook and our predictions. POOL 1 Cornerstone Christian Prosper Ursuline Heath   POOL 2 Prestonwood Christian Frisco Wakeland Southlake Carroll Allen   POOL 3 Lovejoy Flower Mound Rockwall Plano West   POOL 4 McKinney Boyd The Woodlands Arlington Martin Wylie   Vballrecruiter Nationally-Ranked Teams (4): 3. Prestonwood Christian 16. Cornerstone Christian 22. Lovejoy 27. Southlake Carroll   5-Star Athletes to Know: Megan Fitch SR OH Cornerstone Christian (Texas AM) Cari Spears SR OH Prestonwood Christian (Texas) Gillian Pitts SR L/DS Prestonwood Christian (Houston) Kinsley Young JR MB Southlake Carroll (TCU) Naomi Livings SO OH Prestonwood Christian Nyla Livings SO MB Prestonwood Christian Maya Ogbogu FR OH Allen   4-Star Athletes to Know: Taylor Clarke SR RS Prestonwood Christian (Princeton) Taylor Cook SR S Prestonwood Christian (Kansas) Shelby Burriss SR MB Lovejoy (Princeton) Sarah Pfiffner SR S Wakeland (West Virginia) Hannah Beauford SR S Prosper (Cal) Sophia Thornburg SR OH Ursuline Academy (Notre Dame) Chichi Nnaji JR SR MB/RS Ursuline Academy (Notre Dame) Layla Austin JR OH Southlake Carroll (San Diego State) Gentry Barker SO OH Lovejoy Gracie White FR MB Plano West Olivia Kitur FR OH Allen   3-Star Athletes to Know: Kaia Thiele SR S Cornerstone Christian (UNLV) Aniya Hall SR OH Cornerstone Christian (Louisiana-Monroe) Macey Hughes SR RS Cornerstone Christian (Grandy Canyon) Ella Lewis SR OH The Woodlands (Arizona State) Blue Anderson SR L/DS Southlake Carroll (Dallas Baptist) Halle Jameson SR OH Rockwall (Colorado State) Anna Barr SR RS Lovejoy (West Virginia) Coco Natarajan JR S/RS Lovejoy (Ole Miss) Skylar Jackson JR OH Lovejoy (Yale) Emerson Boyd JR S/RS Lovejoy Hannah Lee JR MB Wakeland (LSU) Angelique St. Laurent JR RS Flower Mound Olivia Permenter SO OH McKinney Boyd Vanessa Glenn SO OH Southlake Carroll   Outlook: The 16-team field is much smaller than the other tournaments taking place in other areas of the state, but that doesn’t mean it’s a lesser event. The smaller field features a few powerhouse programs. Among them is Cornerstone Christian, Prestonwood Christian and Lovejoy. Prestonwood captured the TAPPS 6A state championship a season ago. Meanwhile, Lovejoy finished on top of the UIL 5A state playoffs. Joining those three in our initial Top 50 Rankings is Southlake Carroll. The opening day of play on Thursday features four, four-team brackets playing for seeding into the 16-team bracket which begins Friday. The semifinals and final are set for Saturday at Rockwall HS. Prediction: On the top half of the bracket, Cornerstone and The Woodlands will meet in the semifinals, with Cornerstone advancing. On the bottom half, Lovejoy and Prestonwood face off in the semis, with Prestonwood moving on. In the final, Prestonwood outlasts Cornerstone for the title.

Among the season-opening tournaments is the Ann Kang Invitational hosted by ‘Iolani. The three-day event takes place Aug 15-17 in Honolulu and features 16 teams. It includes eight teams from California, four from Texas and four from Hawaii. We offer our preview and prediction below. POOL A Mira Costa CA Byron Nelson TX Highland Park TX Punahou HI Palos Verdes CA Orange Lutheran CA Clovis West CA ‘Iolani 2 HI   POOL B Colleyville Heritage TX ‘Iolani HI Redondo Union CA Long Beach Poly CA Moanalua HI Murrieta Valley CA Edison CA Aubrey TX   Vballrecruiter Nationally-Ranked Teams (3): 4. Mira Costa CA 14. Byron Nelson TX 40. ‘Iolani HI   5-Star Athletes to Know: Suli Davis SR OH/S Colleyville Heritage (BYU) Taylor Deckert SR L/DS Mira Costa (USC) Kaci Demaria SR OH Palos Verdes (Stanford) Audrey Flanagan JR OH Mira Costa (Wisconsin)   4-Star Athletes to Know: Alex Richter SR OH Highland Park (Georgia) Sarah Mendoza SR L/DS Colleyville Heritage (UCF) Kylie Kleckner JR OH Byron Nelson (Washington) Milly McGee JR S Mira Costa (USC) Abby Zimmerman JR S/RS Redondo Union (Cal) Sophee Peterson SO S/RS Bryon Nelson Cedra Talaga SO L/OH Long Beach Poly   3-Star Athletes to Know: Maylynn Mitchell SR OH Orange Lutheran (Chaminade) Ashlyn Seay JR OH Byron Nelson (Rice) Reese Stringer JR S Mira Costa (Penn) Simone Roslon JR OH Mira Costa Taylor Boice JR MB Redondo Union (UC Irvine) Marley Robinson SO S Orange Lutheran Georgie Lee SO MB/OH ‘Iolani Taimane Poe SO MB Long Beach Poly   Outlook: The tournament opens with two full days of pool play on Thursday and Friday. Pool play concludes Saturday morning with two more pool matches before breaking out into bracket play. The first and second-place teams from each pool advance to the semifinals. Mira Costa is the two-time defending champion having captured the title in 2022 and 2023. Mira Costa is seeking to extend its tournament record to nine overall victories since the event started in 1989. Only one team from outside California and Hawaii has ever finished on top. That was Chung Shan HS from Taiwan in 2010. No Texas school has ever won it. However, this could be the year that streak ends as Byron Nelson and Colleyville Hertiage are among the top contenders. Host ‘Iolani last claimed the trophy when it went back-to-back in 2017-18. Punahou and Redondo Union are the only other programs attending that have also earned the Ann Kang title. Punahou captured three straight from 2012-14, while Redondo finished first in 2009 and then again in 2019. Prediction: In Pool A, look for Byron Nelson and Mira Costa to be the two teams to advance to the semifinals. In Pool B, the pick is for Redondo Union and ‘Iolani to move on to the final four. Ultimately, it comes down to Bryon Nelson finishing on top after beating Redondo in the final.

If there is one absolute about the Preseason National Rankings it is that the Top 50 is going to change significantly by the time the final rankings are released in November. One important component to compiling the initial Top 50 of the season is making sure whichever team is anointed the top spot is going to play a schedule worthy of a national champion should that program run the table and go undefeated. We saw that two seasons ago when Cathedral Catholic CA started at No. 1 and wound up going undefeated. Along the way Cathedral Catholic captured both the Durango Fall Classic title and the CA Open Division state championship. Last season’s national champion Mater Dei CA didn’t start at No. 1 and didn’t finish undefeated. However, Mater Dei did capture two major tournament titles in Volleypalooza and Durango, as well as the CA Open division state crown, making Mater Dei worthy of finishing at No. 1. That brings us to this year and the team beginning at No. 1 in Grand Oaks TX, which captured last year’s 6A state title. Though Grand Oaks isn’t scheduled to play outside the state of Texas, the Grizzlies are set to face a challenging slate. Given the depth and strength of schools in Texas, should Grand Oaks be able to navigate its tournament schedule — which includes Volleypalooza — and then repeat as 6A state champs, there’s little doubt that is a national championship campaign. Of course, Grand Oaks faces longs odds and it’s more likely than not that we’ll see another team finish the year at No. 1. There are plenty of potential candidates, including familiar ones like Mater Dei, Mira Costa CA and Prestonwood Christian TX. Others to keep close watch on are Notre Dame Academy KY and Dripping Springs TX. The season officially gets started this week with tournaments throughout Texas, as well as the Ann Kang Invitational hosted by ‘Iolani taking place in Honolulu. We’ll wait a few weeks before updating our rankings, with the next set released in early September. From there, we’ll have weekly releases for the rest of the season. You can view the full Preseason Rankings below. VBALLRECRUITER HIGH SCHOOL TOP 50 NATIONAL RANKINGS 1. Grand Oaks TX 2. Mater Dei CA 3. Prestonwood Christian TX 4. Mira Costa CA 5. Notre Dame Academy KY 6. Benet Academy IL 7. Sierra Canyon CA 8. Dripping Springs TX 9. Divine Savior Holy Angels WI 10. Blue Valley North KS *** 11. Carrollwood Day FL 12. Hamilton Southeastern IN 13. Cathedral Catholic CA 14. Byron Nelson TX 15. Assumption KY 16. Cornerstone Christian TX 17. Mill Valley KS 18. Marist IL 19. Archbishop Mitty CA 20. O’Connor AZ *** 21. Mount Notre Dame OH 22. Lovejoy TX 23. St. James Academy KS 24. Lafayette MO 25. Mercy MI 26. Plant FL 27. Southlake Carroll TX 28. Papillion-La Vista South NE 29. St. Thomas Aquinas KS 30. Casteel AZ *** 31. Harlan TX 32. Winter Park FL 33. Roncalli IN 34. Lone Peak UT 35. Cinco Ranch TX 36. Xavier Prep AZ 37. Skutt Catholic NE 38. St. Ursula Academy OH 39. Mother McAuley IL 40. ‘Iolani HI *** 41. Ankeny Centennial IA 42. Reagan NC 43. Wayzata MN 44. Oconomowoc WI 45. Bishop Gorman NV 46. Marymount CA 47. St. Pius X MO 48. Pace Academy GA 49. Kamehameha HI 50. Cleveland TN *** ON THE CUSP Alpharetta GA Ankeny IA Berkeley Prep FL Branson CA Center Grove IN Dike-New Hartford IA Doral Academy FL Dowling Catholic IA Flint Hill VA Green Hope NC Keller TX Lake Highland Prep FL Marian MI McKinney Boyd TX Millennium AZ Norris NE Northville MI Oaks Christian CA Omaha Westside NE Pope GA Prosper TX Reagan TX Redondo Union CA Seaman KS Seton OH Skyridge UT Skyview ID St. Thomas Aquinas FL Torrey Pines CA Valor Christian CO Yorktown IN