TOP OF THE CROP
Volleyball
1: (1) Avon Lake 4-0
2: (2) Avon 4-0
3: (3) Bay 4-0
4: (6) Olmsted Falls 7-2
5: (4) Rocky River 3-0
6: (5) Amherst 2-2
7: (7) Westlake 3-0
8: (8) North Ridgeville 2-2
9: (9) Firelands 2-0
10: (NR) Columbia 4-0
Dropped out: (9) Midview 2-3
Watchlist: Elyria Catholic 4-0
Crop comments: There’s a new guard in the SWC as Avon Lake and Avon have proved so far this season. The Shoregals and Eagles are both 4-0 with sweep wins over Amherst and Olmsted Falls, respectively. It’s a 1A and 1B situation until the two teams can settle it on the court on Sept. 14. … Bay is another 4-0 team to keep an eye on. The Rockets are off to a good start with three sweeps and a five-set win over Copley. … It shouldn’t be a surprise that Olmsted Falls is good again, but the young Bulldogs are performing better than expected. They’ve already played a whopping nine games, which is four more than anyone else on the list. The team continues to grow and showed against Avon that they can compete this season. … Rocky River only fell a spot because of what Olmsted Falls has done so far. The Pirates broke their eight-game losing streak to Holy Name. … Amherst also drops a spot after losing to two good teams in Perrysburg and Avon Lake. Amherst hosts Olmsted Falls on Aug. 31 in a game that has usually decided the conference. This year might not be that way, but it will go a long way in determining the pecking order. …Next week is when we find out how good Westlake is. The Demons play Lakewood and host a quad against North Royalton, Elyria and Keystone for the rest of this week, but next week features GLC contests with Bay and Rocky River. … North Ridgeville stays at No. 8 after getting swept by Olmsted Falls and Avon. That’s a tough schedule, and the Rangers bounced back with wins over Lakewood and Elyria since. Their game on Aug. 31 at Midview is a big one. … Firelands continues doing Firelands things by sweeping LC8 opponents. Oberlin and Brookside have been on the losing end against the Falcons so far. … Columbia also represents the LC8 jumping in the 10th spot. It was hard to take Midview out after losing to three good teams in Westlake, Amherst and Avon Lake, but Columbia has looked dominant so far. … Elyria Catholic has the ability to lurk around in the GLC even with some stacked competition. The Panthers have looked good so far at 4-0.
