State Line Tidbits: Exciting New News, USA, and Commits

Logan Parks

Vernon Birmingham May 12, 2023 @ 05:33 PM

Though we are in a little of a "quiet period", there are still many happenings going on in the volleyball world to track and keep the readers up to speed on.   Boys Volleyball is OFFICIALLY here!   That's right, the Missouri State High School Activities Association has approved boys' volleyball as a sanctioned interscholastic sport beginning in the 2023-2024 school year. There will be one class state championship in the first year. This is a big deal as many schools across the state have been playing for years now. On the eastern side of the state, boys' volleyball is not new but in the Kansas City area, schools started putting together "club" teams right before the pandemic and playing in the HOA-sponsored league. You will see some teams still do this as some transition to an MSHSAA-affiliated program, which also means they can play on MSHSAA teams (so no Kansas matches).   The pandemic put a little damper in the process but many schools and leaders have worked tirelessly to get this going. I officiated some boys games this spring and I will say they have a lot of work to do but the most important part is getting the young men out there learning and gaining experience. Once many more of the athletes give the sport a try, they will fall in love with it and some will be pretty successful in no time.   Parks make the final roster for the U19 Pan America team   [player_tooltip player_id='154041' first='Logan' last='Parks'], the do-everything player for Mavs KC and Blue Valley North made the final roster for the USA U19 Pan America team. The setter/opposite is one of the top-ranked players in the country and the top 3 in the Prep Dig Kansas 2025 rankings.   Commits   We have more commits coming in that we want to highlight. A couple of weeks ago defender [player_tooltip player_id='119692' first='Sophia' last='Bond'] committed to Lehigh! She plays this season for Mavs 17-1. She wasn't the only commit from this squad being joined by [player_tooltip player_id='152834' first='Remi' last='Nuss'] and [player_tooltip player_id='119725' first='Tatum' last='Grimes']. Nuss is going to go to the Big 12 at West Virginia University as a defender. MB and state champion [player_tooltip player_id='119725' first='Tatum' last='Grimes'] has decided to play at Army.   Recent national champion [player_tooltip player_id='150080' first='Reese' last='Bates'] switched commitments after a coaching change and will head closer to home in Indiana, attending Butler University. [program_tooltip program_id='428889' first='Dynasty' last=''] 18 Black [player_tooltip player_id='335511' first='Tiana' last='Simmons'] is crossing the river to play at Chaminade University in Hawaii. On the boys' side, Ethan Kuertzer from HPSTL recently signed to play at Illinois Wesleyan. Also in the St. Louis area, [player_tooltip player_id='152123' first='Dana' last='Grib'] of [program_tooltip program_id='428799' first='Rockwood' last='Thunder'] 18 Navy will be attending Lindenwood Univeristy.   What's On Deck?   June is typically reserved for high school summer league but there is still some club action going on. The Indy Cup 2023 Pre-Nationals tournament will take place May 21-22. The [program_tooltip program_id='430200' first='KC' last='[program_tooltip program_id='428794' first='Power' last='']']/Topeka Impact Pre-National Tournament will be on June 10th and 11th. In the next couple of weeks, I will also be taking a dive into rankings calculated from AES and breaking down some of the top teams from both the Gateway and Heart of America regions in the 15-17-year-old divisions.

Though we are in a little of a "quiet period", there are still many happenings going on in the volleyball world to track and keep the readers up to speed on.