There is a learning curve going on. For the fourth Monday evening in the boys volleyball experiment, I traveled down to Eastview to catch Farmington and Hopkins. No one was undefeated in this group. And both games I charted were three setters. Both winning teams (Farmington & Eastview) lost the first set and rallied over Hopkins.
The big theme tonight was rotations. Who stands where to avoid overlap. It seems the officials are very forgiving, more so than when the girls, who are held to a higher standard, take the court. Double contacts? In September yes, In April not so much. But what really was evident today was the out of rotation sequence between Eastview and Hopkins in their first set. The Royals middle Mario Hadley stayed in that middle position for seven rotations in the first set as Hopkins closed hard against the host Lightning outscoring them 18-6 down the stretch. Eastview did prevail in the match.
Another factor in these games is the side out offense. Most of the action is either free balls, or ground roll hits for the first attack. There is no real approach and swings. Nothing with momentum at any rate. Traffic and patterns also are problems. But when you are trying a new sport there is going to be a steep learning curve.
There was some long rallies, with quick reflexes and responses across the other side of the net. The audience was very supportive of those efforts. Eastview Libero Noah Ambroaz made a foot save (almost a foot kill) which put the crowd in a frenzy.
For those looking for connections…..Eastview beat Hopkins in the girls state basketball final. In the audience tonight at Eastview was Miss Basketball Megan Walstad and teammate Andrea Abrams.
With these three teams I have now charted half of the teams (eleven). The goals is to see the rest in the next few weeks.
GAME 1: FARMINGTON 2, HOPKINS 1 (25-27, 25-17, 15-11)
Mason Mortimer came to the service line with the Tigers trailing the Royals 17-15 in the second set and proceeded to serve out the game, including four aces, the last two points for exclamation points. Mortimer delivered two more aces in the third. He ended up with 11.5 points on the night, tops for Farmington.
FARMINGTON
| SRV | # | Name | Pos | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 52 | Mason Mortimer | S/RH | 6 | 0.5 | 5 | 11.5 |
| 2 | 33 | Zach Hedquist | OH | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | 21 | Caden Freetly | DS | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 4.5 |
| 4 | 3 | Brandon Wilcek | S | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 7 | Parker Daly | RS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 23 | Ryan Shirley | DS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 34 | Nick Shirley | OH | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| 6 | 24 | Collin Hansen | MH | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | 18 | ??? | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| totals | 9 | 2 | 24 | 35 |
HOPKINS
| SRV | # | Name | Pos | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 18 | Tyren Corneliz | S | 3 | 0.5 | 0 | 3.5 |
| 2 | 24 | Rhys Massengill | OH | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 3 | 1 | Ruott Nyak | L | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | 10 | Mario Hadley | MH | 0 | 0.5 | 5 | 5.5 |
| 4 | 4 | Julian Munezaro | RS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 8 | Sam Eklund | OH | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 6 | 19 | Blake Kukowski | MH | 1 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| totals | 10 | 2 | 20 | 32 |
TRENCH PLAYER
Mason Mortimer
| EARNED | |||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Farmington | 12 | 15 | 8 |
| Hopkins | 16 | 8 | 8 |
| ALLOWED | |||
| Farmington | 11 | 9 | 3 |
| Hopkins | 13 | 10 | 7 |
BY THE NUMBERS
| Item | Farmington | Hopkins |
| First Swing SO | 8/24-.333 | 10/23-.435 |
| Runs 3+ | 11 | 8 |
| Longest String | 11 | 6 |
| Missed Serves | 6 | 7 |
| Serving % | 58/64-.906 | 49/56-.875 |
| Time outs | ½-.500 | 2/5-.400 |
| Set points | 2/4-.500 | ½-.500 |
RACE TO …
| Set | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| 1 | H | H | H | H | H |
| 2 | F | F | H | F | F |
| 3 | F | F | F |
BIGGEST LEAD
| Set | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Farmington | 1 | 8 | 5 |
| Hopkins | 10 | 3 | 1 |
RECEIVE TO KILL
FARMINGTON
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| 52 Mason Mortimer | 4 | 2 | .500 | 1 | .25 |
| 23 Ryan Shirley | 4 | 2 | .500 | 1 | .250 |
| 21 Caden Freetly | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | .000 |
| 18 Unknown | 33 | 10 | .303 | 7 | .212 |
| 34 Nick Shirley | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| 33 Zach Hedquist | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 49 | 16 | .327 | 9 | .184 |
HOPKINS
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| 19 Blake Kukowski | 14 | 8 | .571 | 0 | .000 |
| 1 Ruott Nyak | 5 | 2 | .400 | 1 | .200 |
| 24 Rhys Massengill | 23 | 3 | .130 | 1 | .043 |
| 8 Sam Eklund | 17 | 2 | .118 | 1 | .059 |
| Totals | 59 | 15 | .254 | 3 | .051 |
GAME 2: EASTVIEW 2, HOPKINS 1 (17-25, 25-21, 15-10)
Hopkins got out of serving order, not once, but twice in the first set. The first faux pas came when Tyren Corneliz, the first rotation, jumped the sixth spot which would be Ruott Nyak the libero or Mario Hadley. When Blake Kukowksi was supposed to serve (one spot out of order), Juliean Munezaro jumped up a spot. How does this happen? The table is run by the team out of action, in this case Farmington. They never caught it. Mario Hadley racked up 9 points alone in the first set for Hopkins, but when you stay in the contest for seven straight rotations, you should expect to score.
Incredibly there was another snafu in the second set with Hopkins and their service order. Again, it was Munezaro jumping the sixth spot. This time Hadley was not in for any longer than three rotations.
By set three Hopkins had figured out their rotations. There was no jumping the service line.
Eastview was led by Jordan Kennedy with 10.5 points.
EASTVIEW
| SRV | # | Name | Pos | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 8 | Jacob Porras | S/RS | 4 | 0.5 | 2 | 6.5 |
| 2 | 2 | Jordan Kennedy | MH | 3 | 0.5 | 7 | 10.5 |
| 3 | 16 | Adin Dove | OH | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 9 | Ben Stephenson | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 17 | Zach Brunner | S/RH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 13 | Max Sherwin | MH | 0 | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| 5 | 7 | Noah Ambroz | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 27 | Ryan Quaintance | OH | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| totals | 8 | 3 | 20 | 31 |
HOPKINS
| SRV | # | Name | Pos | A | B | K | Points |
| 1 | 18 | Tyren Corneliz | S | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 24 | Rhys Massengill | OH | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 1 | Ruott Nyak | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 10 | Mario Hadley | MH | 0 | 1 | 12 | 13 |
| 4 | 4 | Julian Munezaro | RS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 8 | Sam Eklund | OH | 1 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| 6 | 19 | Blake Kukowski | MH | 1 | 1 | 8 | 10 |
| Totals | 5 | 3 | 30 | 38 |
TRENCH PLAYER
Jordan Kennedy
| EARNED | |||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Eastview | 10 | 15 | 6 |
| Hopkins | 16 | 16 | 6 |
| ALLOWED | |||
| Eastview | 9 | 5 | 4 |
| Hopkins | 7 | 10 | 9 |
BY THE NUMBERS
| Item | Eastview | Hopkins |
| First Swing SO | 18/29 | 14/29 |
| Runs 3+ | 8 | 6 |
| Longest String | 5 | 7 |
| Missed Serves | 4 | 4 |
| Serving % | 53/57-.930 | 52/56-.929 |
| Time outs | 1/3-.333 | 1/3-.333 |
| Set points | 2/7-.286 | ¼-.250 |
RACE TO …
| Set | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| 1 | E | E | H | H | H |
| 2 | E | E | E | E | E |
| 3 | E | E | E |
BIGGEST LEAD
| Set | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Eastview | 5 | 9 | 5 |
| Hopkins | 10 | 0 | 0 |
RECEIVE TO KILL
EASTVIEW
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| 16 Adin Dove | 3 | 3 | 1.000 | 0 | .000 |
| 7 Noah Ambroz | 19 | 11 | .579 | 4 | .211 |
| 17 Zach Brunner | 4 | 2 | .500 | 1 | .250 |
| 4 Zach Miller | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | .000 |
| 27 Ryan Quaintance | 9 | 3 | .333 | 2 | .222 |
| 8 Jacob Porras | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | .000 |
| 6 Sam Brill | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| 9 Ben Stephenson | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| 21 Richard Yin | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 48 | 21 | .438 | 7 | .146 |
HOPKINS
| Player | Receives | Wins | R2W | Kills | R2K |
| 24 Rhys Massengill | 16 | 11 | .688 | 6 | .375 |
| 1 Ruott Nyak | 23 | 7 | .304 | 4 | .174 |
| 8 Sam Eklund | 12 | 6 | .500 | 2 | .167 |
| 19 Blake Kukowski | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 52 | 25 | .481 | 12 | .231 |