Middle Hitter Blog

The number of boys participating in high school volleyball increased 3.6% in the past twelve months according to the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) survey. There were 47,878 boys playing boys volleyball at some level during the 2007-2008 school year compared to 46,224 during the previous year. The NFHS released its 2007-2008 High School Sports Participation survey results on September 4th. In that initial release, certain state boy’s volleyball information appeared either missing (Missouri) or needed clarification (California). Middle Hitter recently communicated with NFHS regarding this information and received a prompt response and clarification. The NFHS results are based on figures from the 50 state high school athletic/activity associations, plus the District of Columbia that are members of the NFHS. The fastest growing states were Ohio, New York and Wisconsin. California reported the same exact number of boys participants as there were in the 2006-2007 school yea

The following post is an article I posted on www.middlehitter.com originally on July 12, 2008. I posted it here on the blog as it has been moved to the website archives. Team USA clinched first place in Pool C of the 2008 World League preliminary rounds behind the power of a strong serving and blocking game including 9 aces. The scores were 24-26, 25-22, 25-13 and 25-18. Earlier in the day Finland defeated Bulgaria 3-2 in Varna setting up the clincher. Tonight’s match was once again held at US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, IL in front of another large crowd of 4,957. Reid Priddy lead Team USA with 21 points including 15 kills, 5 blocks and 1 ace. Iban Perez, despite missing the fourth set, lead Team Spain with 14 points consisting of 13 kills and 1 block. Tonight’s starters for Team USA were Reid Priddy, Lloy Ball and Ryan Millar in the front row. David Lee, Clay Stanley and Sean Rooney started in the back row with Rich Lambourne as the libero. Team Spain started Francisco Rodrigu

The following post is an article I posted on www.middlehitter.com originally on July 11, 2008. I posted it here on the blog as it has been moved to the website archives. An unexpected large crowd of 4,610 cheered Team USA to a 3-0 victory (25-19, 25-23, 27-25) at US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, IL. The central Illinois city of Bloomington is 3 hours away from Chicago and St. Louis in an area with no boy’s high school or club volleyball programs. Add in the fact that the AVP Crocs Slam McDonalds Chicago Open was being held at Oak Street Beach in Chicago, IL was drawing Chicago area fans away from the World League match. Team USA entered the match with a 7-1 record and first place in Pool C. Their only loss was a 2-3 setback against Bulgaria on the second night of their home match duo in Hoffman Estates, IL. Team Spain enters this match with a 3-5 record in Pool C. Spain’s wins are two off Finland with an additional upset victory against Bulgaria (3-1). Team USA defeated Spain twic

The following post is an article I posted on www.middlehitter.com originally on June 21, 2008. I posted it here on the blog as it has been moved to the website archives. After being handily swept Friday night, Team Bulgaria defeated Team USA in a see-saw five set match Saturday night, 12-25, 25-16, 25-20, 12-25 and 15-13 in front of a crowd of 5,100 fans at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, IL. Team USA continued its dominance in the first and fourth sets with 25-12 victories in both. However, Team Bulgaria proved more resilient tonight as they took sets two, three and the deciding fifth set. Coach Hugh McCutcheon changed the lineup as planned for the second match of this home series. Local favorite Sean Rooney and Riley Salmon played for Reid Priddy and Scott Touzinsky at the outside positions. Gabe Gardner replaced Clay Stanley at opposite, David Lee played middle for Tom Hoff and Kevin Hansen replaced Lloy Ball at setter. The only starters to return from Friday night were Ryan M

The following post is an article I posted on www.middlehitter.com originally on June 20, 2008. I posted it here on the blog as it has been moved to the website archives. Team USA defeated Team Bulgaria in three quick sets Friday night, 25-23, 25-16 and 25-16 in front of a crowd of 4, 450 fans. The starting rotation for Team USA was Hoff, Priddy and Ball across the front row with Stanley, Touzinsky and Millar across the back. Lambourne was the libero. Team Bulgaria started Gaydarski, Aleksiev, Zhekov across the front with Milushev, Ananiev and Tsvetanov across the back row with Salparov as Libero. Bulgaria played even with USA in the first set including leading 17-15 at one point. While Bulgaria had a higher attacking percentage (.640 vs. .550) and out blocked (3 vs. 2) Team USA, the difference was Reid Priddy’s two service aces during a run that took the US from a 17-18 deficit to a 22-18 lead. That run seemed to take the energy out of the young Bulgarian team. The second set was all

The following post is an article I posted on www.middlehitter.com originally on June 18, 2008. I posted it here on the blog as it has been moved to the website archives. Bulgarian Coach Martin Stoev will mix his experienced and younger players throughout the 2008 World League competition. Bulgaria, who qualified for the 2008 Olympics with their Bronze medal finish during the 2007 World Cup competition, will rest their top players throughout most of World League. According to Coach Steov, “For the first 8 games of the World League I will give a break to the captain Plamen Konstantinov, the middle blocker Evgeni Ivanov and the opposite hitter Vlado Nikolov. After the first two matches against Spain in Varna I will let Matey Kaziysky go to a holiday.” The World League finals are being held July 23rd through the 27th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is just two weeks from the start of the Olympic competition (beginning August 9th). Bulgaria had a strong showing in 2007, taking 5th place in

The following post is an article I posted on www.middlehitter.com originally on June 9, 2008. I posted it here on the blog as it has been moved to the website archives. Finland is currently ranked 22nd in the World by FIVB moving up from their previous ranking of 29th. Head Coach Mauro Berutto has big plans for the young team, “our target will be to make a wonderful experience, useful for our two next very important targets: European Championship finals (2009) and World Championship qualifications. We are a very young team, but with big dreams...” The senior members of Team Finland are Mikko Esko (#3-Setter) and Olli Kunnari (#12-Outside Hitter) with 131 and 128 national team matches respectively. Esko plays for the Italian Serie A club team Antonveneta Padova. The Italian Serie A league has been long considered the top international league. Kunnari plays for AS Cannes in the French Pro A league. Middle Hitter recently watched Kunnari play in the 2008 French Cup semi-final match versu