No more secrets with Tool City

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July 1, 2010

By Lisa Byers Meadville Tribune The Meadville Tribune Thu Jul 01, 2010, 07:00 AM EDT

MEADVILLE — It may not happen right away, but somewhere down the road, opposing teams eventually get to know the Tool City Volleyball Club at the annual USA Volleyball Boys’ Junior National Championships, formerly known as the USA Junior Olympic Boys’ Volleyball Championships.

But this year, there’s a good bet everyone will know just who Tool City is right from the very beginning. After all, it is slightly more difficult to forget a national champion.

“They know now,” said Meadville graduate Adam Barba,” who helped lead Tool City 18-Orange to the 18-and-under club division national championship last year in Atlanta. “I think this year we can walk with a bit of a swagger.

“Every year down at the tournament you trade jerseys when you’re all done playing. Last year, we were trading our T-shirt jerseys for nice real expensive ones. After winning, everyone wanted our jerseys. Everyone knows who we are now.”

Barba and 47 other local volleyball players will try to make it even harder to forget who Tool City is when it begins pursuit of its second national championship at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. Tool City 18-Orange and 18-White kick off action for the locals on Friday.

Tool City 16-Orange and 16-White begin Saturday, followed by Tool City 14-Orange on Monday and Tool City 17-Orange on Tuesday.

After a national championship, expectations are high for Tool City, but club-founder Denny Patton, who has handed over much of the club’s responsibilities to Saegertown head coach Justin Johnson, isn’t so sure.

“Overall, we think maybe this is the strongest group (in all age divisions) we’ve every taken,” Patton said. “But for any one team to do what we did last year, I think the chances are pretty remote. I don’t suspect we’ll have the same kind of year we did last year. All the stars were aligned the right way.”

That doesn’t mean Patton isn’t optimistic for a good showing from the club. After all, there are a few pretty solid teams.

One of those teams is the defending champion, Tool City 18-Orange. Barba and Cochranton’s Ethan Oertly are the only two remaining players from that team, but will be joined six outstanding teammates in Saegertown’s Pat Amy, Meadville’s Josh Dolnosich and Chad Smith, Cochranton’s Jake Schultz, Maplewood’s Sam Smith and McDowell’s Dave Rion. Barba, Amy, Dolnosich and Rion were all just recently named to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association’s Finest 40 in their respective classifications.

Tool City 18-White is also very solid, consisting of McDowell’s Dan Clark, Andy Milloy and Matt Twinem, Maplewood’s Corey Hamilton, Saegertown’s Casey Handel and Meadville’s Tom Hillwig, Ian Phillips and Taylor Willey.

“That is one of the strongest second teams we’ve ever had,” Patton said. “There was maybe one other one as strong in the last 10 or 11 years.”

Patton pointed to Tool City 17-Orange as perhaps the club’s strongest team. Members are Saegertown’s Jason Amy, Maplewood’s Christian Brown and Jake Snyder, Cochranton’s Justin Hering, Josh Oertly and Ty Sheehan, McDowell’s Chris Mineo and Cambridge Springs’ John Turner.

Tool City is fielding two teams in the 16-and-under division. Tool City 16-Orange includes McDowell’s Ben Boncella, Cochranton’s Cole Graham, Meadville’s Travis Jensen and Alex Minnis, Maplewood’s Noah Kane, Saegertown’s Connor Shorts, Cambridge Springs’ Geoff VanWinkle and Conneaut Valley’s Nolan Varee. Maplewood’s Austin Acel and Logan Battin, McDowell’s Ryan Calhoun, Meadville’s Tyler Minnis and Matt Izbinski, Saegertown’s Dustin Pavlik and Shane Rigby, and Cochranton’s Nate Roach make up Tool City 16-White.

The final team, coached by Patton, is the 14-and-under squad of Cochranton’s Alex Custead, Nick Dickson, Chad Eisenhooth, Logan Herzberger, Logan Jacobs and Josh Vanderhoof and Meadville’s Tommy Leech and Sam Wyman.

Lisa Byers can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at lbyers@meadvilletribune.com.

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No more secrets with Tool City

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