In the Ohio High School Athletic Association boys volleyball postseason a year ago, the Loveland Tigers battled through a Region 8 bracket that was stacked on one side to avoid No. 1 McNicholas.
The Tigers and their No. 3 seed beat out the No. 2, 4, 5 and 6 seeds to face McNicholas in the regional final. The Rockets won 25-21, 25-20, 25-21 and went on to win their second-straight Division II title.
Fast forward a year, and despite graduating first-team All-Eastern Cincinnati Conference standouts Colton Baker and Carter Lucas, the Tigers are back even stronger behind sophomore Gavin McWaters.
McWaters has over 260 kills this year with a regular-season game to go, leading the Tigers to a 19-2 mark, the ECC championship and the top seed in the regional tournament.
“I tell people it’s a blessing to coach him,” Loveland coach Brett VanCauwenbergh said. “It’s really fun. I feel like there’s some times where it feels like he’s part of the coaching staff. Super high volleyball IQ on top of being a 6-foot-7 monster as a sophomore.”
Somebody has to feed McWaters his attacks and the Tigers have a pair of setters who get it done. Seniors Andrew Dostal (who had 311 assists as a junior) and Miles Ewald both have around 300 assists each this year in Loveland’s 6-2 rotation offense.
“It’s fun to have two seniors both just running that job and making mature decisions,” VanCauwenbergh said. “Andrew and Miles are both great players.”
Junior Landon Balmos-Ruddock paces the team with 179 digs and senior James Dickman has over 100 kills.
The Tigers have dropped just two matches to Division I teams Elder and Lakota East. They have lost just eight sets, dropping one to McNicholas and one to Walnut Hills, with the sets in the losses. Of their 19 wins, the Tigers have swept 17 of those matches.
The Tigers begin the postseason May 12 against either Meadowdale or Trotwood-Madison and more than likely won’t see a single-digit seed until their third postseason game in the regional semifinals. If the seeds stay true, McNicholas would be that opponent.
No matter who the Tigers see in their regional tournament games or even after, they’ll be prepared to take every team’s best just like they have all year.
“Anyone that can get to late enough in the season, they’re going to be a good team,” VanCauwenbergh said. “They’re going to be a scrappy team. They’re going to be a fighting team whether it’s us getting to the regional semifinals, regional finals, state semifinals, it doesn’t matter.
“Once you get past a certain point, there are going to be great teams, well-coached.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Loveland Tigers, sophomore McWaters charging into OHSAA postseason
Reporting by Alex Harrison, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
