2019 VYPE All-State Volleyball Teams

VYPE

Originally appeared on VYPE

The goal is very simple: Recognize the best public high school volleyball players in the state of Texas.

As I've said many times before, Texas has the best collection of volleyball players in the United States (if not the world).

Consider there are approximately 1,200 public high school volleyball teams. If you figure an average of nine players per team (and that's a conservative number), that's about 11,000 players to consider for our 2nd Annual VYPE All-State Awards.

But here they are – we believe these are the best in a state full of incredible volleyball talent.

As I indicated for my own Dazzling Dozen, these selections, too, are as politics-free as we could make them. There's no "quota" of teams, players or regions to be represented; there's no undue influence from one team, area or organization.

I did consult a 10-person committee of coaches from across the state for their thoughts on these selections. We all had one goal in mind; make sure we recognize the players who deserve such recognition. Period. I also worked with Josh Koch of our own VYPE Media as well as Butch Hart, the Guru of Texas high school volleyball and Media Director of the Texas Girls Coaches Association.

As I've learned from my coaching friends, coaches are always the first to be approached with questions (and complaints) about any/all postseason awards. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions with these awards, please contact me directly: e-mail me, chuck.licata@vypemedia.com or hit me up via Direct Message on Twitter (@kmacchuck).

Unfortunately, I only received a couple e-mails for nominations for Class 4A to 1A (we'll work to continue growing that moving forward). Thus, we used the Texas Girls Coaches Association State Awards for our Honorable Mention lists in those classes; I added a few players I saw this season.

Congratulations to the incredible players on this list. And, congrats to all 2019-20 Texas high school volleyball players, coaches, teams and communities for an outstanding season of volleyball!


Find the list here

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With the end of the regular season in sight, the Houston Astros host the Kansas City Royals on Friday night, coming off a huge walk-off 2-1 win against the Orioles.

Two players from the finale against Baltimore really stood out for the 'Stros. Jeremy Pena, who had a clutch double late in the game, and Cristian Javier.

Javier struck out 11 batters over 5 innings surrendering only one run, which was exactly what the Astros needed in possibly the most important game of the regular season.

Both Pena and Javier were critical pieces to the Astros title in 2022, and it looks like they're rounding into form at just the right time.

Javier's struggles have caused many to question who would be the team's third starter in the postseason, behind Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander. Let's put this to bed right now, it's Javier.

This should be everything you need to know. Let's start with Hunter Brown. Brown has given up 5 earned runs or more in 4 of his last 7 starts.

How about JP France? France has surrendered 5 or more earned runs in 3 of his last 5 games.

However, Cristian Javier hasn't allowed 5 or more runs in a start since July 3. Javier may only give you 5 innings, but that's actually pretty common for starters in the playoffs. Teams typically remove their starters before the third time through the order.

Prime Time Pena

While the power hasn't been there for Pena this year, he is swinging the bat much better of late. Over his last 30 games, he's hitting .325 while slugging .453. Pena may only have 10 bombs on the year, but he's getting on base and hitting plenty of doubles.

If these two can contribute at a similar level to last postseason, the sky is the limit for the 2023 Astros.

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