By Christine Jinbo

St. Louis High Performance Volleyball (St. Louis, Mo.) had the biggest brains in the gym at the Boys Classic in Anaheim, Calif.  It has become, somewhat of a recent trend, for Ivy League schools that host mens' volleyball, to send their coaches recruiting in the same arena as UC Irvine, USC and other top NCAA Div. I programs.

Two Loyola (Los Angeles, Calif.) High School graduates, Michael Dye and Sean Cotter will head to Princeton (N.J.) in the fall and three St. Louis (Mo.) area athletes, who all play on St. Louis High Performance, will head to MIT (Boston, Mass.) and Harvard (Cambridge, Mass.).

These three athletes Matt Hohenberger, Rob Lothman and, Patrick Vatterott  spoke to ESPN RISE Volleyball about their choice to attend these academically rigorous schools.  Check out their video below.

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By Christine Jinbo

Brett Anderson of the Riptides O.C. 17 Orange team spoke to ESPN RISE Volleyball after his team earned first place at the Boys Classic, hosted by Southern California Volleyball Association (SCVA).  Riptides O.C. defeated the tournament favorite, Orange Coast Volleyball Club (OCVC) 17-1 in the final. 

The junior setter looks forward to the J.O.'s hosted by USA Volleyball.  His team finished as the runner up in the Boys Invitational that hosted over 300 teams from around the nation.  This recent first place finish, he hopes, will help his team in the Junior Olympic Championship in Atlanta, Ga.

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By Christine Jinbo

It would be overstated to say that Riptides OC 17 Orange shocked the world when it beat No. 1 seeded OCVC 17-1 in the finals of the Boys Classic, hosted by the Southern California Volleyball Association in Anaheim, Calif.

	Christine Jinbo/ESPN RISE
	Steady performances at the serving line, like this one from Chris Gibbons helped Riptides OC win the 17 Open Division.

Some may agree with the upset assessment, which is a valid opinion considering the player personnel on the OCVC team.  The OCVC team, seeded first in the 17 Open Division, contains three USA Volleyball junior National Team players, who either competed at the Select or Youth level for USA.  USA Volleyball named two players from OCVC to the 2009 USA Boys' Youth National Training Team, outside hitter Taylor Sander and middle blocker Spencer Rowe.

Though, the Riptides OC team should not be underestimated.  It has big game experience and has upset higher seeds in the past, namely OCVC.  Its steady play this tournament stemmed from its consistent serving and passing, which allowed the team to attack on every play.  The team defense made it difficult for other teams to score points and allowed the scrappy Riptides teams to stay in the game. 

The squad also has big tournament finals experience.  The squad appeared in the finals of the Boys Invitational in January, a national event hosted by the SCVA.  Also, this is not the first time Riptides has beaten OCVC 17-1 in a playoff situation.  At the Boys Invitational, Riptides defeated No. 1 seeded OCVC  in the quarterfinals, 27-25, 20-25, 15-12.  With similar scores (except for game one), it prevailed once more, 15-25, 25-20, 15-10, in the finals of the Boys Classic.

Riptides OC setter Brett Anderson agreed with the first statement. (Read full post)